Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) apologized for a joke he made about Long Island “regrettably” being a part of the United States of America, when he took the Senate floor Wednesday. Mr. McCain made the Long Island remark while arguing over a defense bill that would allow the military to detain terrorism suspects indefinitely on U.S. soil.
In a debate with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) over a case involving Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s decision in a case involving German soldiers captured in Long Island, Mr. McCain made the following remark Wednesday.
“Isn’t it true that Justice O’Connor was specifically referring to a case for a person captured on Long Island? Last I checked, Long Island was part — albeit sometimes regrettably — part of the United States of America,” the Arizona Republican said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who was in Brooklyn while McCain made his comments on Capitol Hill, quickly fired back at McCain via his twitter account, Mr. Schumer tweeted the following reply Wednesday, “All of America saw how heroic Long Islanders were on 9/11. Long Island deserves an apology.”
When Mr. McCain caught wind of Schumer’s comments, he returned to the Senate floor and apologized for his Long Island joke.
“In an exchange here on the floor … I mentioned the wonderful long people — wonderful Long Island, I made a joke,” Mr. McCain said.
“I’m sorry there’s at least one of my colleagues that can’t take a joke, and so I apologize if I offended him and hope that someday he will have a sense of humor,” Mr. McCain added.
Mr. Schumer responded to the apology on his twitter account again, tweeting, “NYers can take a joke. But if @SenJohnMcCain wants to mock parts of America, stick to Arizona.”
“I don’t think he meant it to be malicious, but I didn’t want to let it go unanswered,” Mr. Schumer stated.
The Senate voted 61 to 37 in favor of the bill.
