All of a sudden, McCain cares about civility?

November 19, 2007

Last week, after a classless supporter asked John McCain, “How do we beat the bitch?” the senator responded, “That’s an excellent question.” Within 48 hours of the exchange, McCain’s campaign was raising money (effectively) based on the “bitch” controversy.

But that was last week. This week, McCain wants to be Mr. Civility again.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Saturday said he won’t follow his rivals’ lead in taking personal shots at Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, and that voters seeking a candidate who will do that should look elsewhere.

“I think people want a respectful debate and a respectful discussion. And if they don’t, then obviously, I’m not the person to be their candidate,” McCain told reporters in response to questions about criticism of Clinton by Republican rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

“Legitimate policy differences, those should be debated and discussed,” McCain said. “But I don’t think you should take shots at people….”

Oh, I see. Last week, McCain wants to raise campaign funds off a “beat the bitch” question, but this week he will only tolerate “respectful debate and a respectful discussion.”

Given this, let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane.

In 1998, McCain was so fond of “respectful discussion” that he told a nasty, tasteless joke about Chelsea Clinton at a Republican Senate fundraiser, in which he described the president’s daughter as “ugly,” and suggested 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.”

Keep in mind, we’re talking about McCain dropping F-bombs on Republicans.

But now, McCain insists that if people don’t want “a respectful debate and a respectful discussion,” then he’s not their candidate. Good to know.

Fuck McCain.

  • Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Saturday said he won’t follow his rivals’ lead in taking personal shots at Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, and that voters seeking a candidate who will do that should look elsewhere.

    …like among his or her supporters – you can always get them to do the dirty work for you.

    “Legitimate policy differences, those should be debated and discussed,” McCain said. “But I don’t think you should take shots at people….”

    …especially if you can get someone in the crowd to do it.

    These kinds of announcements are always so much more effective when they are delivered after he has managed to work some incivility to his advantage. He wants to be able to throw the punches, but he doesn’t want anyone to hit back.

    What a jerk.

  • According to various reports on the Internets, McCain, while speaking at Franklin Pierce University yesterday (11/18/07), prompted a loud standing ovation by saying the following: “Yes, I’ve made a lot of people angry. But I didn’t go to Washington to win the Mr. Congeniality award. I went there to serve my country.”

    He seems to want it both ways. On the one hand, he wants to portray himself as a civil guy who scolds (in a gentle, civil manner, of course) uncivil people for being uncivil. On the other hand, he wants to brag about the fact that he doesn’t hestitate to act in an incongenial manner in order to serve his country.

  • That’s the problem. When a participant at a democratic rally asks:
    “How do we beat the lying bastard?” No one knows which one they mean.

  • In McCain’s defense, I think there is a distinction between exploding about something during the heat of the moment, and a calculated mud-slinging political campaign (see Rove, Karl for the latter). Even if McCain has a bad temper, he might have enough class not to embark on a campaign premised on falsehood, fear, and baseless smears.

  • If our proud nation was facing a catastrophic wheeled walker shortage I might consider McCain.

  • The Republicans have discovered that you can have it both ways. The average American seems to have the memory of an amnesiac fruit-fly, the American media operates on the fundamental principle of IOKIYAR, and the Democrats are apparently unwilling to raise a big stink about Republican transgressions, so Bush and the Republicans have picked up the habit of saying whatever sounds good at any given moment, regardless of whether it’s consistent with previous statements. They aren’t ever called on it, so inconsistency doesn’t matter any more.

  • I will wait a few weeks to judge McCain. He has a temper, he has indulged in abusive behavior in the past. Maybe his wife sat down with him and told him what a total jerk he was over the bitch incident. My suspicion, though, is that he will be civil about as long as Broder, who promised to avoid any discussion of candidates’ marital experiences, stayed away from the Clinton marriage topic.

  • How do we beat the Bastard? — lyn5, @4

    The problem here is that, when we say “bitch”, we offend a woman. But, when we say “bastard” (or “son of a bitch”, or even the good, old, “whoreson”), we… *still* offend a woman — the mother of the object of our ire. I guess “jerk” and “arsehole” is, probably the closest we can get at a male directly.

  • McCain did not call that bitch a bitch, a woman in the crowd made that educated remark. Why blame McCain for something he did not do? Or is that what democrats just automatically do?

  • This reminds me of a couple of true anecdotes about Winston Churchill that I read in the National Lampoon years ago (when it was actually funny):

    Shortly after Churchill had grown a moustache, he was accosted by a certain young lady whose political views were in direct opposition to his own. Fancying herself something of a wag, she exclaimed, “Mr. Churchill, I care for neither your politics nor your moustache.”
    Unabashed, the young statesman regarded her quietly for a moment, then wryly commented, “Suck my dick.”

    At an elegant dinner party, Lady Astor once leaned across the table to remark, “If you were my husband, Winston, I’d poison your coffee.”
    “And if you were my wife, I’d beat the shit out of you,” came Churchill’s unhesitating retort.

    True stories, like they said.

  • Actually, many years ago during my college days, a professor of mine who claimed to have been present at the interchange between Lady Astor and Sir Winston recalls it this way:

    At an elegant dinner party, Lady Astor once leaned across the table to remark, “If you were my husband, Winston, I’d poison your coffee.”
    “And if you were my wife, I’d drink it!,” came Churchill’s unhesitating retort.

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