With a little help from his McSexist friends...

As McJoan at DailyKos reports, John McCain had to cancel a fundraiser with a contributor set for Monday in Texas. The contributor, a Mr. Clayton Williams, has already raised $300,000 for the Mavericky StraighttalkerTM.

McCain had to cancel when people began to focus on Williams' past.

Williams ran for governor of Texas in 1990 against the late, great Ann Richards (and lost). Williams, a bazillioniare businessman ran a joke of a campaign that focused on his fake cowboy image.

During the campaign Williams exhibited his lovely sense of humor:

Clayton Williams stirred controversy during his 1990 campaign for governor of Texas with a botched attempt at humor in which he compared rape to weather. Within earshot of a reporter, Williams said: “As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.

Here's a Richards campaign commercial on the subject:


To me, the real issue is McCain's explanation:

McStraighttalk's campaign claims they were unaware of the comments:

"These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time this event was scheduled," Rogers said. He added that Williams apologized for the comments back in 1990, but he said that does not excuse them.

Which isn't believable. It was national news at the time. Here it is in the New York Times, for instance.

I was only in 8th grade then and I remember Williams being fodder for many late nite comedians. Shows like 20/20 did segments highlighting the close race between Williams and Richards. His comments were well-known at the time. This isn't something new coming to light.

McCain wanted the money so bad, he hoped he could hold the event and keep his ties to Williams low-key. He got caught and now he's playing dumb.

Of course, McCain could claim he was too busy at the time with his involvement in the Keating 5 scandal to notice what was going on in Williams' race.

The DNC is calling on McCain to return Williams' money:

Statement from DNC communications director Karen Finney:

"Mr. Williams' comments are not only outrageous and disgusting, they degrade our values as Americans. John McCain should make it clear that he understands just how offensive these comments are by not only canceling a fund-raising event but also returning the money Wlliams raised for his campaign. Senator McCain should know that you cannot expect the American people to trust you if you say one thing when you stand on the stump and turn a blind eye to this kind of language when you think no one will notice."

Oh, and if you're not convinced that Williams is slime, here's a piece from Lubbockonline detailing his authorized biography:

The biography also recounts Williams' admission that he visited such brothels as "Boys Town" in Mexico as a young man to get "serviced."

Looks like McCain has some explaining to do - that is if the media doesn't give him another "Get out of scandal free" card for this one.

Photo: This October 1990 file photo, shows then Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Ann Richards, offering her hand to Republican candidate Clayton Williams, in Dallas, He refused the offer, calling Richards a "liar." Questions from the media prompted Republican John McCain to cancel a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who once joked that women should give in while being raped. The Texan Republican made the joke during his failed 1990 campaign for governor against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."