Weblog Sin Pies

By Charley Daniels

Liberal blogs, pundits, and talking heads, in cooperation with the recently formed Society for Preservation of Beach Boys Song Lyrics, are foaming at the mouth over Republican Senator John McCain’s parody of the Beach Boys song “Barbara Ann” (video after the jump), in which he turned the words of the song into “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.” The impromptu performance came during a speaking engagement where McCain was asked by an audience member whether the U.S. should send Iran a message via air mail. Get it? “Air” mail? Obviously a lighthearted (if a little tasteless and, you know, idiotic) moment. So McCain responded in a similarly lighthearted (and, yes, a little tasteless and idiotic) way.

After the uproarious laughter subsided, McCain apparently launched into a serious answer about the complex political situation between Iran and the U.S. and a bunch of other politics-speak. So what’s the big deal?

Look, I’m no McCain enthusiast. I don’t agree with his ideology, his politics, or his choice of tie. If he wants to play no-rules street ball, I’ll put on my spiky fingerless gloves and take him on any day. But if politicians aren’t allowed to have a sense of humor in a situation that’s informal and lighthearted, maybe we should just skip to the part where robots take over, since we’re already at least a third of the way there.

The bottom line is, I’ve been listening to a lot of the Republican candidates (and potential candidates) for presidency, and I have to say, McCain’s joke isn’t even in the top 10 most idiotic things I’ve heard from that group. And most of the time they’re being serious. Don’t even get me started on the current Commander-in-Chief.

So if you’re going to dislike John McCain, don’t do it because he’s a bad singer who makes stupid jokes. Focus more on his myriad terrible policies that are actually real. And sure, we probably all have plenty of contempt to spread around to even the smallest things that the other party’s candidates are doing, but the optimist in me (he comes out once in a while on Fridays) would really like to see a presidential race that’s about what’s important.

If McCain were president (dear god) and used his “Barbara Ann” parody as an official declaration for war, we’d have a problem. As it is, what more does it tell us about him that we couldn’t have surmised by visiting his website or listening to him give a speech or interview? What’s the revelation?