Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.
"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."
McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was questioned about the language because of a story last month in the Nation magazine reporting his continued use of the slur.
Since then, reports of McCain's language have been circulating on Internet chat sites and e-mails among Asian Americans, many of whom find the the term offensive and inappropriate for an elected official.
Posted by Alvin at May 21, 2008 1:55 PM
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Does anyone else find that shit fucked up? I mean, here you have a man who might just become the next president of the United States, using a racist slur and justifying it with some outrageous BULLSHIT. Sure, he was detained in Vietnam for 5 years as a... [Read More]
Tracked on June 20, 2008 3:25 AM
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yikes. that was big news. eight years ago.
yeah, "totally" dated news, surfed--except that he's looking to be president THIS year. old man's changed his tune on a hell of a lot in 8 years--but apparently this is a matter of firm principle.
I remember when this story originally came out cause so of my friends went down to little saigon to protest McCain. Any presidential candidate needs to be more racially sensitive. I understand the specific context of his use of "gook" ie North Vietnamese soldier, VC. But most people do not understand that specific context and understand gook to mean Asian. He needs to figure that out and stop using that term!!! If its ok for him to use the term then people might think it is ok for them to use the term as well. Not cool at all!