Legal News

John McCain: Not a Lawyer, But Loves a Good Lawyer Joke

By Peter Lattman

The Law Blog hasn’t focused much on John McCain because, well, he’s not a lawyer and the other leading candidates — click here for Law Blog art — all wield JDs. Perhaps it’s because he’s emerging as a front runner, but today we’re shining the spotlight twice on the Arizona senator.

A Law Blog reader alerted us to a lawyer joke that McCain delivered on the stump today in Boston. We checked in with our WSJ colleagues on the campaign trail, who told us that he delivers the routine at every event, and even told it on the Tonight Show last week:

What is the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?

One is a scum sucking bottom dweller. The other is a fish.

McCain then says, “There goes the lawyer vote.” (We wonder what Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of his closest confidants, traveling companions and an Air Force reserve JAG attorney, thinks of the bit?)

Law Blog Question of the Day: Law Blog readers, what should we make of a leading presidential candidate going after the profession so aggressively? And while we’re at it, any wannabe presidential speechwriters care to give McCain more lawyer joke fodder?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).