Rep. Amash calls Sen. McCain's Iran joke 'racist'

By David Shepardson Detroit News Washington Bureau

A Michigan member of Congress said fellow Republican Sen. John McCain made a "racist joke" for a tweet comparing the Iranian president to a monkey. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, blasted McCain, R-Arizona, for a tweet about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. McCain referenced a story the leader   "wants to be first Iranian in space — wasn't he just there last week? 'Iran launches monkey into space,' " McCain tweeted to his 1.8 million followers. It was retweeted and favorited more than 1,100 times.  About 30 minutes later, McCain added a second tweet "Re: Iran space tweet — lighten up folks, can't everyone take a joke?" To Read More……  

My Take – Wait a minute…..I have a question.  Isn’t Ahmadinejad supportive of those who call Jews pigs and apes, and want to use atomic bombs on Israelis and Americans?  So I wonder if this guy was just as upset when he heard that?  I wonder if he e-mailed “Ah-the-mad-jihadist” to let him know that was unacceptable, or tweeted to his fans his displeasure? Somehow I doubt it.   Jim Geraghty wrote in his “Morning Jolt” from National Review Online;

So, the butt of the joke is Ahmadinejad, and the whole idea is that he's a monkey because . . . well, he's stupid. He. He thinks there are no gays in his entire country. He utters warm, friendly statements like, "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."

So . . . really? Call Ahmadinejad a monkey, and it's ipso facto racist? Can't it just be that we hate that one guy, instead of all Iranians or all individuals who match his hue on the Sherman Williams paint sample book of human flesh?

As Kat McKinley noted, "If we can't joke about someone as horrid as Ahmadinejad, then political correctness is out of control." Well, we've known that political correctness is out of control for some time; it's just that we didn't expect Republican congressmen to be among the enforcers for this mentality.

Am I cynical for thinking that if Amash made a televised statement, the closed captioning would read, "Look at me, look at me"?

I’m inclined to agree with that last statement since according to Wikipedia he is an Arab-American of Palestinian Christian and Syrian Greek Orthodox descent.  His father is a Palestinian business owner, whose family immigrated to the United States in 1956 through the sponsorship of a Christian pastor and his family. Amash attended Kelloggsville Christian School and graduated as class valedictorian from Grand Rapids Christian High School.

I wonder if he has noticed what people like "Ah-the-mad-jihadist" are doing to professed Christian all over the Islamic world?  I wonder why this very real disaster isn't the focus of his ire instead of this pathetic claim of racism against McCain?  It can't be that McCain is a safe target versus Islamists who have the tendency to kill those who offend them; can it?  What I really wonder is this - what is wrong with the people of Michigan?  There must be something in the water.