# McCain's Irish joke **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681 "2008-09-22T14:52:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/1 "2008-09-22T14:52:54Z")
I stepped out for a bit and when I came back John McCain was telling an Irish joke. He prefaced it by saying, ‘The only ethnic jokes that are allowed are Irish jokes. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is.’ (Paraphrased.) He then went on to praise the contributions to America from people of Irish descent. OK, I tell Irish jokes. I don’t mean anything by them; just poking fun at stereotypes. So why don’t I tell Black jokes? If other ethnic jokes are ‘wrong’, why do I poke fun at the Irish? It’s very hypocritical. Be that as it may, do you think it’s appropriate for any Presidential candidate to tell any ethnic jokes at all? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/2 "2008-09-22T15:27:35Z")
On the question of appropriateness – I’d generally prefer our politicians not to tell ethnic jokes, but it looks like this one was told to an Irish-American group, and those in attendance took it in good fun. (I can’t watch the video at work, but this [cite](http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/McCain-opens-with-an-Irish-joke/1222095623.html)makes it sound pretty innocuous.) McCain seems to have a [predilection](http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1692458,00.html) for the Irish joke: > [@](#): > > Speaking at the Portsmouth Rotary Club meeting on Thursday, McCain had no slides, but there was beer. A cook from the restaurant hung out in the back dressed in chef’s whites. And though the candidate eventually got to cutting taxes and government spending, the importance of the war on terror and educational choice, he began with an old Irish joke about “the O’Reilly twins getting drunk again” — one of four or five jokes in his repertoire. Reporters talk of pitching in to buy the candidate a book of new ones, but McCain is enthusiastic in telling them, and the tale of the O’Reilly twins is usually met with gales of laughter. There was a minor dust up in the 80’s when Reagan told an Irish joke into a live mic. People seemed, IIRC, to put that in the “folksy charm” column. That’s probably where McCain’s jokes will go, too, as long as he sticks to Irish jokes. I don’t know why Irish jokes are more acceptable than, say, Polish jokes. Again, I don’t think it’s good form to tell them, but when the Irish-American group is laughing along with you, I guess there’s not much harm. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/3 "2008-09-22T15:47:36Z")
I’d start with this question: Is McCain Irish? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/4 "2008-09-22T15:53:42Z")
It’s a Irish name from a Scots origin. So we can claim both the runners this year 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/5 "2008-09-22T15:54:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Be that as it may, do you think it’s appropriate for any Presidential candidate to tell any ethnic jokes at all? I’m not into ethnic jokes at all, or their recent revival, but if everybody’s in on the joke I don’t see a problem. If anything, even though politicians usually aren’t that funny, I think they should probably tell more jokes. It beats having them pretend that the fate of the nation, if not the world, hangs in the balance in every single election. The statement that the Irish are the last group you can make fun of is a total canard, as evidenced by the fact that the same thing gets said about fat people and white trash, among other groups. I know McCain’s reference to them being the last ethnic group makes it a little more specific, but it’s still ridiculous. McCain’s got Irish heritage, so he can tell Irish jokes; by the same logic many Jewish comedians do Jewish jokes. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/6 "2008-09-22T16:02:28Z")
As long as American companies keep investing Ireland Americans can tell all the Irish jokes they want. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/7 "2008-09-22T16:17:53Z")
So the son of a rich WASP ex-president, a multi-millionaire Irishman, and a black guy from a single-parent family go into a bar. The bartender turns to the black guy and says “Sorry, we don’t serve elitists here”. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/8 "2008-09-22T16:50:18Z")
I’m a big fan of humor that pokes fun at stereotypes (if it’s actually funny, too). If a candidate told what I felt was a funny ethnic joke, I’d personally be OK with that. Of course, there’s a line, and the problem is everybody has their line in different places. For example, there was a recent pit thread about a a button with a very lame racial joke, which I and some others saw as simply a harmless joke that mentions race, without putting down any particular race, or even playing off a stereotype. Others vehemently disagreed, and the OP went so far as to refer to it as “racist hatred” in title IIRC. So, I’m OK with it, but I wouldn’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/9 "2008-09-22T18:41:08Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > So the son of a rich WASP ex-president, a multi-millionaire Irishman, and a black guy from a single-parent family go into a bar. The bartender turns to the black guy and says “Sorry, we don’t serve elitists here”. DanBlather, did you make this up on the fly, or did you hear it somewhere? That is pretty damn funny. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/10 "2008-09-22T19:35:42Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > So we can claim both the runners this year 🆒 The Clonakilty O’Bamas, right? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/11 "2008-09-22T19:53:11Z")
> [@Struan](#): > > The Clonakilty O’Bamas, right? Nope Moneygall. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201551.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201551.html) ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/12 "2008-09-22T21:15:20Z")
We’ll take the niggers and the chinks, but we don’t want the Irish. \* [\* Just in case.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/quotes) ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/13 "2008-09-22T21:45:10Z")
> [@ArizonaTeach](#): > > We’ll take the niggers and the chinks, but we don’t want the Irish. \* > > [\* Just in case.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/quotes) Not a chance anyone needs that, is there? It’s OK to tell Irish jokes, because McCain is Irish, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, no one believes Irish jokes, and no one in the US discriminates against the Irish now - they did in the 19th century, but now it’s, if anything, an advantage to be Irish. Most bigotry is toward the poor of the ethnic group in any case - money ameliorates an amazing degree of whatever quality your ethnicity is supposed to carry with it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/14 "2008-09-22T21:58:46Z")
Does McCain understand that Ireland isn’t an enemy state, and it’s not in Latin America? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/15 "2008-09-22T22:05:09Z")
Well you can’t spell Ireland without I R A N. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/16 "2008-09-22T22:05:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Does McCain understand that Ireland isn’t an enemy state, and it’s not in Latin America? Iraq, Iran, Ireland…hey, if your country name starts with the letter “I”, you are fair game. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/17 "2008-09-23T01:32:04Z")
\*\*The Simpsons \*\*tends to agree with Senator McCain on this one: Mr Burns: “I just saw the rarest sight on earth!” Homer: “A sober Irishman?” * * * Grandpa: “I remember the eclipse of 1915. Naturally, we blamed it on the Irish. Hanged more than a few.” * * * I know there are many more, but these are the ones I remember off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/18 "2008-09-23T01:43:51Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > …everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day “… except for the Italians and the homosexuals” – Kent Brockman ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/19 "2008-09-23T02:13:37Z")
So, what’s the joke about the O’Reilly twins getting drunk? Don’t make me beg. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681/20 "2008-09-23T02:18:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So, what’s the joke about the O’Reilly twins getting drunk? > > Don’t make me beg. From [here](http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/irish_jokes.htm), since my memory wasn’t good enough to handle it: > [@](#): > > A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink. > > “Why of course,” comes the reply. > > The first man then asks: “Where are you from?” > > “I’m from Ireland,” replies the second man. > > The first man responds: “You don’t say, I’m from Ireland too! Let’s have another round to Ireland.” > “Of Course,” replies the second man. > > Curious, the first man then asks: “Where in Ireland are you from?” > “Dublin,” comes the reply. > “I can’t believe it,” says the first man. > “I’m from Dublin too! Let’s have another drink to Dublin.” > “Of course,” replies the second man. > > Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks: > “What school did you go to?” > “Saint Mary’s,” replies the second man. > “I graduated in '62.” > > “This is unbelievable!” the first man says. > “I went to Saint Mary’s and I graduated in '62, too!” > > About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. > “What’s been going on?” he asks the bartender. > “Nothing much,” replies the bartender. “The O’Malley twins are drunk again.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-irish-joke/464681.md?page=2)