McCain's 'Bomb Iran' song was anti-Muslim?

On Friday, we reported that YouTube erroneously deleted a video of presidential candidate John McCain singing an impromptu ditty about starting a war with Iran.

McCain had joked about it during a a campaign stop in South Carolina last week, singing: "That old, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway."

There was a song called "Barbara Ann," first performed by The Regents and made popular by the Beach Boys.

But a group called Vince Vance and the Valiants actually released the "Bomb Iran" song during the 1979 hostage crisis, and the lyrics are clearly anti-Muslim, at least by today's standards. (It's available on Amazon.com.)

An excerpt from the full lyrics:

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks.
Tell the Ayatollah..."Gonna put you in a box!"
Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceilin', bomb Iran.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Ol' Uncle Sam's gettin' pretty hot.
Time to turn Iran into a parking lot. Bomb Iran...

It's not clear whether McCain was thinking of the Vince Vance lyrics, or merely joking about dropping high explosives on Iranian civilians, but it was enough for the Arab American Institute to get worried. In a statement, the group called on McCain to disavow his remarks.

On Thursday, McCain had defended "Bomb Iran," saying: "Lighten up and get a life.' Asked if his choice of songs was insensitive, McCain said, according to the Associated Press: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"

[jeffala]

Probably not anti-Muslim

He probably wasn't being anti-Muslim. What he was being was stupid. It's common among politicians.

[vSente]

Standards clause...

"clearly anti-Muslim, at least by today's standards"

Declan, can you please show me the "standards" clause that clearly describes what is and is not anti-muslim?

Thanks.

[Christopher Hall]

I would venture a guess...

I'm going to go with this bit, specifically:
[i]>>Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks.
>>Tell the Ayatollah..."Gonna put you in a box!"[/i]

Let's translate this into how a Christian would likely think the remark was anti-Christian, just for grins:
[i]>>Went to a church, gonna burn a cross.
>>Go tell the Pope..."Gonna put you in a box!"[/i]

[jjesusfreak01]

People are forgetting...

That the Ayatollah is the head of Iran (MA is just a figurehead). Seeing as the mosque would be where to find him, the song really is doing nothing more than saying "I wanna kill Kim Jong Il", ill find him in his palace...Bomb North Korea...Bomb bomb, bomb North Korea".

[Zion48]

If the same statement was made against Israel, or Jews...

Now If the same statement was made against Israel, or Jews
directly, it would be anti-semetic, and be shunned by everyone.

However, regardless of the fact that Iranians are human beings,
and that Muslims who follow Islam are also human beings, hold
little value to Mr MCCAIN, is not only concerning, but alarming to
say the least.

[hlgriggs]

"shunned by everyone" - are you kidding?

Lol, if the same comment had been directed at Israel McCain would be viewed as a hero by the Muslim world. Perhaps you are not familiar with Ahmadinejad's comments toward Israel and unlike McCain's pathetic attempt at humor Ahmadinejad's comments CAN (and should) be taken at face value. Boo hoo... poor Islam - crapped on again - time to break out those Acme brand effiges and toss on a McCain mask. If you have a problem with McCain's big mouth be sure not to vote for him - I won't be but not because of this.

[TowerTone]

Well how 'bout that?

Maybe I am wrong, but has the "Arab American Institute" called on
the Iranian government to disavow their anti-Jewish/Israeli
remarks? Any remarks they have made?

By the way, Iran isn't even Arab.

[System Tyrant]

Get a life people...

It's called a joke. As a matter of fact I found it kind of funny. Even more to the point I don't have any desire to hurt anybody because of it.

I'm beginning to understand what's wrong with the world. People are just to darn uptight. I think it's now time for people to remove the lump of coal from their butts and see what grade of diamond they have.

It's a truly sad day when somebody makes what is very obviously a joke (and one that's even amusing) and people go nuts. What McCain said isn't bad or in poor taste. It was a joke. The only thing bad is the people who are determined to make it into something bad. Those people should be ashamed of themselves.

[SrDominion]

Re: Get a life people

Well we certainly don't want to be critical of anything YOU find to be funny. I mean as long as YOU find it funny then everything is a-OK. Forget that McCain is running for President of the US. Forget that he is trying to become one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) man in the world. Forget that the current administration has been talking the war talk against Iran for a number of years now. Forget all of it. After all, it amused YOU. And really, when you get right down to it, we can tell the rest of the world to go hang (it has worked really well these past six years) because hey, at least YOU got a laugh!

[garcon noir]

Funny or not, he ain't backin down...

While McCain's comment may be viewed as funny, satire, a joke, or as bitter ethnicism (or whatever other "ism" you can label it,) he's standing by his words on this one and doesn't seem to be backpedaling to recast them in a more palatable light to the masses. For that, I have to give the man big ups.

That being said, I still wouldn't vote for anyone who is willing to make light of the situation in the Middle East and joke about war. The situation is a very complex and difficult one for both sides, and even the appearance of it being jokeworthy is not going to help untangle the thousand years of religio-political conflict in the region.

[Newspeak finder]

More McCain nonsense

Thanks for keeping the rest of the world amused with this type of
right wing loony fundamentalist nonsense.