Some social media users, including a member of Congress from his own party, called Sen. John McCain “racist” for a tweet comparing the president of Iran to a monkey sent from his account this morning.

So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space – wasn’t he just there last week? “Iran launches monkey into space” news.yahoo.com/iran-launches-…
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 4, 2013

McCain, R-Ariz., followed up the tweet with another indicating that he had meant the comparison as a joke.

Re: Iran space tweet – lighten up folks, can’t everyone take a joke?
- John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 4, 2013

But some people on Twitter weren’t amused...