On Friday, CodePink composed a response to John McCain's sick joke of singing 'Bomb Iran' to a warmongering supporter he encountered at a South Carolina campaign stop this week.[1] -- Medea Benjamin and Col. Ann Wright are part of the ensemble. -- The Republican senator from Arizona at first tried to downplay the incident, saying: "Lighten up and get a life."[2] -- But when asked "You don't think it was insensitive or in any way -- ?" McCain replied dug himself still deeper, saying, with visible incredulity and a snigger reminiscent of Steve Martin in "The Jerk": "Insensitive to what — the Iranians? My response is: Lighten up and get a life." -- MoveOn.org created a thirty-second anti-McCain spot based on the incident.[3] -- The McCain campaign responded to the ad by attacking MoveOn.org for having featured a video comparing George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.[2] -- The Arab American Institute, meanwhile called on McCain to disavow the comment.[4] -- "'Given our already low rating in the Middle East and the extremely precarious situation faced by our young men and women in Iraq, it’s shocking that Sen. McCain could be so reckless and insensitive to the consequences of his dangerously flippant remarks,' said AAI President James Zogby. 'This is not the behavior one expects of an individual who seeks to lead our nation.'" ...
1.
CODEPINK SINGS DON'T BOMB BOMB IRAN, JOHN McCAIN!
By WHYNotNews
YouTube
April 20, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiqzRN1IVtY
The CODEPINK RESPONSE to BOMB BOMB IRAN
2.
McCAIN'S "BOMBED JOKE" & LIGHTEN UP AND GET A LIFE"
By TheRealjohnny2k
YouTube
April 20, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1nRJNqDMQw
Some people want to criticize this candidate for "bombing a joke." A joke about "Bombing Iran" . . . Okay, maybe it was heavy on the militaristic rhetoric . . . Oh, wait, finally a candidate I can get behind? Yes! It brought me -- an old conservative geezer -- back to the good ol' days of Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan. Oh, yeah . . . the good ol' days!
3.
MOVEON.ORG AD AGAINST McCAIN: "BOMB IRAN" SONG
By heyitsjoe
YouTube
April 20, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U39zae4IxUA
MoveOn.org has created a political ad that features Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) briefly joking about the prospect of bombing Iran by singing to the tune of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" ("Bomb, bomb, bomb, Bomb Iran") while giving a speech. MoveOn.org asserts that this is evidence that McCain would be a reckless president, and ends the ad by saying that "we can't afford another reckless president."
4.
AAI CALLS ON McCAIN TO DISAVOW COMMENTS ON BOMBING IRAN, REINFORCE NEED FOR DIPLOMACY
American Muslim
April 20, 2007
Original source: American Muslim
WASHINGTON -- The Arab American Institute (AAI) today condemned Republican presidential candidate John McCain for his reference to bombing Iran and called on him to disavow the comment.
“Given our already low rating in the Middle East and the extremely precarious situation faced by our young men and women in Iraq, it’s shocking that Sen. McCain could be so reckless and insensitive to the consequences of his dangerously flippant remarks,” said AAI President James Zogby. “This is not the behavior one expects of an individual who seeks to lead our nation.”
In a campaign stop in South Carolina, McCain answered a question about whether the U.S. has plans to attack Iran by singing, “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” to the tune of “Barbara Ann,” a song popularized by the Beach Boys in the 1960’s.
During the 1979 hostage crisis, Vince Vance and the Valiants released a novelty song titled “Bomb Iran” modeled on the melody of the Beach Boys tune. Among the reworked lyrics:
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks.
Tell the Ayatollah... “Gonna put you in a box!”
Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
“No one argues that the regime in Iran today poses a problem, both for us as well as our allies in the region,” Zogby said. “But Sen. McCain’s comments only aggravate an already volatile situation and potentially compromise our efforts to create regional stability.”
Furthermore, AAI is concerned that at a time when there has been a spate of attacks across the U.S. on mosques and other places of worship, McCain’s comment could be viewed by some as encouraging such acts of hate.