John McCain: "I Hate The Gooks"

Alvin Lin
May 21, 2008

No commentary necessary, it speaks for itself. I find his rationale and defense insane.

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.

Here is the article link

Categories: 
Race
News and Politics
Contributor: 

Alvin Lin

Blogger

Alvin Lin was born in Taipei, Taiwan and hails from New England. He blogs about Asian American pop culture, film, music, literature and politics, as well as relevant news around the world. He also writes for Imprint Talk. Alvin has degrees from Cornell and MIT.

Suggested Reads

On SF's San Bruno Ave, Businesses Promote Common Ground
Interracial Marriage: Still Happening, but More Slowly
January Fiction: "A Long-Lost Might-Have Loved"

Comments

Comments

surfed wrote on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 3:34pm
yikes. that was big news. eight years ago.
Vietnamese wrote on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 4:08pm
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.
KOUA THAO wrote on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 1:00pm
fuck u mccain i hope u trip and break ur hip
Bolsa brat wrote on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 4:54pm
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!