McCain in Bad Shape Over Ape Rape Jape

Last night, I posted a piece about John McCain's latest brush with women's issues, but I just missed out on including this vile tidbit. The Nation reports that John McCain might not be all that sensitive to the ladies:

According to the Tucson Citizen, here's what McCain, then a two-term Congressman from Mesa, said during his run for the Senate:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'

Here's a link to the original article. At the time, McCain said, "How dare you, HOW DARE you make such an accusation?"

Wait, sorry, what he said, through a spokesman, was "John does not recollect telling that joke..."

The original article was very well-sourced.

McCain has a history of making disturbing jokes, such as a crack about then-18-year-old Chelsea Clinton, but nothing this heinous.

Here's what makes it worse, at least for me. I've heard this joke before, told by a loudmouthed nieghbor during a card game with my folks. Only when he told it, it was a black joke.

See, back in the early 80's, it was still common for people to tell heinous jokes like this to each other, but in public, you would have to use a thinly-veiled stand-in for the slur. For example, there was a guy who wrote for the NY Post when I was a kid, whose name escapes me, and he would write a bunch of Polish jokes, but change them to "Slobovian" jokes, or he would change "JAP" (Jewish American Princess) to "LIP" (Long Island Princess).

I've also reported before on McCain's slowness to keep up with decent people on issues involving civil rights, the Confederate flag, and the use of racial slurs.

If this story receives wide exposure, it could be the tipping point for female voters, and all gentlemen, to abandon their support of John McCain. PUMAs, are you listening?