Posted on 07/09/2006 6:57:45 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
A report by NewsMax.com's Ronald Kessler detailing Senator John McCain's legendary temper has caught the eye of McCain's homestate paper, the Arizona Republic.
Dan Nowicki, the paper's assistant editorial page editor, citing Kessler's NewsMax.com article, suggested real evidence of the senator's temper exists. But he quickly noted that McCain has given varying accounts of his temper tantrums - and he even denied he gets angry.
Nowicki said McCain needs to "get his stories straight as he campaigns for the 2008 GOP White House nomination." Nowicki reports that Kessler, NewsMax's chief correspondent and author of the recent best-selling "Laura Bush - An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady" is reviving worries about Sen. John McCain's temper and is raising questions if he is emotionally fit to serve as president.
Kessler, Nowicki reported "interviewed former Capitol Hill associates of McCain as well as former Arizona Republic publisher Pat Murphy, former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson and Judy Leiby, a former aide to Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz."
"As portrayed by the mainstream media, McCain is an engaging war hero, a man of political moderation positioned between the left and the right," Kessler wrote. "But to insiders who know him, McCain has an irrational, explosive side that make many of them question whether he is fit to serve as president and be commander in chief. Nowhere is that sentiment stronger than in the Senate, where McCain has few friends or supporters. In fact, when McCain 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," Kessler quoted former Senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on Republican policy committees, as saying. "He would disagree about something and then explode. It was incidents of irrational behavior. We've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."
Kessler continued: "When people have come forward to relate their bizarre experiences with McCain, only minor publications or the foreign press have run their accounts. The favored treatment is reminiscent of the way the press turned a blind eye to John F. Kennedy's dalliances — except that voters have far more need to know about evidence of instability than presidential infidelities."
McCain's temper, Nowicki recalls, "is not news. He even addressed the topic himself at a March 18, 2004, forum at Scottsdale Community College. Scottsdale Republic general manager Michael Ryan had asked McCain what the biggest misconception about him was."
McCain's answer? "I hope that the misconception is, but I'm not sure it's a misconception, that I have a very bad temper. I have had a bad temper in my life. In my early days in office, I displayed that temper, always to my detriment. Every time I ever lost my temper, I regretted it since then.
Ya know? That would make a real good pirate name.
I didn't see anywhere in the article where John McCain said that exact quote. NewsMax has the worst headline writers.
Hillary Clinton: I think all options should on the table in regards to Iran.
NewsMax headline: Hillary Clinton supports war with Iran.
Psychosis??
I think what he meant to remark is, "I don't have a chance." after considering a 08 presidential run.
isn't that a picture from the McCain Mutiny Court Martial?
>>In fact, when McCain ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, only four Republican senators endorsed him." <<
What??? I thought the other members of the Keating Five were DEMOCRATS!
Funny how the most corrupt Republican politician in Washington never got attacked by the MSM for his corruption.
Bye now, for some reason, I feel the sudden urge to watch "The Manchurian Candidate."
I had a chat with one those Arizona Republic guys about McFlame, and it was pretty well known at the paper years ago this guy's a total ass-hat.
>> Distemper
tr.v. dis·tem·pered, dis·tem·per·ing, dis·tem·pers
To put out of order.
Archaic. To unsettle; derange.
No, I'd say he has distempered himself.
Yeah, we all know NewsMax is a pathetic embarrassment to the conservative cause. We're just beating up on a man who is totally unfit to be prez. But don't worry; the guy proved he couldn't physically handle running for President in 2000. No way he's stupid enough to think he can handle it now.
O wait... yeah, that's right. I just forgot that 99 Senators think they should be President. They should level the Senate Office Buildings and make them all work in cubicles at the DC Post Office. The problem with the Senate is that they all turn arrogant. I was even told by one Senator... who I sort of liked due to his candor and humor, so I'll keep him anonymous, "Hell, we all think we should be President. I've only been here two years and it's gone to my head."
Ummm... second thought... John McCain should not work in a post office. I don't know WHAT I was thinking!
Nor anything else to recommend him.
" "When people have come forward to relate their bizarre experiences with McCain, only minor publications or the foreign press have run their accounts. "
Remember this ? http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000308.asp#1
" A display of John McCain’s anger, live on MSNBC.
As he walked through a crowd on his way to delivering his concession speech Tuesday night, NBC’s Maria Shriver asked him "how do you feel?" McCain spun around and sternly commanded Shriver: "Please get out of here." The rebuke stunned MSNBC anchor Brian Williams.
The incident occurred at about 8:20pm PT/11:20pm ET. While Lisa Myers was answering a question from Williams he cut her off to go to Los Angeles and Shriver just in time to catch McCain and his wife walking through a crowd.
As they did a 180 in order to go down some stairs they passed Shriver, who asked: "Senator how do you feel?" McCain replied: "What?"
Shriver raised her voice at McCain who had passed her and again asked: "How do you feel?" followed by what sounded like "How does it feel?" though her exact words were muffled. At that point, just before he hit the stairs, McCain spun around to look back at Shriver, brusquely ordering: "Please get out of here."
McCain proceeded down the stairs and out of camera range as Shriver told Williams: "Well, there you heard it."
A stunned Williams, clearly assuming McCain was seriously angry,......"
Do I recall that you had quite a bit of uncertainty about that very same thing after seeing McCain speak?
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