Not everyone can be a comedian, especially in 140 words or less. Senator John McCain tweeted a joke calling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a monkey. The tweet read, “So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space—wasn’t he just there last week?” and linked to a news article about Iran launching a monkey into space. When many Twitter users blasted McCain for the joke’s insinuation, he told them to “lighten up.” Arab American congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) then tweeted back at McCain, “Maybe you should wisen up & not make racist jokes.”

Naturally, pointing out that racism exists at all sent Republican tweeters into a frenzy. According to the wingnut tweeters, it's *okay* to be racist if your target is an @sshole, that is, "if" racism existed at all in conservative land. Also it's apparently okay with wingnuts if you're only insulting an individual, and not a group.

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During a press conference Tuesday discussing Syria, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said he spoke with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) this morning and looks forward to "interrogating" the nominee for Secretary of State at his confirmation hearing next week, joking that "we will bring back, for the only time, waterboarding to get the truth out."

McCain was joking, of course, (Recall this "hilarious" moment in 2007?) but I hope Senator Kerry takes some security along with him to the confirmation hearing.

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper tonight, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) broke with Mitt Romney and said that he could not continue to support Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock unless he offers an apology for saying during a debate on Tuesday night, that pregnancy after rape is “something that God intended to happen.” While several high-profile Republicans have sharply denounced Mourdock, Romney continues to support him and will not ask for Mourdock to take down a TV ad with Romney endorsing his candidacy. Incidentally, it’s the only general election ad that Mitt Romney has appeared in for a candidate for U.S. Senate.

COOPER: "Senator John McCain made some news on this when I asked him earlier if he still has – well, if he still supports Mourdock."

COOPER (on tape): "Do you still count yourself in his corner?"

MCCAIN (on tape): "It depends on what he does. I think it depends on what he does. If he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him, then obviously I’d be the first – you know, as I said, I'm not sure how big a mistakes that I’ve made. But, you know, in the years that I’ve been around, I’ve made a few, Anderson, and I’ve asked for people's understanding and forgiveness when I won't -- when I own up to it. It’s when you don't own up to it when people will not believe you."

Senator McCain is also the only Republican thus far to call on Mourdock to apologize for his outrageous statement on rape.

Key Senate Staffer on Military Issues Got Big Payout From Lockheed Martin

by Justin Elliott ProPublica, July 26, 2012, 5 p.m.

Lockheed Martin has big business in Washington, with Defense Department contracts representing more than half of the company's $46.5 billion in net sales last year. And now, Lockheed has a former top lobbyist in a key position on Capitol Hill overseeing the company.

Former Lockheed vice president Ann Elise Sauer was hired by Sen. John McCain in February as the top Republican staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The revolving door swings regularly in Washington, but the size of the compensation package Sauer received from Lockheed when she left the company is notable. A financial disclosure form shows the defense giant gave Sauer $1.6 million in compensation around the time she took a buyout in January 2011.

At the moment, the stakes for Lockheed in Washington are even higher than usual, with the company leading the military contracting industry's charge to convince Congress to avoid a $492 billion, 9-year cut in military spending set to be triggered in January.

Lockheed CEO Robert Stevens was on the Hill this month warning that the company would have to lay off 10,000 employees if Congress does not make a deal. "Most tragically, we feel we will be unable to provide the equipment and support needed by our military forces," Stevens told the House.

As staff director for the minority on the Senate committee, Sauer has an important role in the battle over the possible military budget cuts. The committee regularly makes decisions that determine the fate of Lockheed's business.

There is no law barring lobbyists from entering public service on Capitol Hill. But Ben Freeman, national security investigator at the Project on Government Oversight who wrote about Sauer Thursday, says that the presence of a former Lockheed executive in a key position overseeing the company is cause for concern.

"Some of the biggest issues in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee right now deal directly with Lockheed Martin programs," Freeman says. "These are big-dollar programs that are going through some troubles and need some oversight."

One example is Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has been plagued by cost overruns and other problems.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, said in a statement that the senator made an "unsolicited offer of employment" to Sauer and that she accepted the offer "on a stop-gap, temporary one-year basis."

"When Ms. Sauer accepted Senator McCain's offer to lead his Armed Services Committee staff, she did so at her own financial detriment, as she was required to liquidate all remaining Lockheed stock and options in compliance with Senate Ethics Committee guidelines," Rogers said. (See the full statement.)

Sauer, who has spent much of her career on Capitol Hill in various capacities, is a specialist on the federal budget. She spent 23 years as a Senate staffer, including 14 years with the armed services committee, and a stint as McCain's legislative director. She left Capitol Hill to join Lockheed in 2000. (Sauer did not respond to a request for comment.)

Sauer spent a decade at the company, rising to be Lockheed's Washington-based vice president for acquisition policy, logistics, and budget. For most of the time, she was a registered lobbyist who lobbied in the Senate and elsewhere, according to disclosure filings.

"She was the corporation's federal budget expert," according to her bio posted on the site of the group Women in Defense, "responsible for tracking and analyzing the federal budget, both defense and non-defense. At various times, she was responsible for managing the corporation's senior-level interfaces with senior Executive and Legislative Branch officials on a wide array of programs and policy issues."

She briefly started a military consulting firm specializing in "federal budget and fiscal policy information and insights." Sauer's financial disclosure, which is required of senior congressional staffers, lists $55,000 in consulting fees paid by another defense giant, BAE Systems.

Her financial disclosure forms show her final payments from Lockheed included $660,000 in salary and bonus, $769,000 in deferred compensation, and $232,000 in "retired pay."

Rogers, the McCain spokesman, said that Sauer's compensation was made up of pay from the buyout program, "normal annual incentive compensation" and "significant deferred compensation."

Lockheed declined to comment.

Sauer's case has a precedent. Last year, the House Armed Services Committee hired Thomas MacKenzie, a Northrop Grumman lobbyist who received a large bonus from the company before starting his job on the Hill.