August 4, 2008
McCain's Sense of Humor
At Least He Has One
Last month, Politico writer Ben Smith discussed John McCain's jokes, which tend towards the politically incorrect. Smith questions whether the jokes make McCain more "authentic" by showing his maverick personality or whether they're just plain offensive. McCain's sense of humor returned to the spotlight when he chose to use Paris Hilton in an ad mocking Obama's celebrity status. Many considered the ad a joke at the expense of Paris, and the attention rapidly shifted from Obama to the outraged Hilton parents. But the question remains: do these jokes give us insight into McCain's psyche?
According to the Politico story, during the Clinton presidency McCain made fun of Chelsea Clinton's looks. Obviously that was an unkind thing to do. Actually, the joke as a whole was far meaner to Janet Reno, but I suppose she's considered a fair target. Does the joke tell us anything about McCain's personality? Not really, since the context was a Republican fundraiser. In that setting, a mean joke about the president's daughter and Janet Reno was classic, convention-style insider humor, targeted at a receptive audience that was likely to find it funny. McCain's only real mistake was allowing it to go on record.
As for his jokes allegedly making fun of the elderly, I think we have yet another case of failing to understand the actual target of a joke. Referring to the retirement community Leisure World as "Seizure World" isn't really a joke intended to disparage old people; it's a joke about the health problems that often come with advanced age. Ditto for the joke about "being able to hide your own Easter eggs" with Alzheimer's. McCain's own advanced age gets him out of hot water here. He's old. Therefore, he's allowed to joke about old people. Furthermore, Freud would say that we joke about things we fear, and perhaps this is McCain's way of dealing with age-related anxieties. These types of jokes do tell us about McCain's personality, and reveal something a little more vulnerable than we'd expect. But again, it wasn't the smartest move to make these remarks in public.
Finally, the jokes about killing Iranians. Are they offensive? Yes, but only if you're a younger, globally-minded, America-hating liberal. I jest, but my point is serious: it's perfectly reasonable to be offended by this type of joke. But it's completely unreasonable (and naive) to assume that everyone in America will be as offended as you are. There are plenty of xenophobic assholes who find such jokes hilarious, and (surprise!) many of them are already McCain supporters. As for the question of whether this tells us anything about McCain? Yes, it does, but it was nothing we didn't already know: he's an old-school, jingoistically pro-American hawk who thinks it's OK to joke about killing non-Americans. That shouldn't surprise anyone.
