I am pretty consistently a democrat. I’ve voted for one Republican and one independent in my 34 years of voting at the national level (senators and presidents).
But I think some of the jokes made by some Republicns have been hysterical.
I think Reagan’s Bombing Russia joke was hysterical - probably the best thing to come out his eight years of holding office.
I think John McCain’s Bomb, Bomb Iran was quite funny. And today’s joke about exporting cigarettes in order to kill Iranians was funny.
I think a good, dry sense of humor is a good quality in a President, although clearly NOT during diplomacy. But these were all internal events, cutting jokes basically either with press types who knew them well or audiences known to be highly sympathetic. Not that I would remotely consider voting for McCain. But these jokes he’s made don’t have any influence on me whatsoever except to say, well at least we’d have someone bright enough to make a real joke once in while as president for a change.
What do you all think? Is this kind of joking indicative of poor judgment or bad qualifications for presidents?
I always liked Regan’s jokes. Jokes are good to ease tensions.
The “Bomb Iran” joke was alright. It was a joke about the question, which isn’t too funny, but nothing to get upset about.
The joke about killing Iranians isn’t funny at all. It sounds like he thinks it is a good idea to kill Iranian civilians. I wouldn’t feel too good about having a President who is
ignorant enough to think that all Iranians are the enemy.
It’s great for presidents, but it’s a real hassle for candidates, since the opposing news network (always seeking soundbites to rip from their contexts like so many unwanted fetuses) will play the thing to death and act all sombre and humourless about it, analyzing the quip as though it was representative of the candidate’s actual intended policies.
So Reagan’s joke about killing all the innocent Russians who would die via his bombing – that was good to ease tensions. But heaven forfend McCain joke about Iran?
Sorry, I think you’re applying something other than a neutral filter in analyzing these jokes.
Whoosh? Or did I miss some serious part of the campaign? Because that would have been hysterical! And, I’d think, quite deadly to his campaign.
I think you’re being a bit disingenuous here, Bricker. Maybe I’m wrong (and if so, I really apologize), but I don’t think we were seriously contemplating imminent serious hostilities with Russia at that time the way McCain is now with Iran. I still think McCain’s joke was funny, because its lack of immediacy and general absurdity as a plan make it ridiculous, but Reagan’s was a better joke because the situation between the US and Russia at that time was less immediately tense and because the idea of suddenly, without any leadup or warning, the president’s making a decision like that and carrying it out would have been absurd prior to the GWB days. Now, unfortunately, not so much. Today it wouldn’t be a joke at all, and McCain has made it clear he has no problem in continuing GSB’s legacy in that respect. Please tell me I’m wrong there; I’d like to believe that he wouldn’t do that.
I believe the network most opposed to McCain would be MSNBC, although they certainly also air opposing viewpoints.
Reagan and McCain have both been tasteless with their jokes. If you actually CAN kill a bunch of people, and people are actually scared of you doing it, it’s not funny to joke about it. It’s like the school bully joking about what he’s going to buy with your lunch money after he beats you up. Not funny.
Yes, I thought of that, and decided not exactly. When everyone is special, no one is special. When you worry about something every day for thirty years, you don’t worry about it too much just today.
Yesterday, Iran tested missiles more than long enough to reach Israel or our troops in Iraq, and John McCain made noises like if he were president, we’d use force immediately. That’s not the same as “I just declared Russia illegal; bombing will begin in five minutes.”
Remember, I think McCain’s cigarette joke was funny. But not as funny, because McCain really is serious about imminent hostilities against Iraq, or at least so it seems to me.
It would have been funny if he did it in a Tony Montana voice from Scarface. “Goodnight from da world’s beegest pollutah! Say goodnight to da bad guy! Dis da last time joo gonna see a bad guy pollutah like dis again, lemme tell joo!”
One joke finds humor in attacking the government, while the other finds humor in attacking citizens. If someone can’t distinguish between Iranian civilians and their radical government, then I’m going to have doubts about that guy running our foreign policy.
Considering that the Russians were seriously afraid that Reagan WOULD kill them all, I didn’t find it funny at all. I recall some years ago a comment from the post-Soviet government that the Soviets seriously considered a nuclear first strike on America just because we elected him. They thought that there was a good chance he’d nuke them to bring on the Rapture like his buddy Falwell wanted him to.
I enjoy morbid humor, but honestly kind of wish Presidents would steer clear of that kind of thing in public. Both because they’re rarely actually funny (I though McCain’s bomb Iran joke was just sort of awkward) and because even if I don’t really care, I can see where other’s might find it pretty painful. Anyone remember Bush’s bit at one of the Correspondents Dinner’s where he had pictures of himself looking through his office and under his desk and saying something to the effect of “gee, where are those Weapon’s of Mass Destruction be, I can’t find them anywhere”. I chuckled a bit (again, it wasn’t really that funny), but then was sort of taken aback thinking how pissed off that bit would make me if I’d had a leg blown off or son shot to death looking for those non-existent WMD’s.
Also, IIRC, Reagan’s bombing joke was more of a gaffe because he thought the mic was off when he made it rather then for the joke itself.