If Republican Mississippi Senator Thad Cochrane is be believed, John McCain has more business in a therapist's office than in the White House.
One of John McCain's Republican colleagues says he saw the presumed GOP presidential nominee roughly grab an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and lift him out of his chair during a diplomatic mission to the Central American nation in 1987.[...]
Cochran said he saw McCain, who has a reputation for being hot tempered, rough up an Ortega associate during a trip to Nicaragua led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan.
In 1987 Senator McCain was an aide to accompanied Bob Dole to Nicaragua to meet with the Sandinista. He walked into a delicate diplomatic session and physically manhandled a foreign diplomat while surrounded by armed guards. To quote the McCain campaign... "Seriously?"
I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever ..."I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, 'Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission.' I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy ... and he just reached over there and snatched ... him."
Cochran, who has complained about McCain's temper before, said only a handful of senators took part in the trip, including former Sen. Steve Symms of Idaho. He said he didn't know who the man McCain grabbed was except that he was an associate of Ortega.
If this is a coordinated attack by surrogates as the McCain campaign claims, then this has no become something Democrats can truly be proud of. I've been involved with politics for a long time, but I've never seen a Democratic campaign maintain message discipline well enough to launch separate attacks from a retired general (Clark), and two sitting senators, one a Democrat (Webb), and one a Republican (Cochrane). In fact, the delusional McCain theory of message coordination has begun to strain credulity more than JFK, 9/11 or Area 51 conspiracy theories. No. Occam's Razor holds and in this case the simple solution is most likely: reality is beginning to eclipse the myth of John McCain.
First, John McCain doesn't get a free pass on every issue because of his military credentials. John Kerry didn't get a free pass, Max Cleland didn't get a free pass. What about Tammy Duckworth who McCain campaigned against. Despite the best efforts of the traditional media, John McCain doesn't get a free pass.
Second, John McCain really does need to calm down, and his media enablers with him. This has simply become embarrassing. Wesley Clark's statement in no way questioned McCain's patriotism, and the hyperventilation of the media is worthy of ridicule. McCain had his chance to prove himself presidential on this issue and he missed that chance. Compare McCain's ham-fisted handling of this matter to the deft aplomb with which Obama addressed his own most grievous challenges.
Finally, this latest revelation from the Honorable Republican from Mississippi points to something dark, and very dangerous in John McCain. This is a man with anger management issues, a violent temper, who is willing to wade into delicate diplomatic situations with guns blazing regardless of the consequences.
This morning I became concerned about John McCain's judgment, now I'm concerned about his mental health. This now transcends John McSame, Bush's 3rd term or issues of patriotism. This is about anointing a violent and potentially dangerous man as the most powerful in the world.
Time to get out and canvass for Obama.
Narrative thread #2: Having a short-fused, uncontrollable, violent temper does not serve as a qualification to have one's finger on the nuclear button. Indeed, quite the opposite.
Narrative thread #3: Being a bottom one-percenter (graduating 894th out of a class of 899 at the Naval Academy) does not demonstrate the native mental horsepower required to make Presidential decisions on complex economic or foreign policy issues. Again, quite the opposite.
I'm right there with you on the other 2 points, however.
I would add another narrative thread, however: John McCain is a weak old man with a glass jaw. Take the slightest shot at him and he goes into a panic.
Both underachiever silver spoons.
Ironically, the new guy is older and apparently angrier.
John McCain was sworn in as a US Senator in January of 1987. Before that he was a Congressman. He most certainly was not Bob Dole's aide on that trip to Nicaragua. I don't know whether this makes it better or worse that he did this while he was a sitting United States Senator, but there you have it.
This guy is completely unhinged and unable to control his own behavior. I wouldn't let him anywhere near the keys to the nukes.
Good gravy!
Chairman of Joint Chiefs says more troops needed in AfghanistanThe nation's top military officer said today that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to help tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency but does not have sufficient forces to send because of the war in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I guess President McCain will get around to dealing with Afghanistan after we're done with the 100 year occupation of Iraq?
General Clark's reasonable criticism of McCain using his military service as the main plank of his presidential worthiness is nothing compared to charges of treason flung at 'Hanoi John'.
http://www.vietnamveteransagai...
And it's thirty-three years after the end of the Vietnam War. Tsk, tsk, tsk ...
Nonetheless, McCain doesn't get a pass for his faulty judgment or his potentially dangerous character flaws.
This election isn't be about Vietnam. It's about the future of America and who has the judgment to lead it. On that score alone Obama is the clear choice.
I supported McCain then ... as did other key "Webb-heads" ... particularly in the VA Beach area.
So Swift Boating McCain is ABSURD and counter productive. Let the facts speak for themselves. Ross Perot who provided financial aid to McCain's former wife (while he was a prisoner in Vietnam) supported Romney in the primaries. Why?
Because McCain left his wife for a much younger wealthy heiress.
Anyone remember the SL loan mess? McCain was part of the Keating Five (think I've got that right) ... in the pocket of lobby-est.
Hot-head .... an over-blown criticism ... he just plain wrong about foreign policy in the world today. He's certainly wrong about IRAQ.
So leave the Bullshit to the Repugs, take the military about of politics and campaign on principal.
And what terrifies them is that anyone dipping even slightly into McCain's hagiography is probably going to stir up some serious mud.
Admittedly, I've been a bit under-informed as to the whys and wherefores of the McCain haters on the right. Until yesterday.
But having spent some time on this site -- well, like wow. That's some crazy stuff there, equaling or maybe exceeding what Kerry was charged with.
http://www.vietnamveteransagai...
McCain and Kerry were allies on closing the case on charges that POWs were left behind while championing normalizing relations with Vietnam. Ironic then that the swiftboaters who took down Kerry may turn their sights on McCain.
McCain's made some bitter enemies among the MIA/POW true believers. Those folks hate him with a passion.
Leaving aside the vitriol of their charges, it's undeniable that there is something unsettling about how McCain has fought so hard and so emotionally against the Defense Department releasing debriefings of released POWs.
What exactly is he trying to hide?
Clearly, General Clark's relatively bland comments (bland compared to what Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain are saying) triggering the overkill response from the McCain campaign has less to do with Clark and more to do with opening a pandora's box of what really happened in Hanoi so many years ago.