McCain Makes Awkward Wife-Beating Joke

In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, columnist Jon Ralston asked McCain why he didn't choose Gov. Jim Gibbons (in the middle of a messy divorce) to chair his Nevada campaign:

McCain: I appreciate his support. As you know, the lieutenant governor is our chairman.

Q: Why snub the governor?

McCain: I didn't mean to snub him. I've known the lieutenant governor for 15 years and we've been good friends....I didn't intend to snub him. There are other states where the governor is not the chairman.

Q: Maybe it's the governor's approval rating and you are running from him like you are from the president?

McCain: (Chuckling) And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago . . .

ABC News' Jake Tapper notes that McCain's evasive joke was a poor choice given the context:

Gov. Gibbons last month filed for divorce from his wife Dawn citing incompatibility.

It's pretty scandalous. The Reno Gazette-Journal recently reported
that one month Gibbons sent 860 text messages to a woman with whom Mrs. Gibbons suspects her husband of stepping out.

Gibbons, you may recall, started his governorship amidst accusations that he assaulted a cocktail waitress named Chrissy Mazzeo three weeks before Election Day. Mazzeo said Gibbons grabbed her in a parking garage and threatened to sexually assault her. Charges were never filed.

Later in the same interview, McCain calls Jimmy Carter "a lousy president."

Read more of the interview here.

Comments

[Run]

John McCain's most disappointing characteristic is that he is a cheap-shot artist. When asked about Carter's opposition to nuclear energy policies that McCain is pushing, he took the low road and called him a 'lousy president' and made reference to him kissing Brezhnev.

A straight shooter would have to recognize that Carter commanded nuclear submarines, studied nuclear energy production, and took part in a nuclear spill cleanup. Um, let us say he is wildly more educated and experienced to speak on the topic than McCain.

So, one of his comments will get the most press, but the dumbest and most telling statement he made is buried much deeper in the content.

[walk0nwalls]

Leave. The Jokes. To Comedians.

[prof92506]

Yeesh, what a non-story. McCain said so many wrong things and THIS is what the news media throws at us? His reference to the "when did you stop beating your wife" question? Who ARE these so-called journalists? Where in heaven's name did they get their degrees? At the Univeristy of Dimbulbs?

[karela]

If anybody really doubts where McCain really stands on women, here's an article from the New York Times. In Phoenix, where McCain lives, there's a country club with some very anti women rules and some very misogynist ways of enforcing them, including groups of men urinating on a woman's tree to try to shut her up. John McCain has spoken at and frequented this club and his son is a member there, but when asked about it, he chose no comment. This bastion of Phoenix power even has rules that kick you from the club and force you to pay their legal fees if you so much as mention that there's any discrimination going on. The men's grill where women are not allowed has vast windows overlooking the golf course, a buffet, a bar and several big TVs. The women's room is a closet with card tables and a hot plate. Good job John. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/us/28countryclub.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=login

[NotaBeliever]

Even *I* could recognize a reference to the old "when did you quit beating your wife" joke ... such as it is. There's no way to answer certain questions without appearing to confess guilt. Get over it. No actual wife was beaten.

[prof92506]

In any case, ALL of McCain's attempts at jokes are rather awkward and off-putting.

[mshazen]

What part of I quit beating my wife is supposed be funny, this is what is so telling, it does not matter that he doesn't beat his wife. Spousal abuse in the country is very high and is shows his lake of understanding women's issues at all,

I won't get over it its not funny and he is not a comedian.

What do you think the response would be if Obama had made a statement like that.

[skmarshall]

please, Huffpo, we are not stupid enough to need you to "Spin to the left" like a liberal Fox News... Headlines like this just make you no better than them.

[andvoodoo2]

Thank you for making a point that needed to be made.

[noamjunior]

Fox news doesn't "spin to the right" - they make up shizz to confirm their right -wing audiences perverted sense of reality

[Agentlady007]

Thanks Arianna. I love you dahling. Don't listen to the blame game gang. xo

[ChiGuy]

Provided he continues to open his mouth between now and November, he'll go down in history as having lost the election by the largest margin in recent history.

Keep talking, J-Mac!!

[RudyV]

He's been saying plenty, but how much ever hits the MSM? Reminds me of SNL's Bush/Dukakis debate, when Jon Lovitz, as Dukakis, says "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."

[Eisen4Life]

Hence the constant campaigning from Fiorina. Nothing will ruin McCain's support from suburban women...and swing states...and cost him the election like joking about abusing women. Put a go-getter, successful white woman onstage with him or as a surrogate, and maybe the people in that demographic will think he's the moderate Republican, maverick McCain from 2000. Hopefully people aren't that naive, and they lump this remark with the, um, unflattering remarks about Cindy before, his joke about Chelsea, and his complacency with the Hillary "bitch" statement.

So a question for the media: who has the problem with women?

[Americano]

Oh please, lets not make a big deal from that silly McCain comment. We get as stupid as the Republicans!

[endtyranny]

As much as I disagree with the guy, I have to admit he is funny.

[4wehttam]

That wasn't funny. Especially to the thousands of woman that are ACTUALLY going through domestic violence. It's not funny to them and it's not funny to me.

[Rosanneofpgh]

If you want to end tyranny as your screen name suggests, how about some sensitivity training? Step over here to this waterboard, cretin!!! I'll make sure the water is nice and warm for you.

Some things just arent funny and if you cant recoginze that certain things are off limits, I pity the women in your family. I guess you'd think a joke about one of your family members being raped would be funny too, huh, pig??!!!

[endtyranny]

McCain was referring to a classic example of a loaded question taught in journalism and law: "Are you still beating you're wife?" There are very few ways to answer this question without looking bad and clearly, he believed the reporter was asking a loaded question (if you had read the article, you would agree that it was very charged ). The joke was in reference to the nature of the questioning, not domestic abuse. If you weren't perpetually stuck in constant rabid attack mode, you might be able to give people the benefit of the doubt every once in a while.

[KHAAANNN]

Funny?
Well, as they say, "Looks aren't everything".

[AmericanSinceFeb08]

This is a good view on how this man's brain works..... scary.... Just says what his minds comes up with. Dangerous if he is in the white house.

[sfsj]

The MSM give him such a pass!

Can you imagine if Barack said something like this!? Can you imagine if Barack made all the gaffes (like continuously confusing Sunnis and Shiites) that McCain has made? Can you imagine if Barack did not know how to use a computer? Can you imagine if Barack did not work weekends? Can you imagine if Michelle Obama had had a drug habit surrounded by scandal about how she got the drugs? Can you imagine if Barack had left a previous wife who had been in a car accident for the a wealthy, pretty girl -- all while professing to be the next "family values" candidate?

I think if Barack made this joke, it would be all over the media! This presidential campaign is really bringing a lot of things in our country to light.

[missjabez]

Keep it up with the moronic gaffes, McCain. Atta boy.

[SaddieMcCall]

Cindy's own words in her recent article about McCain's leaving her to cope with two miscarriages on her own, not being around to notice her drug addiction, and leaving her to learn how to walk again after a stroke (all while she was the caregiver of their children) and he is sitting comfortably in WA doesn't make him seem very sensitive, loving or human. But she should have known he was a cad, considering he abandoned his first wife and children after she was disabled from a car accident. Despite her devotion to him (and concern about his mental status while he was a POW that she didn't want to burden him with the news of her own torture of going through lifesaving surgery that removed 5 inches of her legs.

It is sad that to hear Cindy say that Princess Diana was her role model - well Princess Diana did not stay in a marriage where she wasn't being shown the love and respect that she deserved.

[WFV]

Yes, his respect for women is legendary, and this latest comment is just another in a long line of disrespectful behavior. I hope all the 'protest voters' of the former dem candidate take a good hard look at this guy before they make up their minds.

[Rianna]

Despite this brainless remark, despite the fact that he wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade, despite the fact he wants the war in Iraq to keep going, and going, despite the fact that he wants to continue Bush's failed economic policies, there are Hillary supporters out there, who still think he will be better than Obama, and are willing to vote for this man. American idiots?