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Maverick Arizona Senator John McCain stopped by The New York Yacht Club last night for an Irish-American event. The Observer reports that the independent minded politician cheered the crowd by engaging in some humorous ethnic banter, i.e., telling one of the oldest Irish jokes in the world. (We'll reprint it after the jump.) It's a little disturbing to think that a joke this lame got "the best reaction of the night," but maybe we should just be thankful that McCain didn't bring his "A" material.

"I have to tell the story of a bar here in New York City. It's almost empty and one guy comes in and he sits down beside another guy at the end of the bar. And he says to him: 'Where are you from?' 'I'm from Ireland.' 'Really? I'm from Ireland too'. "Great, let me buy you a drink. . .Whereabouts in Ireland are you from?' 'Dublin.' 'I'm from Dublin too.' 'Where did you go to school?' "I went to St. Mary's.' 'Wow! I went to St. Mary's too. When did you come to America?' '1970.' 'I don't believe it. I came here in 1970 too'. And then another guy walks in and says to the bartender, 'What's going on there?' 'And the bartender says, 'Oh, it's just the O'Reilly twins getting drunk again.'"

McCain Likes Ted Kennedy, Irish Drinking Jokes [NYO]
A joke too bad to print? [Salon]