McClatchy, WaPo and Romney Warn About McCain’s Out of Control Temper

From Crooks and Liars:

In a disturbing expose Sunday, the McClatchy papers joined the growing list of press, pundits and politicians raising a red flag about John McCain’s out-of-control temper. Following on the heels of the devastating revelations from the Washington Post in April, McClatchy documents many of the tantrums, outbursts and eruptions that continue to call McCain’s presidential temperament into question. And as Mitt Romney’s campaign revealed in January, those McCain tirades are directed at friend and foe alike.

Starting with an f-bomb hurled at GOP colleague John Cornyn, McClatchy details McCain’s long history of explosions, a record which led Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran to conclude “the thought of (McCain) being president sends a cold chill down my spine”:

There’s a lengthy list of similar outbursts through the years: McCain pushing a woman in a wheelchair, trying to get an Arizona Republican aide fired from three different jobs, berating a young GOP activist on the night of his own 1986 Senate election and many more.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to John McCain’s white hot temper.

More here.

You know, for years I've dismissed this angry McCain meme as bullshit. I mean, the guy's former military, and very old school at that--yelling, chest-beating, all that shit, it's really just alpha male behavior, very much within the spectrum of normal human activity. I've never really heard anything about this that's made me think it was anything to be concerned with. He's a hot head. So what?

Am I right to blow this off? Some big time individuals and media outlets appear to be taking his "famed" anger very seriously. So he's a dick. Big deal. But the real question is if he's such a dick that it would affect his ability to manage the country. You know, a pathological dick who would freak out and push the button because Putin or somebody disrespected him.

Here's a video offered by Crooks and Liars of one of his "famed" outbursts during the early 90s:



And here's another one I found while watching the first one, titled "John McCain Loses Temper With NY Times Reporter":



Yeah, this is pretty tame. He doesn't hit anybody or anything. I mean, he's not even much of a dick here either. Just kind of asserting himself--actually, that's what I want a President to do.

This angry McCain thing really is bullshit. It's nothing but a personal attack, along the lines of calling out Obama because he talks to 60s radicals. Totally irrelevant. Worse, attacks such as this do nothing but divert voters from considering actual issues, presidential election as personality contest, crap democracy, fake democracy.

What's particularly annoying about these angry McCain attacks is that there are countless good reasons to despise the Republican candidate, reasons of substance, reasons dealing with issues. Hate the man because he would continue running the country into the ground, not because some people don't like his personality.

Really, the worst thing about the so-called "politics of personal destruction" is that I feel compelled to defend people I despise, on principle alone. Ah well, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Or something like that.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$