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McCain: Maybe Cigarettes Will Kill the Iranians

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July 08, 2008 8:08 PM

ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made an off the cuff joke Tuesday about cigarettes killing Iranians.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was asked about the number of exports going to Iran, specifically the increase in cigarette exports.

McCain looked surprised at that fact and in a line somewhat reminiscent of his "bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran" comment last year said, "Maybe that's a way of killing them." Then he followed it up quickly noting that it was a joke.

McCain made the remark during a visit to Primanti Brothers Sandwich shop in Pittsburg, Pa.

The senator's humor has gotten him into some trouble before. Last April he jokingly sang "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" to the tune of The Beach Boys classic "Barbara Ann" song. That "bomb Iran" moment became a sensation on YouTube and Democrats used the video to knock McCain's temperament.

July 8, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan | Permalink | User Comments (345)

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Add this remark to his "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" Chant-and he looks like a poor choice for "finger on the button" man.

Posted by: Connie | Jul 8, 2008 8:54:17 PM

huh? are you anti-american, too? those people love people like you.

Posted by: Kitty | Jul 8, 2008 8:54:31 PM

Kitty - ouch!!! I guess not. Vote for Barr if you want a return to fiscal responsibility. You republicans have spent us into the ground. This will continue under McCain especially if we get to visit Tehran, and Obama will spend even more. Can't believe you are defending McCain.

Posted by: Ben Straub | Jul 8, 2008 8:55:22 PM

hey connie, as apposed to "i pushed the wrong button" obama. jeez. do the research on your candidate for once, will you?

Posted by: Kitty | Jul 8, 2008 8:56:15 PM

Kitty - Actually I work in the defense area building remote sensing radar systems to protect your arsse. However current policies oversees makes our job more in demand but very difficult. My recommendation to make fewer enemies by treating people with respect. I will put it in terms that maybe as a republican you can understand. We simply can not afford these wars.

Posted by: Huh | Jul 8, 2008 8:57:58 PM

ohhhhhhhh ben, i'm not republican. i'm your worst nightmare. INDEPENDENT. lol and even more of a nightmare for you. my state didn't allow me to vote in the primaries, but you better believe i will be out and about on election day. boo!

Posted by: Kitty | Jul 8, 2008 8:58:05 PM

Another one for McCain's Greatest Hits:

-- "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c*nt." [to his wife Cindy]
-- "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
-- "Time was I could knock up Cleopatra just by winking at her”
-- "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"
-- "Maybe that's a way of killing them." [re: exporting cigarettes to Iran]

There's alot more but you get the idea.

Posted by: HonestAbe | Jul 8, 2008 8:58:50 PM

McCain is right. Cigarettes will kill you. I gave them up long ago now. Look I like a President with a good sense of humor. All this serious stuff is not good for the mood of the country. I am a HILLARY Supporter who will definitely vote for McCain. I really like his Energy Policy. McCain is a very sensible down to earth real person. We do not need another elitist Bush or elitest Obama.

I suspect Obama studied too much the rise to power of Adolph Hitler. The similarities are scarry.

Posted by: DemocratNoMore2 | Jul 8, 2008 8:59:09 PM

@Kitty
You are wrong.most iranians are good people.current us policies stir up antiamericanism.

Posted by: Siad | Jul 8, 2008 8:59:53 PM

yea, well, huh! i think we should walk tall and carry a big stick. your radar isn't going to stop a guy with a backpack full of explosives which is the real threat we face in the future. get a real job, k?

Posted by: Kitty | Jul 8, 2008 9:00:25 PM

Kitty-Independent ya right! I am too, but I did like Ron Paul. Republicans are going down with good reason. Get used to it.

Posted by: Huh | Jul 8, 2008 9:01:01 PM

That was funny and quit witted. Obama would have been left sitting there thinking about how he is going to screw-over the working class by taking away their inventive to learn and grow.
Obama would have laughed at how his taxing the investor class would send normal US Angel Investors overseas with money.
McCain 3R Economic Plan is what we need AND NO MATTER HOE LEFT YOU MAY BE, you cannot deny McCain's Economy and the 3R beats the heck out Obama's killer tax plan that hates the working class.

Besides, the only good Iranian is a smoking Iranian. Toke up Ayatollah!

Now seiously, go to my old investor site and look up McCain's 3R Plan.
We are in this together people (left or right) and this is the ONLY plan that will allow us to live the Americana dream!
John Lewis Mealer

Posted by: jlmealer | Jul 8, 2008 9:01:02 PM

Shows you where MCBUSH'S priorities are I agree with youy huh, maybe if we cleaned off our own back porches instead of the rest of the world we would be better off. I wonder how we would like it if a stranger told us how to live , what to manufacture, and what crops too grow. Talk about a dictator in the white house he is it

Posted by: Rose Szymanski | Jul 8, 2008 9:01:49 PM

Senator made a comment that is all to true. Cigarettes kill millions of people worldwide each year. We have reduced our smoking to 20% of adults. If Iran wants cigarettes, then sell to them. We don't want them here. And it will kill 1/3 of Iranians who become addicted smokers. Let's stick to the point. Senator McCain is right. It is sad, but true.

Posted by: Tim Olson | Jul 8, 2008 9:02:51 PM

hey huh, well the jokes on you, buddy. if you think electing obama is going to solve all our problems, then you are well-suited to be a democrat. cuz we all know the solution to the world's problems lies in the hands of a bunch of democratic politicians. and by the way, i like ron paul, too.

Posted by: Kitty | Jul 8, 2008 9:03:31 PM

McCain is just proving what a total idiot he is. I wouldn't get in a plane he was flying let alone let him have any authority over anything that could remotely affect me. I wouldn't hire this clown to take out my garbage. It would be like electing the drug dummy Rush Limbaugh or that other idiot Hannity.

It seems the Republican Party has been taken over by the sub-100 IQ crowd that get their instructions from Elmer Gantry type preachers.

Posted by: Steve Fitter | Jul 8, 2008 9:03:51 PM

That not presidential material a good soldier yes a President no way. we do not need another a hole in the White House

Posted by: BOB | Jul 8, 2008 9:04:03 PM

Apparently McCain also has a gambling problem. McCain's passion for gambling has never been a secret. According to a recent NY Times article, aides say McCain tends to play for a few thousand dollars at a time but avoids taking markers, or loans, from the casinos, which he has helped regulate in Congress. "He never, ever plays on the house," says Mark Salter, a McCain adviser. The goal, say several people familiar with his habit, is never financial. He loves the thrill of winning and the camaraderie at the table. Only recently have McCain's aides urged him to pull back from the pastime. In the heat of the G.O.P. primary fight last spring, he announced on a visit to the Vegas Strip that he was going to the casino floor. When his aides stopped him, fearing a public relations disaster, McCain suggested that they ask the casino to take a craps table to a private room, a high-roller privilege McCain had indulged in before. His aides, with alarm bells ringing, refused again, according to two accounts of the discussion.

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His "passion" for gambling sounds problematic to me. In addition to being a troubling bad habit, it is also not the mentality you would want for someone with their finger on the "launch button".

Posted by: HonestAbe | Jul 8, 2008 9:04:22 PM

Kitty-Actually the radars work wonders. The real way to stop terrorists is to take away the incentive to do harm. So far our policies of overwhelming support for Israel, having bases in the arab world, and threatening those that believe differently with violence only enhances the dangers. Remember our sanctions on Iraq over those ten years killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. We should only expect some blowback.

Posted by: Huh | Jul 8, 2008 9:04:36 PM

We don't have much choice on either side of the fence with Hillary out of it

Posted by: Rose Szymanski | Jul 8, 2008 9:04:50 PM

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