John McCain Compares Iranian President To Monkey, Defends Himself: 'Lighten Up, Folks'

After tweeting a joke comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a 'monkey' this morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended himself from allegations of racism by telling them to 'lighten up.'

Responding to the news that Ahmadinejad declared himself 'ready to be the first human to be sent to space by Iranian scientists,' Sen. McCain tweeted out a link to last week's story about Iran reportedly launching a monkey into space:

Twitter users accused McCain of racism for comparing the Iranian leader to a primate, and so the senator took to Twitter again to defend himself:

[h/t TPM]