Joe Lieberman: "John McCain Doesn't Have A Racist Bone In His Body", Well... Except When Calling Vietnamese "Gook[s]"

Flashback, John McCain of 2000:

On his campaign bus recently, Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming.

It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group.

It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender.

More coverage at OliverWillis.com

Follow Oliver Willis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/owillis

Comments

[MadRiver Jack]

Don't be confused about Lieberman:

http://i33.tinypic.com/2sb5xyq.jpg

[magen]

Don't we have any Asian American groups to protest this racist remark?????????

[TexasDem0]

I cannot understand the rational for some of the comments here posted by others, but when I was in Vietnam, the work “gook” was a racist term used by racists.

[PACRAT]

Is Leibermouse for real?

If McCain doesn't have a racist bone in his body, who's bones is he usiing? Why does the media continue to treat McCain with kid gloves and ignore his idiocy? Oh, would it be because the media are owned by neo-cons?

[peterg76]

If he has no bones, maybe that's why flip-flopping comes so easily to him.

[Rog49Thomas]

In general politicians say what it takes to get elected. And use the tactics necessary to get elected.

Does one have to be a racist to play the race card?
Does one have to be religious to court "Pastor" Dobson?
Does one have to hate gays to trade on homophobia?

Answer to all the above is no.

What's required is simply hypocrisy.

[jqcitizen]

As a former GI, I can say this, and Joe Lieberman cannot. ..... If you love war Joe Lieberman, go fight one.

Quit calling those that have been "there" names.

War IS about race, heritage, religion and above all self preservation (in some cases ego).

Now join your favorite hate group, the US NAVY. ...John McCain and John Kerry.

Your ego might get inflated, but you might have to change your political mind again if and when you survive a stupid war like this one.

[mjc]

This may come as news to some but that term was used so widely by our troops in Vietnam that don't think any one ever thought that it was a racist term; just another term for Viet Cong, or perhaps all Vietnamese. In order to hate your enemy enough to destroy them completely many armies, but especially our army, develops code words for the enemy that designate that those people are not quite human. I know I heard it enough from returning vets to believe that many DID think that.

[RedKnuckles]

But the point here is that here is McCain, 25 years later, still calling them gooks. You're absolutely correct that our troops were trained to hate their enemy, call them gooks, and essentially depersonalize them so they'd be easier to kill. But 25 years later, McCain is still in that mindset? What other damaged baggage has he been carrying all these years?

[BassMonk]

Agreed Red. I think most of us understand mjc's point, it happens in all wars. But John McCain apparently did not understand it as of the quote from 2000. It makes me wonder if he's figured it out yet.

[Housewife]

McCain is still fighting the Vietnam war, or would be if he'd had his way. That is why he can't be president. To him, Iraq is no different. He thinks getting out of that mess is surrender. We are in big trouble if he wins this election.

[Danigirl65]

I don't think it comes as news to anybody BUT, as a candidate for President, McCain should not be given a slide on using a racial term.

Allowing McCain to refer to "gooks" because that is what Vietnam vets refer to the Vietnamese as would be like Obama using the "n" word and we excuse it because he is half black. Even Jesse Jackson didn't get away with that one, and McCain should be held to a higher bar.

[OncevotedRepub]

I was in Saigon with MAAG before the war (1958), when the VC were a minor annoyance out in the provinces, and the South Vietnamese were our great and good friends. Nevertheless, they were still called gooks. (I suspect the word was left over from the Korean war, but still, it was and is offensive.)

[jethrock]

Exactly

[captainigor]

"Gook" is a Korean word that translates to "foreigner"

[Zenpilot]

He must have been pretty mad at his Korean captors.

[Gunfighter]

Actually, "gook" is a mispronunciation of a Korean word. Not criticizing... just saying.

[Thorn]

At the time, everyone who was there concurred that he was speaking specifically about the men who tortured him (for five-and-a-half years). Ask yourself if you wouldn't use the most damaging language you could in the same situation.

[4real]

Please that's like calling someone the N word and then say well not all blacks just the ones that did this--- a racial slur is a racial slur..period.

[mscriblerus]

I've actually heard that before. Racial epithet followed quickly by embarrassed realization that object of said epithet was present, followed by nervous, meandering explanation of how it only applies to a very specific subset of said ethnic group, and certainly not the one representative present....then usually uncomfortable silence.

People that perform that little act are ignorant. People who buy their logic are fooling themselves.

[ThatsNotFunny]

So using racial slurs is fine, as long as everyone in the room knows who you're talking about? I'm sorry, that just doesn't make any sense. Being tortured does not give you license to use language that demeans an entire people.

Not acceptable.

[S1m0n]

Yes, and he was speaking of them using a racist term. What's your point?