title: REMEMBER WHEN THE LEFT THOUGHT IT WAS ‘FUNNY’ TO SAY ABOUT MCCAIN: “I don’t buy the war hero thing”
text: Because it was a  joke  before it was politically incorrect?Before Al Franken became a United States Senator from Minnesota, he had a long career as a comedian (save for Stuart Saves His Family), an original writer on Saturday Night Live, and later as a political radio host on Air America.During that time, and when he was writing books like Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Liar and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Franken took some shots at his now-fellow senator John McCain s military service. He also made one joke in a 2000 Salon.com essay just as presidential election season started picking up steam. Here s the remark: I have tremendous respect for McCain but I don t buy the war hero thing. Anybody can be captured. I thought the idea was to capture them. As far as I m concerned he sat out the war.  Before everyone suggests Franken need to apologize just like Donald Trump should, here s why this is different: Back in 2000, Franken was not a political figure. He wasn t a sitting anything or a candidate for anything; the closest he came to political officialdom was as a revered satirist. More importantly, he even re-told the joke to McCain s face in 2004, when the senator was on Franken s own radio show.Here s how Franken s spokesperson commented on the joke:The fact that a statement came so quickly from Franken s office demonstrates that he is well-aware it is a terrible thing to say about McCain.On the other hand, Trump is not just not apologizing, he s doubling down. Because he knows we ll all keep writing about it.But hey   we all need a good clown, even if unintentional. It s a long presidential race. Via: Mediaite[h/t Politico]