Republican Presidential Candidate McCain Attacked Over NIN Comment

01/07/2000 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Wendy Hermanson

(1/7/00, 5 p.m. ET) - During Thursday (Jan. 6) night's Republican Presidential debate in Durham, N.H., Sen. John McCain (Arizona) was attacked by fellow candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Alan Keyes, over a comment about music that he made on television.

Having recently made a trip to the MTV Music Awards with his 15-year-old daughter, McCain quipped during an interview that one of his favorite rock bands was Nine Inch Nails. The program conducting the interview followed this comment by displaying some of Trent Reznor's profanity-laced lyrics.

"Don't you think that as leaders we ought to be a little bit more serious about the kind of influences that are now destroying the lives of our children, and before we open our mouths, we ought to know what we're talking about?" Keyes pressed McCain.

"Can I get a lifeline?" McCain nervously replied, alluding to a feature of the hit ABC game show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? After saying he wanted to confer with his daughter, McCain admitted, "I agree with you that they're being subjected to terrible influences. Yes, I was trying to be amusing and entertaining, and it was a poor choice."

Not one to let his wounding shot drop, Keyes replied, "I'm a father and I'm not laughing, I'm really not."

-- Barry Jeckell, New York

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