This got quite a bit of attention yesterday, and with good reason. John McCain, to his credit, denounced a right-wing loud-mouth for being a bit of an ass at one of the Republican’s official campaign events in Ohio.
A supporter of John McCain, speaking at an official campaign event in Ohio attended by the Arizona senator, called Barack Obama a “hack, Chicago-style Daly politician,” and told the crowd “all is going to be right with the world when the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand, and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing Kumbaya around the table of Barack Obama.”
“At some point in the near future the media, the stooges from the New York Times, CBS (The Clinton Broadcasting System), NBC (The Nobody But Clinton Network), The All Bill Clinton Channel (ABC), and the Clinton News Network at some point is going to peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama,” said controversial conservative commentator Bill Cunningham, an Ohio native.
McCain, who was not on stage during Cunningham’s harangue, later told reporters, “I regret any comments that may be made about these two individuals who are honorable Americans, we just have strong philosophical differences, so I want to disassociate myself from any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them.” He added that he would take responsibility to ensure that similar comments are not repeated at future McCain events.
Good for him. Everyone says they want a respectful debate, but few make any effort to ensure one. This was encouraging.
Jonathan Chait, among others, said that McCain “does have a lot of very decent instincts.” I appreciate McCain taking the high road yesterday, but let’s not go too far here.
My sense is, McCain’s instincts actually lead him in the opposite direction.
In 1998, McCain was so fond of “respectful discussion” that he told a nasty, tasteless joke about Chelsea Clinton at a Republican Senate fundraiser, describing the president’s daughter as “ugly,” and suggesting that Janet Reno is a man.
Earlier this year, during a back-room discussion on immigration reform, Mr. Respectful Debate started shouting at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who dared to disagree with him. McCain accused Cornyn of raising petty objections, and Cornyn accused McCain of having dropped in without taking part in the negotiations. “F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” McCain shouted. The WaPo added that McCain also “used a curse word associated with chickens.”
In 1999, Jake Tapper reported on an incident in which McCain got into a shouting match with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Grassley got in McCain’s face, and the two pit bulls started barking at each other while the other senators in the room sat back and watched. The pair got so close to one another that the senator who tells me the story — aware that because of war injuries, McCain’s arms don’t fully extend — was convinced McCain “was going to drive the top of his head into Grassley’s nose. I was convinced that bone fragments were going to go into Chuck’s brain, and I was sitting there and was about to witness a murder.”
McCain suddenly stood up. But instead of a head-butting homicide, he delivered a crushing blow of words.
“You know, senator,” McCain said, seething, “I thought your problem was that you don’t listen. But that’s not it at all. Your problem is that you’re a f**king jerk.”
These apparently aren’t isolated incidents.
“I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues and exploded at colleagues,” said former Senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on Republican policy committees. “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.”
McCain’s outbursts often erupted when other members rebuffed his requests for support during his bid in 2000 for the Republican nomination for president. A former Senate staffer recalled what happened when McCain asked for support from a fellow Republican senator on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
“The senator explained that he had already committed to support George Bush,” the former Senate staffer said. “McCain said ‘f**k you’ and never spoke to him again.”
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to sound ungrateful about yesterday. Cunningham was being a jerk at an official campaign event, and McCain did the right thing by distancing himself from the loudmouth’s remarks. He made the right call, without question, and deserves praise for it.
But it’s probably worth remembering that McCain takes classy steps like these in part to help make up for the fact that he’s been a rather abusive hothead for years, who has rejected the notion of “respectful” debate throughout his career.
If yesterday was a sign of a new McCain, I’m delighted. But before we go overboard praising his character, let’s not loose sight of a lengthy career of nastiness.