STEYN ON AMERICA
by Mark Steyn
July 20, 2015

…On the matter of McCain, in June 1998 the Senator stood up to address a Republican fundraising meeting: “You think that was a tasteless joke?” he began, referring to the previous speaker’s closing Viagra gag. “Listen to this one.” He then told the following side-splitter: “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?” “Because her real father’s Janet Reno.” Rimshot. In just twelve words, Senator McCain insulted not the President himself but the three women closest to him (officially, that is): he said the kid’s a dog, the First Lady’s an adulterous lesbian, and the Attorney-General’s an unconvincing transvestite. Is this as bad as mocking a guy’s 40-year-old military service? Well, it’s certainly ungallant. From the perspective of 2015, I have no respect whatsoever for any of the trio, but I would not mock their looks, orientation or alleged possession of male genitalia. At the time young Chelsea had just turned 18. Is it more disreputable for a grown man to insult in public a rich, powerful senator’s war record than a teenage girl’s looks? Whatever the answer, a chap who’s done the latter has no business complaining about the former. READ MORE