McCain Targeted
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The liberal group MoveOn.org is launching an ad against Senator McCain, Republican of Arizona, and his joke about bombing Iran, arguing that the nation “can’t afford another reckless president.”
The group plans to spend about $100,000 to air a commercial on network and some cable television stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that hold early contests in the presidential nomination process, spokesman Alex Howe said Friday.
Mr. McCain, campaigning Wednesday in South Carolina, answered a question about military action against Iran with the chorus of the surf-rocker classic “Barbara Ann.”
“That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran,” he said. “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah …”
His audience laughed, but MoveOn.org called the comment dangerous.
“America has lived through six years of a reckless foreign policy,” an announcer says in the ad. “We’re stuck in Iraq. More than 3,000 Americans are dead. And thousands more wounded.
“Now comes John McCain with his answer to what we should do about Iran. John McCain? We can’t afford another reckless president.”
The group ran ads in the same states in January, criticizing the Arizona senator’s support for sending more troops to Iraq.
Mr. McCain defended the joke during a campaign stop in Nevada on Thursday.
“Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends,” he told reporters in Las Vegas. “My response is, Lighten up and get a life.”
Asked if his joke was insensitive, Mr. McCain said: “Insensitive to what? The Iranians?”
His campaign said the latest commercial is predictable.
“It comes as no surprise that America’s most liberal interest group would attack John McCain’s belief that we cannot allow Iran to destroy Israel,” McCain spokesman Matt David said:
The head of MoveOn said Mr. McCain displayed “more out-of-control bravado.”
“The point is, a presidential candidate just doesn’t kid around about bombing other countries, especially countries with high tensions, and especially where a diplomatic solution is our only hope,” Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said Friday.
Mr. McCain’s comments, posted on YouTube.com, had been viewed at least 118,056 times as of Friday morning.
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On the Web: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vo-zoPgv_nYg
