American funnyman John McCain tells joke 27 times

A good comedian, the professionals say, retires material once it turns stale to keep the laughs rolling in with fresh, flippant fodder and timely quips to keep the audience’s approval. John McCain is not a follower of this school of thought, though.

McCain, it would seem, believes in just the contrary.Just when you thought former GOP candidate John McCain couldn’t top his hysterical “Bomb-Bomb-Iran” zinger, the comedic genius and senior Senator from Arizona has stumbled on some new side-splitting material — and like Gallagher to a watermelon, he is not going to let this ship sink, come hell or high water.McCain took to Twitter on Wednesday to offer his take on Congress’ worst-ever approval rating, as RT reported yesterday, with one hell of a knee-slapper:“’Congressional Approval at All-Time Low of 9%’ – We're down to paid staffers and blood relatives.”Has the jiggling of your jowls subsided after a roaring guffaw? No? Okay, take your time. Catch your breath.Better?So insanely hilarious is McCain’s Twitter quip that Mr. Maverick is actually be called out for recycling an old joke. Again and again and again and again.Though that hilarious anecdote was delivered Wednesday, it wasn’t the first time McCain used the joke. In fact, McCain has been harping on that hilarious wisecrack for half a decade, offering it up to audiences 27 times since 2006. NY Magazine exposed today that McCain first made the joke five years ago on May 20, 2006. “You get down to blood relatives and paid staffers,” he said then. Two weeks later, he commented on Congress’ then-approval rating of 23 percent, “When you're that low, you're down to blood relatives and paid staffers." The following May, even with Congress seeing a surge in popularity at 28 percent, McCain said, “you get down to blood relatives and paid staffers when you get down that low – is because they want us to work together."Had enough? NEVER!How about this gag from August 28, 2007: "I don't know if you saw a poll lately. It showed the approval rating of Congress was at 18, I think an historic low since Gallup has been taking polls. You get down that low, you're down to paid staffers and blood relatives."Over the next four years, McCain repeated his musing over 20 more times as approval ratings for Congress shifted from 11 percent in 2008 to 17 percent in 2010 and continued to entertain Americans with his insurmountable wit another four times in 2011 alone.As the adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. As far the outdated, overused and, frankly, not-all-that-funny-at-all “joke,” perhaps it is time for McCain to hang it up and move on. Congress, as they would have it, might want to think about switching things up a bit too if they want to get things up and going. At yesterday’s polling of 9 percent courtesy of a New York Times / CBS News survey, it marks the lowest time Congress’ approval rating has ever gone that low — and also its first time in the single-digit territory.