“Senator Hothead”
McCain’s Sharp Tongue: An Achilles heel? – TIME By AP/LIBBY QUAID
(WASHINGTON) — Temper, temper. Republican John McCain is known for his. He’s been dubbed “Senator Hothead” by more than one publication, but he’s also had some success extracting his hatchet from several foreheads.
Even his Republican Senate colleagues are not spared his sharp tongue.
“F— you,” he shouted at Texas Sen. John Cornyn last year.
“Only an a—— would put together a budget like this,” he told the former Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Pete Domenici, in 1999.
“I’m calling you a f—— jerk!” he once retorted to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.
With Cornyn, he smoothed things over quickly. The two argued during a meeting on immigration legislation; Cornyn complained that McCain seemed to parachute in during the final stages of negotiations. “F— you. I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” McCain reportedly shouted.
Cornyn chuckled at the memory of what he called McCain’s “aggressive expressions of differences.” The Texan has endorsed McCain.
“He almost immediately apologized to me,” Cornyn said last week. “I accepted his apology, and as far as I’m concerned, we’ve moved on down the road.”
The political landscape in Arizona, McCain’s home state, is littered with those who have incurred his wrath. Former Gov. Jane Hull pretended to hold a telephone receiver away from her ear to demonstrate a typical outburst from McCain in a 1999 interview with The New York Times.
McCain has even blown up at volunteers and, on occasion, the average Joe.
He often pokes fun at his reputation: “Thanks for the question, you little jerk,” he said last year to a New Hampshire high school student wondering if McCain, at 71, was too old to be president.
Other times, his ire is all too real. This has prompted questions about whether his temperament is suited to the office of commander-in-chief or whether it might handicap him in a presidential campaign against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are not known for such outbursts.
“I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger,” Domenici told Newsweek in 2000.
His irascibility fits with McCain’s proud image as a straight talker willing to say what people don’t want to hear.
Yet McCain’s temper hinders his efforts to make peace with his critics and rally Republicans behind his candidacy for president. That could be a big problem, because his most persistent foes — conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson — talk to tens of millions of people each day.
McCain and his advisers insist the acrimony is about matters of policy: “We have disagreements on specific issues from time to time,” McCain recently said of his critics.
In fact, the disputes often are as much about style as they are about substance.
McCain’s tone was certainly on Dobson’s mind when he issued a stinging anti-endorsement on Super Tuesday. He mentioned various issues, but Dobson also said the senator “has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.”
Privately, some conservatives grouse that McCain can seem more convivial toward his liberal colleagues. Just last week, McCain had an animated conversation and shared a belly laugh with liberal Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, his partner on controversial immigration reforms, on the Senate floor.
And then there is his choice of words – not just the expletives, but also the use of dismissive phrases such as “agents of intolerance” to describe televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Yet McCain reconciled with Falwell before his death in 2007 and has done so with many others.
McCain has also smoothed things over with Sen. Thad Cochran, who had said very recently that the idea of McCain as GOP nominee sent a chill down his spine. McCain has battled for years with the Mississippi Republican, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, over pet projects or “earmarks” inserted by committee members into spending bills.
On the Senate floor last Tuesday, Cochran greeted McCain warmly, with a broad smile and a hug.
Grassley described his relations with McCain as “friendly, but not close.”
“John’s a person that I have a lot of disagreements with, but you’ve got to have a lot of respect for him,” Grassley told reporters recently. “For what he’s done to defend freedom, as a Navy pilot and as a POW, you’ve got to have a lot of respect for him for sticking to his guns, being way out ahead of the president that the policy needed to change in Iraq.”
“I’m not speaking as if I’m a born-again supporter of John McCain, I’m just trying to express it the way that I see him, and maybe some aspects of him being a good president,” Grassley said.
McCain’s defenders are weary of talk about his temperament. They point out that for all the decorum of the Senate, many members are known for raging at colleagues or even throwing shoes and other objects at aides.
For that matter, Dobson, the Focus on the Family founder so concerned about McCain’s “legendary temper,” apparently has a temper of his own. “He once berated one of our staffers to tears because he simply had to wait a few minutes to see the member,” said a Capitol Hill aide who requested anonymity out of deference to his boss. Another aide said he witnessed the scene.
Since he rolled up big victories on Super Tuesday and forced his main rival, Mitt Romney, from the race, McCain has worked quickly to win over his enemies.
He delivered a well-received speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, and he met last week with some of his biggest congressional foes, the uniformly conservative House Republican leadership.
Progress won’t happen overnight, said conservative Republican strategist Greg Mueller.
“I hope they’ll be resolved by the time we all go to convention, but it’s going to take a while to mend some of the wounds and get everybody back together,” Mueller said.
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Think Progress » Bob Corker Refuses To Say That McCain Is ‘Temperamentally Suited To Be President’
Last night on Hannity & Colmes, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) coyly suggested that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) does not have the temperament to be president. When asked by Alan Colmes whether McCain is “temperamentally suited to be President of the United States,” Corker refused to say yes.
“You know, his temperamental issues have been written about,” Corker said. Sometimes, McCain “says some things that I’m sure he doesn’t mean, walks away, and goes, why did I say that!” Colmes remarked, “I noticed that when I asked you if he was temperamentally suited, you didn’t automatically say yes.” Corker avoided the issue by saying, “Well I think he is an American hero.”
Corker acknowledged in the interview that he’s “had his moments” with McCain. Watch it:
McCain’s temperamental issues have most often been raised in dealings with his own Republican colleagues.
Earlier this year, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) said that the thought of McCain as president “sends a cold chill down my spine. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.” McCain once called Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) “a f—ing jerk” during a debate over the fate of Vietnam MIAs. And in a heated dispute over immigration, McCain screamed, “F— you!” at Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who had been raising concerns about the legislation.
How Can We Miss Him If He Won’t Go Away?
Only 300-Plus Days Left of Bush
AS I LISTENED to the president’s final State of the Union address, all I could think of was, thank God that there are only 357 days left of the most incompetent administration since Warren Harding.
It was apparent from the speech that this president is out of touch with the American people and doesn’t realize that “it’s the economy, stupid.” With the economy in shambles and in or near a recession, a few words of reassurance would have been helpful and uplifting.
This president is so engaged in the war in Iraq that he fails to recognize that people are concerned with health-care costs, fuel prices, the mortgage crisis and the looming recession.
I find it hard to believe that the president would not give us any hope that the war in Iraq will end any time soon even when two-thirds of the American people want an end to this mistake. Instead, he still tries to peddle his misconceived notion that he can bring democracy to the Middle East.
One can only hope that in the next 357 days, Mr. Incompetent will not screw up the country any further.
BOB BACA
Albuquerque
Killing Never Solved Anything
BARBARIANS. As I listened to President Bush’s State of the Union address that word came into my mind. Our president was talking about killing people in foreign lands, and our elected representatives were cheering wildly.
I am a veteran and a retired employee of Veterans Affairs. I know a little bit about our military’s victims— both intended and collateral. One of my mottoes has become “if you have to hurt someone to solve a problem, you are the problem.” Barbarians would disagree.
TERRY DUBER
Albuquerque
Baby’s Last Day
updated 2/14/08
Maybe Baby Cat made it to his 15th birthday. He missed his 15th anniversary with us by one day. Baby died late this afternoon.
Fifteen years ago, we first heard, then saw Baby, behind the dryer in our garage, where Mama Cat had stashed him. His eyes were sightless blue; he was more skin than fur. We think Mama had rescued him from some catastrophe that cost her the rest of the litter. At some point, Mama moved Baby and we thought we might not see him again, until a neighbor found him in a flower pot, a safe place to stash your only kitten.
Mama was feral and ferocious. I actually feared her for quite a while. I thought it might be wise to drive her away. I opened the garage door and raised hell. She would not leave that kitten, even when I drove her up the wall — literally — into a corner of the garage. When she peed in fear, I felt myself a monster. I remember sitting in the garage with her glowering and growling as I thought, ‘something has to give.’ I approached her with gloves and reached out to pet her. It was like a switch was flipped. When she purred and arched, I drew back, expecting claws.
To protect our precious Miss Kitty (yes, we’re brilliant with pet names), we took Mama and Baby to the vet. Both were diagnosed with feline leukemia. However, cats can show leukemia simply because of a recent exposure without necessarily getting the disease. We needed to test both again in a month. (At the time, we wondered if this was a way to sell twice as many tests.) For that month, we kept Mama and Kitty apart and Baby stayed with a friend of ours.
After a month, both cats passed the test and we brought both into the house — Kitty’s house. Mama was determined to be the top cat and even drove Kitty into the street to make it possible. We decided it was best to send Mama to a farm in Los Lunas. For once, that is not just a story one tells a child. (Kids, it usually is just a story.)
Baby fit in fine with us. Eventually he outgrew his name, becoming a large, mellow cat. I often called him Little Dude and Doodle. Fourteen or so years passed.
Mornings and evenings, as we returned from walks with the dog, Baby was often waiting in the side yard or on the wall. He’d come out to the sidewalk as soon as he heard us and fall into step with Lucky, side-by-side.
Last summer, Kitty became unbearably sick. Putting her ‘to sleep’ was horrible. Though I miss her still, something changed when she was gone — Baby blossomed. After years as a mostly outdoor cat, often silent and aloof, Baby found his voice and took to reveling in Merri’s lap or by her side.
Through the winter, Baby spent the night inside, usually sleeping on Merri’s recliner or a dining room chair. (During this time, Lucky stopped sleeping under our bed and moved to the couch with its electric blanket.) In the mornings, Lucky gets me up early. Baby would go out with Lucky. When I went for the paper a little later, Baby would come running to get back into the warmth.
His increased companionship puts the edge on the irony to come. Last November, Baby passed his routine exam, though he had a couple of unusual heart rhythms that some day might worsen. We figured the trips to the vet exacerbated his heart problems. We joked about his right to refuse treatment and his right to die. We also refused a microchip for him and accepted a new three-year vaccine, figuring he would never see the vet again.
At the same time, we switched Baby to kitten food. He put on just enough weight and all seemed right with the world.
About a week ago, Baby started sneaking into the back of our closet — he would even pop the door open to do so. He also took to sleeping on one of two wool rugs on either side of the bed, instead of on our bed or in front of a heater vent. Notably odd, but not alarming. Until we realized he wasn’t eating anything. Over the next few days, before we could get to the vet, we thought a lot about how we may have kept Kitty alive too long, leading her to suffer too much. Still, this seemed premature, because Baby was drinking and peeing and walking about — just losing weight.
Monday morning, the vet found a significant mass in Baby’s belly, roughly between his colon and bladder. Xrays suggested some involvement of his kidneys, as well. We contemplated more tests, chemo, and surgery. These considerations are always hard for anyone you love. They were harder still given that Baby wasn’t obviously that sick yet. I know there is a tinge of denial in that, but some truth, too.
The vet hydrated Baby overnight. That treatment helped him revive a bit. We brought him home for hospice care, knowing the days or hours were numbered (as they always are for all of us). He sat in our laps and purred. He walked about the house, getting up into a favorite chair. This morning, I took him to the backyard for sun and bird sounds.
We might have gone on with hospice care, including subcutaneous saline drip, but he could no longer keep even water down. After 24 hours at home, a day short of our 15th anniversary with him, we had to surrender hope and let him go. We’ll miss him sorely. mjh
PS: Five years ago, I discovered I’m allergic to cats. (Having lived with cats most of my life.) The allergist suggested I consider getting rid of one or both cats. I told him, “time will take care of that.” A glib dagger in my heart.
PPS: We dug a hole for Baby Cat under his blue spruce tree, where he often slept. He’ll become part of that tree and, together, they’ll out live us, providing shelter for birds and, one day, no doubt, another cat.
Mer’s take: Baby Cat, February 1993 – February 13, 2008
Shadenfreude
I fully understand the shadenfreude Republicans in New Mexico feel over troubles with the Democratic caucus. I hope conservatives will continue to hoot, snort and cat-call. Their letters to the editor serve as an unneeded reminder of just how mean-spirited and uncharitable true conservatives are. Laugh your asses off — perhaps that will take the sting away from landslide losses for conservatives in the Fall. Snicker all you like — it may distract you from your own party’s collapse and the premature end of the “generation of conservative rule” envisioned just 4 years ago by BushCo.
Every primary and caucus has shown one thing: Democrats are fired up as never before. Twice as many Dems are voting as Republicans. Unless the Republicans find a way to suppress voter turn out or totally disgust everyone — still possible; call Karl Rove — Republicans should hang on to anything that makes them happy for the time being. Democrats won’t begrudge you one last haw-haw. mjh
THE DEMOCRATS can’t run their own primary, but they want to run our country?— S.S. [mjh: Right, there’ no difference between volunteers and professionals, which may be why conservatives want an all volunteer government.]
WHEN NO ONE’S there to bail them out, it’s interesting to see just how inept the Democrats are.— M.L.C.
I THINK IT was Will Rogers that said, “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” It must be an embarrassment to be a New Mexico Democrat. I’m glad I’m not one.— A.J. [mjh: Not half as glad as we are that you aren’t one.]
In the last election we were reduced to banana-republic status with the mandate by the Democrats we had to use paper ballots. There are a lot of things you can fix, but stupid is not one of them.— J.M. [mjh: Straight from the horse’s mouth.]
MJH in the News
I was interviewed about Vista for a website. The ‘theme’ of this website is ‘dealing with change,’ so the focus of the interview is on what’s changed in Vista and how to survive the change.
In this ‘edition’ of the website, I join Steve Wozniak (Apple) and George Foreman. Movin’ up! mjh
McCain: Four more years?
Hillary nicely sums up Duhbya’s reign of error. mjh
Clinton and Obama Share Billing at Richmond Event – washingtonpost.com
Clinton criticized President Bush and said McCain represented “more of the same.”
“We have tried it President Bush’s way: concentrate wealth, hoard
power, disregard science, shred the Constitution, smear dissenters,
impugn patriots,” Clinton said.