Right. Just don’t ask anyone who has to actually work around McCain what they think of him.
CAPITOL HILL STAFFERS RATE THEIR BOSSES
McCain got no glory from those who work with him.
Every election year we survey top aides on both sides of the aisleadministrative assistants, press secretaries, legislative directors, and chiefs of committee staffsto get their up-close and personal, and anonymous, views. While there may be lots of partisan backbiting among congress members, their staffers seem far more capable of putting politics aside and making honest judgments. It wasnt unusual for aides in both parties to name one of their own as spineless or give the workhorse nod to someone across the aisle.
Worst Follower 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Show Horse 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Hottest Temper 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.) known to snap at staff when the cameras are off
THE McCAIN WAY - ATTACK REPUBLICANS
Defending His Amnesty Bill, 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 chickensstuff, McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off the Senate floor Thursday. Youve always been against this bill, and youre just trying to derail it. (Charles Hurt, Raising McCain, New York Post, 5/19/07)
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 Bushs campaign is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, Ill 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. Were all pretty tired of that. As president, Ill be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what. (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4)
Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) nams. Why cant 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 ahole 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 wouldnt call you an ahole unless you really were an ahole. The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. I decided, the senator told Newsweek, I didnt want this guy anywhere near a trigger. (Evan Thomas, et al., Senator Hothead, Newsweek, 2/21/00)
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, Im calling you a fing jerk! (Evan Thomas, et al., Senator Hothead, Newsweek, 2/21/00)
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 didnt part friends. (Harry Jaffe, Senator Hothead, The Washingtonian, 2/97)
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)
Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Volunteer. It was election night 1986, 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 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 didnt look good on television, Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. There were an awful lot of people in the room, Hinz recalled. Youd have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, Stories Surface On Senators Demeanor, The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99)
Sen. McCain Publicly Abused Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). [McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesnt 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. (Editorial, Theres Something About McCain, The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)
Is it any wonder McCain has few endorsements from his Congressional piers? http://thehill.com/endorsements-2008.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964284/posts?page=28#28
Heres the current endorsments by members of congress. Romney still has more than McCain. Romney also has Bilbray, not listed yet. McCain hasnt earned many friends for all his years there. Huck has 5. Paul ZERO.
Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney
(R)(47)
Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.)
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.)
Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.)
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.)
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.)
Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah)
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas)
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas)
Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.)
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.)
Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.)
Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)
Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.)
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.)
Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.)
Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.)
Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.)
Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.)
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)
Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.)
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.)
Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio)
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.)
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho)
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.)
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.)
Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.)
Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) (44)
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.)
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.)
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.)
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.)
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.)
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.)
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.)
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)
Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.)
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio)
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.)
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.)
Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.)
Rep. Todd Platts (R-Pa.)
Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.)
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.)
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
(R) (5)
Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)
Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.)
Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.)
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska)
Rep. Ron Paul
(R-Texas) (0)
http://thehill.com/endorsements-2008.html
Rcp numbers for today....
Gallup..... McCain +20.0
ABC/WashPost.....McCain +24.0
Rasmussen..... Tie
FOX News.....McCain +28.0
RCP Average....McCain +18.0
So even after McCain called him an “*sshole” Domenici (R-N.M.)still endorses him?