Anti-McCain Republicans Ask 'Is John McCain Insane?'

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/4/08 at 5:43pm

In the Washington Post article at the link, "GOP Senators Reassess Views About McCain: His Old Foes Still Wary Of His Pugnacious Style," Republican sentaors question McCain's psychological fitness for office.

Meanwhile, below, a Romney-supporter's website chronicles McCain's angry outbursts against fellow Republicans in the Senate.

It's going to be FUN watching them writhe if he wins big on Tuesday.

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THE MCCAIN WAY:

ATTACK REPUBLICANS

A Top Ten List ...

1. Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And "Screamed, 'F*ck You!' At Texas Sen. John Cornyn" (R-TX). "Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry, profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul, McCain screamed, 'F--- you!' at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been raising concerns about the legislation. 'This is chickens---stuff,' McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off the Senate floor Thursday. 'You've always been against this bill, and you're just trying to derail it.'" (Charles Hurt, "Raising McCain," New York Post, 5/19/07)

2. In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton. SEN. MCCAIN: "I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush's campaign is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I'll use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay down the debt. Governor Bush uses all of the surplus for tax cuts, with not one new penny for Social Security or the debt. His ad twists the truth like Clinton. We're all pretty tired of that. As president, I'll be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what." (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4)

3. Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) An "A**hole", Causing A Fellow GOP Senator To Say, "I Didn't Want This Guy Anywhere Near A Trigger." "Why can't McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, 'Only an a--hole would put together a budget like this.' Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: 'I wouldn't call you an a--hole unless you really were an a--hole.' The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. 'I decided,' the senator told Newsweek, 'I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger.'" (Evan Thomas, et al., "Senator Hothead," Newsweek, 2/21/00)

4. Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A "F*cking Jerk." "Senators are not used to having their intelligence or integrity challenged by another senator. 'Are you calling me stupid?' Sen. Chuck Grassley once inquired during a debate with McCain over the fate of the Vietnam MIAs, according to a source who was present. 'No,' replied McCain, 'I'm calling you a f---ing jerk!' (Grassley and McCain had no comment.)" (Evan Thomas, et al., "Senator Hothead," Newsweek, 2/21/00)

5. In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A "Scuffle" With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor. "In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, 'Is the senator about through?' McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked him for his 'courtesy' (translation: buzz off), and continued on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn't part friends." (Harry Jaffe, "Senator Hothead," The Washingtonian, 2/97)

6. Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of The "Most Egregious Incident" Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate. "It escalated when McCain reiterated the charges Oct. 10 in a cross-examination, calling McConnell's actions the 'most egregious incident' demonstrating the appearance of corruption he has ever seen in his Senate career." (Amy Keller, "Attacks Escalate In Depositions," Roll Call, 10/21/02)

7. Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign. MCCAIN: "Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore. ... The political tactics of division and slander are not our values... They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right." (Sen. John McCain, Remarks, Virginia Beach, VA, 2/28/00)

8. Sen. McCain Attacked Vice President Cheney. MCCAIN: "The president listened too much to the Vice President ... Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the Secretary of Defense." (Roger Simon, "McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy," The Politico, 1/24/07)

9. Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer. "It was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood. McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst. 'Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn't look good on television,' Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. ... Hinz said McCain's treatment of the young campaign worker in 1986 troubled him for years. 'There were an awful lot of people in the room,' Hinz recalled. 'You'd have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. It wasn't right, and I was very upset at him.'" (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, "Stories Surface On Senator's Demeanor," The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99)

10. Sen. McCain "Publicly Abused" Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). "[McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesn't 'insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that.' This is, quite simply, hogwash. McCain often insults people and flies off the handle... There have been the many times McCain has called reporters 'liars' and 'idiots' when they have had the audacity to ask him unpleasant, but pertinent, questions. McCain once... publicly abused Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama." (Editorial, "There's Something About McCain," The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)
GOP Senators Reassess Views About McCain: His Old Foes Still Wary Of His Pugnacious Style

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/4/08 at 5:51pm

One of the really wonderful things about this great turn of tide has been how the Republican's have been embracing McCain even though the right wing windbags have been tearing him down right, left, and center.

Could it be that the era of the bloviating, offensive-for-the-sake-of-being-offensive, hyperbolic right-wing windbag is over??

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/4/08 at 6:31pm

except the volunteer.

on a darker, more perverse and cynical note: could the gop pundits actually be hoping for a democrat to win because it will give them four to eight years of air time and pseudo-prominence as the media bends over backwards to try to seem unbiased? it's clear that most of them are not that enamored of the gop field. is it such a stretch to think that rather than a republican president they don't like but would have to support to some extent that they'd actually prefer a democrat who would afford them plenty of material?

either way, bb, even if every single pundit argued against a mccain nomination and argued everyday after a mccain nomination for a protest vote and then saw mccain elected, it wouldn't change them in the least. delusions of grandeur reinforced by a media desperate for the most controversial soundbite make for an ugly pundit class with little hope for the future.

[DG]

Posted: 2/4/08 at 6:36pm

"The political tactics of division and slander are not our values... They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right."

I must admit to liking this statement.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/4/08 at 8:54pm

I just saw a very defensive McCain campaign ad a little while ago, beating over the head that he's STILL conservative, a TRUE conservative. I was waiting for them to show him praying to an aborted baby and kicking a lesbian!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 8:44am

Maybe it would be fun to have a president who says F*CK.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 8:46am

because it would be the first time we've ever had one. ever.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 9:37am

The president can say it, he just can't DO it.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 10:32am

This simple answer to the question "Is John McCain insane?" is yes.

The deeper question is "Do Pro-McCain Republicans know he is insane?"

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 12:01pm

I think they do. I think they're voting for him out of sheer desperation.

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 12:08pm

I hope McCain gets crushed - absolutely cannot stand him. People try to say he's liberal - it doesn't matter. I've never seen a veteran who so pro-war. He's evil incarnate.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 12:10pm

Better him than the two Jesus freaks running alongside him.

[Calvin]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 12:11pm

I hope he gets crushed -- in the general election. I will have to turn on parental control for all news channels on my cable box if I have to endure looking at that greasy Wink Martindale clone for another nine months.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 1:48pm

"Better him than the two Jesus freaks running alongside him."


Yeah, even the 'pubs are gettin' a little sick of hearing about the big J.C.

[lildogs]

Posted: 2/5/08 at 1:58pm

Much of what McCain says and has said in the past seems shocking because of the appearance of civility in the US. We have it in spades in the South, where we think things we'd never say. Does "bless her heart" or "god love him" ring a bell?

I can't help but think that many congressfolk agree with McCain but hold their tongues because they fear the negative publicity whereas McCain thrives on it--it all adds to his rep as a maverick.

Granted he acts more like Brett Maverick, but that's what he grew up with--the John Wayne mentality.