One more McCain post-script

Arizona Senator John McCain began his speech to a crowd in Grinnell last week with the old joke about a bad introduction:  "Thank you for those kind words.  It’s nicer than the introduction I received at the Scottsdale Rotary Club the other day where the guy said ‘Here’s the latest dope from Washington — Senator John McCain,’ so thank you."  The crowd laughed.

McCain then sequed into his Arizona jokes:  "I’d like to thank all of you who wintered with us last winter," McCain said to gentle laughter.  "We look forward to having you all back as soon as the temperature dips below 90 degrees." 

"We have a real problem in Arizona.  It’s because Barry Goldwater ran for President of the United States and Morris Udall ran for President of the United States and Bruce Babbitt from Arizona ran for President of the United States and I — from Arizona — ran for President of the United States," McCain said.  "Arizona may be the only state in the country where mothers don’t tell their children that soembody they can grow up and be president, so I hope you’ll give us a little sympathy there."

McCain then proceeded to tell the correct version of a story Representative Danny Carroll had used in his speech a little earlier — without telling the crowd he (McCain) was telling it with proper attrbution.  "Morris Udall, a liberal Democrat, was running for president against Jimmy Carter in 1976, walked into a barbershop in Manchester, New Hampshire, and said ‘Hi, I’m Morris Udall from Arizona and I’m running for President of the United States’ and the barber said:  ‘Yea, we were just laughing about that this morning.’"  The crowd laughed more loudly at McCain’s telling than they had for Carroll’s.  "It’s one of the most famous political jokes and I can’t tell you how many politicians have inserted their name instead of Mo Udall’s in that."   

McCain launched into the "meat" of his speech — it was brief — then fielded questions.  He may have been saying these things in much the same way since 1999, but McCain hasn’t been saying them here in Iowa and the audience reaction was positive.  Mid-way into his speech in Grinnell, McCain interrupted himself right after he’d talked about Iraq and the world situation to invite all the veterans in the room up front to take a picture with him.  The crowd applauded as the pictures were snapped.