McCain on the export of cigarettes to Iran:
"Maybe that's a way of killing them."
As expected, liberal bloggers have taken him to task for this remark, like this one.
Initially, we had two words for such sentiments: lighten (the f***) up. It is funny. albeit inappropriate (don't those two things always go hand in hand?).
The bigger point, though, is that, for better or worse, it is not presidential, and is the best example yet of how this presidential race is suffocating the man they once called a maverick. Even when he did "talk straight," or at least in directions other than exclusively to the right, it was a losing proposition. To watch him wrestle with cue cards these days is a sad, sad, sad, and this was probably just the alien beneath his chest bursting through for a brief appearance.
In the end, we do reach the same conclusion as Cesca: this is just one more reason why McCain should just retreat to his porch with some old-timer's lemonade, where his remarks will be out of earshot and just be those of someone who "ain't going to change his ways" and "doesn't mean no harm."
The suggestion to that Obama would have been pounced upon for saying the same thing, however, completely misses the point. Number one, Obama would never say it. Number two, disparaging remarks about Jews are always going to register more here than similar ones towards Iranians or Arabs in this country.
[It was at this point that we realized by laughing at the "joke," we were doing the same thing]
It's time to move past viewing every development in a purely partisan fashion. To talk straight, as it were. While such an option might be off the table for a presidential candidate, it should not be so for those of us covering it.
