AP Gives McCain 'Cigarettes' Story A Ridiculous Headline

Yesterday, while enjoying a meal at a Pittsburgh sandwich shop, John McCain made a joke about how maybe he could kill Iranians with cigarettes, because that's how people with tremendous plane-crashing leadership roll. But rather than capture what happened with a headline that explained how a grown man running for President thinks the indiscriminate killing of a nation of people whose "affection for the United States" is described as "thriving these days" is funny, the Associated Press instead chose to use this headline:

"Political Play: Wife pokes McCain in the back"

That's right! The AP, in their infinite wisdom, wants your attention drawn to Cindy McCain "jabbing" McCain in the back. And it wasn't even a terrorist fist jab!

Cindy McCain's jab to her husband's back came a second too late Tuesday to keep him from making a wisecrack about the health impact of Iran's main import from the United States: cigarettes.

That's the lede, and even it is stupendously out of whack with what actually happened. McCain did not "make a wisecrack about the health impact" of cigarettes. He suggested that cigarettes might be used to murder Iranians, because that is hilarious.

Don't forget to LOL when cigarettes become a major component of John McCain's plan to overhaul Social Security.

UPDATE: Via ThinkProgress, How are reporters are treating McCain's remarks? Idiotically, if you must know!

NBC's Chuck Todd: That's what makes him real and that's what makes people who disagree with him say "ah, you know what? The guy seems like any guy you'd want to have around the dinner table or the bar stool."

CNN's Jessica Yellin: "People who love him think his a maverick and think he's a real guy who makes a joke off the cuff just like real people do [but] we're all waiting to see if something explodes, this kind of comment doesn't."

Now, I'm a Chuck Todd fan, but you really have to question his judgement. Jokes about genocide are not the sort of things I want around my dinner table or barstool, and I think it's safe to say that it's "jokes" like those that make people who disagree with McCain realize that their disagreements are well founded.

As for Jessica Yellin's comment, I think it's safe to say that if McCain is elected President, topping the list of people "waiting to see if something explodes" will be the Iranians.

Comments

[suuzie]

McCain has no character, what else must he say for people to realize what a jerk he has become in his old age. The joke he told about the Clintons daughter, the name calling of his wife and now this.
I really don't like his sense of humor. If he says things like this in public, I really don't want to know what he says in private.

[unscum]

Why so surprised? I've witnessed so many Americans talk about obliterating other countries or entire nations.

[edwarvir]

unscum but this nut is running for president of the USA so why does keep
picking with IRAN!!!! JOHNNY WAR MONGER

[kkuate]

Those Americans are as decent as Amhadinejad and McCain......Making jokes about killing families is not funny. John McCain is not a decent individual and I would not want him as a guest for family dinner.

Bush is not a decent man either... There is not an ounce of remorse in his body for all the pain, misery, destruction, and death he has brought to Iraq, and to the families of those American soldiers killed in that confrontation....Bush is just having "fun" and "entertainment" with his war in Iraq...He even challenges insurgents with a "bring them on"...And when they answer his challenge by planting road bombs that destroy GI's bodies, then what? ---Bush must be very proud about his skills to produce mass murders and murderes.

Most people do not have any feelings about the pain, misery, destruction, and death Bush has created with his war, because those murdered people are just statistics, just numbers, and we have not witnessed them taking one last breath of air.

Please please, someone with the capacity to do it, bring war crime charges against Bush and his cabinet. Most of the world would support you on this legal action.

[jdGoldenCO]

i actually saw this clip on the LOCAL afternoon news of all places. This, coupled with "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran" really should give us insight into the heart and mind of this man....really dark if these are the first thoughts that pop into to his head when asked a question either from reports or in front of a "town hall" type audience. From what I understand of Iranian people and those I met, they want to join the western world but have been under the mercy of the Shitte Mullahs since the Shah of Iran was deposed back in the 70's. Next thing McCain is going to do is try & link Iran to 9/11 or something, and about a third of this ignorant electorate of ours would buy it. SAD

[Kenji]

He already claimed that Iran was training Al Qaeda in Iraq, but then it was his other wife, Joe Lieberman, who poked him in the back.

Not to worry; one of these days, he's going to turn around and smack her.
(And then say it was joke.)

[nuglet304]

if obama had said that, his candidacy would be over. skewed news like this bodes very, very well for john mccain, which isn't great for the rest of us.

[lisak2008]

Exactly, look at how they're blowing up Jesse Jackson's comment, and Obama DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THEM!!

[CharlieMarlowe]

Kind of reminds me of the people who joke about having a bomb when they pass through security at the airport. This kind of pureile humour is a reaction to stress. Not a good sign for someone running for high office.

[FCBarca]

Nothing like a presidential candidate 'joking' about killing innocent people...Gotta love it

[whiteboyblues]

AP=Asinine Peons

[Bluejay00234]

Or Angry Pigeons. Hence the BS!

[LeftLeanWing]

I wonder if some Dead Baby jokes will be coming out soon
or some jokes about a one-legged Irene.



...
Do the McCains ever look at or 'knowingly' acknowledged each other - you know - like lovers do ?

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

Just for the record folks: I canceled my newspaper and cable TV over crap just like this.

Now that FISA is passed I'm calling Verizon and canceling that too. I'll switch to T-Mobile.

It's time to tell these murderous moguls where to shove it.

[kkuate]

Great idea!!! ---I'll follow your lead.

[longislandlol]

What about they do a beer franchise from her distributorship? lots of $$ if we stay there 100 years..

[noamjunior]

do we really want a president who needs someone next to him to poke him when he starts to make a violent and asinine statement or to whisper in his ear and remind him what he is talking about?

[lizr]

we had one. Reagan. He left the economy in great shape, remember? not.

[bluzz]

don't pull a muscle on the big reach. bush is quite the azz and how's this economy.

Ask what the Enron Loophole is..........and why!

[AnotherMike]

Did the cameras pick up when he took a swing at her and called her a c%#t for touching him?

I know his blows don't pack much of a wallop anymore, but she's fragile at best after all that plastic surgery and medication...

[RatgurlSD]

She'll just take a few Oxies & deal with it.

[tbone99]

Huffpo makes mountains out of molehills.Hey, if they want to smoke thenselves to death on American exports , I say let them at it. The U.S is doing what it can to keep the black population in check by waiving menthol cigarettes from the rest of banned flavor cigarettes, why not the Iranians.?

[lizr]

UR sick puppy, do you know?

[kkuate]

Your mother must be very proud of you and your values, tbone99.

[tbone99]

With a fifty year Pell- Mell habit she's got no complaints.

[Kane]

So I'm flipping through the channels this morning and stop at Morning Joe on MSNBC. Sitting at the table are Pat Buchanan, Andre Mitchell, Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and Willie Geist. Not a progressive voice in the bunch.

Anyway, they are repeating the republican talking points for the day; Obama flip-flopping etc. And then they manage to work in the McCain clip where once again he jokes about killing Iranians. Chuck Tood offers his insight, suggesting this is why people like McCain, because it makes him real and that people can have him sit at their kitchen table and know that he is one of them.

[Housewife]

Cable news guys are a bunch of pandering idiots. Can't stand to watch anymore. I get too pessimistic when I do.

[marc1antony]

me, too - they are bent on taking away all our hopes and dreams with their vile pessimism

[kkuate]

Why patronize these idiots with our cable subscription monies? ...I already cancelled mine. The only thing worth watching on cable was Suns games attempting to beat San Antonio, but I have learned by now they never will.

Seriously, let's hit these people where it really hurts - their purses and bank accounts.... Can you believe Rush Limbaugh is getting 360M? Someone in this country loves to hear his vomit seeping in their heads.

[musselmanm]

John McBush has just said we cannot wait to take action against Iran. This is a decleration of war by a Senator.
This needs to be a news flash. Number 1 story!

[kkuate]

Vote for Obama and you get two good things:

1. War crimes prosecution for Bush, Cheney, and cabinet.
2. A more stable world where diplomacy outweighs and reduces the policy of "good" people murdering "bad" people.

By "good" people I mean those who have been told by God they are just, white, pretty, and righteous. Just like the Nephites of old.

[PoliSci2008]

Exactly Musselmanm!!! NEWS FLASH, MCCAIN'S IRANIAN WAR PROPAGANDA. This should be #1 News on all the stations. When G W Bush ran for president, many people perdicted that he would finish HIS father's job on Iraq b/c of Sadam's threats against GH Bush and FOR HIS FATHER'S RESPECT AND ADMORATION. TaDa! Iraqi War!