McCain turns to music as funds falter
McCain turns to music as funds falter
By Andrew Ward in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: April 19 2007 20:02 | Last updated: April 19 2007 20:02
John McCain’s faltering bid to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 struck another off-key note this week, when he jokingly sang about bombing Iran at a campaign event in South Carolina.
Mr McCain responded to a question about how the US should tackle Iran’s nuclear programme by repeating a parody of the 1960s surf-rock classic, “Barbara Ann”.
“That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran,” he said, chuckling with his audience of military veterans in the small fishing community of Murrells Inlet.
He briefly entered into the chorus – “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” – before breaking off to talk more seriously about the issue.
A video of Mr McCain’s attempt at the song parody – first heard in the US during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis – was posted on YouTube, the video-sharing website.
Mr McCain was responding to an audience member who asked: “How many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up people now, never mind if they get a nuclear weapon, when do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?”
After his musical joke, the Arizona senator said he agreed with President George W. Bush that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel,” he said, according to accounts of the event. “That alone should concern us, but they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support the president when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel.”
Mr McCain, once considered the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has recently fallen behind the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in opinion polls and fundraising.
His strong support for Mr Bush and the war in Iraq has stripped him of the maverick reputation that brought him near the Republican nomination in 2000.
Fundraising results disclosed last week showed that Mr McCain’s campaign had less than half the cash on hand in the first quarter of this year that his two main rivals, Mr Giuliani and Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, managed to raise. A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll put Mr McCain in third place among Republican hopefuls behind Mr Giuliani and Fred Thompson, an actor and former senator who has not officially entered the race.
The poll also indicated that Mr McCain would lose to either of the two leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in a presidential election.
By Andrew Ward in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: April 19 2007 20:02 | Last updated: April 19 2007 20:02
John McCain’s faltering bid to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 struck another off-key note this week, when he jokingly sang about bombing Iran at a campaign event in South Carolina.
Mr McCain responded to a question about how the US should tackle Iran’s nuclear programme by repeating a parody of the 1960s surf-rock classic, “Barbara Ann”.
“That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran,” he said, chuckling with his audience of military veterans in the small fishing community of Murrells Inlet.
He briefly entered into the chorus – “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” – before breaking off to talk more seriously about the issue.
A video of Mr McCain’s attempt at the song parody – first heard in the US during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis – was posted on YouTube, the video-sharing website.
Mr McCain was responding to an audience member who asked: “How many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up people now, never mind if they get a nuclear weapon, when do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?”
After his musical joke, the Arizona senator said he agreed with President George W. Bush that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel,” he said, according to accounts of the event. “That alone should concern us, but they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support the president when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel.”
Mr McCain, once considered the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has recently fallen behind the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in opinion polls and fundraising.
His strong support for Mr Bush and the war in Iraq has stripped him of the maverick reputation that brought him near the Republican nomination in 2000.
Fundraising results disclosed last week showed that Mr McCain’s campaign had less than half the cash on hand in the first quarter of this year that his two main rivals, Mr Giuliani and Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, managed to raise. A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll put Mr McCain in third place among Republican hopefuls behind Mr Giuliani and Fred Thompson, an actor and former senator who has not officially entered the race.
The poll also indicated that Mr McCain would lose to either of the two leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in a presidential election.
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