McCain's Top Seven
STUPID Rants
- McCain is obviously a Beach Boy fan and has created his own version of an old hit, Barbara-Ann dubbed The “Bomb Iran” song. Early in his presidential campaign, McCain was asked by a person at a town hall meeting when the US “should send an air mail message to Tehran”. He replied: “Do you know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?” Then, the would be leader of the free world proceeded to sing “Bomb bomb bomb” to the tune of the hit Barbara-Ann
- Killing them softly – with cigarettes. In July, McCain was asked by reporters about data indicating a ten-fold increase in US exports to Iran during Bush’s presidency, especially a rise in tobacco exports. “Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” he replied, laughing all the way. “I meant that as a joke.” Iran apparently did not laugh. .
- McCain is a great one for joking about waterboarding. This was reported in the New York Times. Some members of his campaign began to leave when it looked like his presidential bid would not succeed. A victory in New Hampshire re-kindled their interest and they returned to the fold. There was, he quipped, "a short period of waterboarding to find out what they did in their absence."
- McCain was quick to criticize primary rival Rudy Giuliani for comparing the race to torture. So at a press conference with Florida governor Charlie Crist in January this year, McCain again ‘joked’ about waterboarding. . When Crist was asked by reporters if McCain had pressured him for his endorsement, McCain, a torture victim himself, interjected: "It was just waterboarding."
- McCain is about as funny as Fidel Castro. In February as reports swirled about Castro’s failing health, McCain told a town hall in Indiana, "I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon."
- McCain, that slick guy, can turn just about anything into one of his famous ‘jokes’. Just after it was announced that former President Reagan had Alzheimers, McCain made the following joke at a Republican fundraiser. “Do you know the best thing about having Alzheimer's?” he asked. “You get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
- Everyone knows that the Jon Stewart Daily Show is satirical and democratically inclined. But, McCain did not earn any brownie points for his questionable wit. He joked that he had brought host John Stewart an improvised explosive device as a gift from Iraq. The cruel joke was criticized by relatives of US soldiers, over 1,700 of whom have been killed by IEDs
McCain's Outrageous Rage: Fit for a President?
It’s no secret among insiders and political pundits who know him that McCain has an irrational, explosive personality that makes them wonder if he is fit to serve as president.
#1 – Fuck you (if you are not on my side)
In the Senate, McCain has few friends or supporters. When he ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, only four Republican senators endorsed him.
"I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues and exploded at colleagues," said former Senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on Republican policy committees. "He would disagree about something and then explode. It was incidents of irrational behavior.
e've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."
McCain's temper tantrums often happened when other members resisted his requests for support during his bid in 2000 for the Republican nomination for president. A former Senate staffer recalled what happened when McCain asked for support from a fellow Republican senator on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
"The senator explained that he had already committed to support George Bush," the former Senate staffer said. "McCain said ‘fuck you' and never spoke to him again."
"He had very few friends in the Senate," said former Senator Smith, who dealt with McCain on a regular basis. "He has a lot of support around the country, but I don't think he has a lot of support from people who know him well."
#2 – Fuck you, you are a shit head (if you are not on my side)
Another former senator who asked to be kept anonymous remembers comments made at a Republican policy lunch. McCain had harsh words with another senator who disagreed with him.
"McCain used the f-word," the former senator said. "McCain called the guy a ‘sh--head.' The senator demanded an apology. McCain stood up and said, ‘I apologize, but you're still a sh--head.' That was in front of 40 to 50 Republican senators. That sort of thing happened frequently."
"People who disagree with him get the f--- you," said former Rep. John LeBoutillier, a New York Republican who had an encounter of the way too close kind with McCain when he was on a POW task force in the House. LeBoutillier was openly tape recording the conference. McCain got the idea that LeBoutillier was covertly tape recording him.
"Are you wired up?" LeBoutillier quoted McCain as asking. "Of course not," LeBoutillier said. "Prove it," McCain said. LeBoutillier said he lowered his pants, apparently satisfying McCain that he was not taping him.
"He is a vicious person," LeBoutillier said. "Nearly all the Republican senators endorsed Bush because they knew McCain from serving with him in the Senate. They so disliked him that they wouldn't support him. They have been on the hard end of his behavior."
#3 – Doesn’t know when (the fuck) to shut up
Many senators and fellow Republicans hesitate to speak openly about what McCain’s personality is really like. Bob Smith described his behavior reluctantly. A former Republican senator listed Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, and Pete Dominici, fellow Republican senators, as being among those who had been subjected to McCain's outbursts, but none of them agreed to be interviewed about it.
"A presidential candidate is not supposed to talk at length and on the record about the rules he broke or the strippers he dated, or the time he arrived so drunk that he fell through the screen door of the young lady he was wooing," Time magazine reported in a Dec. 13, 1999 profile of McCain. "The candor tells you more than the comment, and reporters sometimes just decide to take him off the record because they don't want to see him flame out and burn up a great story."
"National reporters may genuflect, but local journalists cringe at the thought of covering McCain, better known in Arizona for his short temper, refusal to take calls, and attempts at media manipulation than for the ‘straight talk' he doles out . . ." a Playboy article reported in February 2000.
#4 – With Friends like McCain…
McCain sees himself as passionate and that he claims is really what his temper is all about. "Do I feel passionately about issues? Absolutely," McCain has said. "Do I get angry when I see pork barreling and wasteful spending? Absolutely."
But the odd thing is that McCain's anger has not been directed at policy issues or wasteful government spending. It seems instead that he explodes at people who disagree with him or who tell him they cannot support him, even if they are friends. Pat Murphy, an editor at the Arizona Republic, became friends with McCain in the early 1980s. "McCain has a temper that is bombastic, volatile, and purple-faced. Sometimes he gets out of control. Do you want somebody sitting in the White House with that kind of temper?”
Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, a Democrat, saw for himself McCain's temper when he and other local mayors briefed the Arizona congressional delegation on local matters. After Johnson spoke, McCain said, "Hold it a minute. Somebody write down everything this guy has to say. You know what, we need to record him. It's best to get a liar on tape."
#5 – Uses Threats to Manage People
A longtime member of Senator Dennis DeConcini's staff, Judy Leiby, worked on veteran's issues and had a difference of opinion with McCain on a number of issues over the years.. When DeConcini announced he was retiring in 1994, McCain visited his office.
"I was standing around talking to about a half a dozen postal workers I'd worked real closely with," Leiby recalled. "And McCain came in. He walked down the line, shaking hands, and he ignored me. And one postal worker said, ‘Do you know Judy Leiby?' He said, ‘Oh, yeah, I know her.'" It was obvious to Leiby that McCain was trembling with anger.
"You could tell he was so angry, he was white," she said. "He turned back to me and said, ‘I'm so glad you're out of a job, and I'll see that you never work again.'"
#6 – Threatens to destroy careers
Jim Abbott, the supervisor of the Coronado National Forest, recalled a time in 1989 when he had a run in with McCain. Abbott had ordered a halt to construction of University of Arizona telescopes at the top of the mountain because of a concern of the environmental impact of the project on the red squirrel. McCain then asked to meet with Abbott and said, "If you do not cooperate on this project, you'll be the shortest-tenured forest supervisor in the history of the Forest Service."
McCain did call later to apologize. Construction did proceed but only after McCain backed legislation to create an exemption for the project from the Endangered Species Act and other existing laws.
#7 – Profanity and Punching: McCain’s Hallmarks
If McCain gets that angry at his own party members, imagine the crap some Democrats have had to deal with. Democrat Marty Russo had a nasty encounter with McCain when McCain was in the House, according to the Atlantic Monthly. "Seven-letter profanities escalated to 12-letter ones and then to pushes and shoves, before the two were separated," according to the report.
In 1993, the Boston Globe reported that McCain "came across the Senate floor and, while mocking [Ted] Kennedy, told him to ‘shut up,' according to those in the chamber. "A stunned Kennedy returned the comment, telling McCain to ‘shut up' and ‘act like a senator.'"
In 1992, Robin Silver and Bob Witzeman met with McCain at his Phoenix office to discuss the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel. McCain went ‘crazy’.
"He slammed his fists on his desk, scattering papers across the room," Silver said. "He jumped up and down, screaming obscenities at us for at least 10 minutes. He shook his fists as if he was going to slug us."
Silver had the guts to point out that his behavior was inappropriate, "He apologized and was contrite," Silver said.
Actually, there is an ‘in’ joke among Senators about McCain and his sorry-ass notes. The “McCain Notes” as they are called are a collection of apology letters that McCain has written after losing his temper and verbally attacking people who get in his way. Even inside the folds of the Republican party, there are those who know that someone so out of control should not have the authority to unleash nuclear weapons.
"I think he is not fit to be president," said former congressman LeBoutillier.
