John McCain, Charles Grassley Physical Altercation Confirmed By Washington Post

Sunday's Washington Post features a front-page story examining the notorious temper of Sen. John McCain, including a first-hand account of McCain's physical altercation with fellow GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley.

It was early 1992, and the occasion was an informal gathering of a select committee investigating lingering issues about Vietnam War prisoners and those missing in action, most notably whether any American servicemen were still being held by the Vietnamese. It is unclear precisely what issue set off McCain that day. But at some point, he mocked Grassley to his face and used a profanity to describe him. Grassley stood and, according to two participants at the meeting, told McCain, "I don't have to take this. I think you should apologize."

McCain refused and stood to face Grassley. "There was some shouting and shoving between them, but no punches," recalls a spectator, who said that Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey helped break up the altercation.

Earlier this month, The Huffington Post first reported on charges leveled in Cliff Schecter's book, The Real McCain, that McCain had physically attacked GOP Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi. At the time, McCain issued a non-denial denial, saying the reports about his temper were either "false or exaggerated."

But in the Washington Post today, McCain aide Mark Salter confirmed that Renzi and McCain had a very heated exchange:

Reports recently surfaced of Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, taking offense when McCain called him "boy" once too often during a 2006 meeting, a story that McCain aides confirm while playing down its importance. "Renzi flared and he was prickly," McCain strategist Mark Salter said. "But there were no punches thrown or anything."

Comments

[LostCause]

I suggest a color-coded McCain terror scale, with pink=calm and purple=raging.

[tiredofhillary]

I don't think we really know this guy. I mean this morning, when questioned on GS show, to keep from showing his anger, he would put on this stupid grin and you just knew he wanted to jump across the table at GS.

Makes me wonder about spousal abuse.

[dwillisno1]

Old rule. "Do not abuse the meal ticket."

[Obamapalooza]

C'mon, this is he said, she said. We need a smoking gun.
McCain punching someone is the face, tossing F-Bombs and threats. Pulling his wives hair while calling her a cun@. Where is the real stuff?
Everyone with any sense cam see that McCain is cabable of these things put the poo has not stuck to the wall. YET

[Obamapalooza]

can
capable
I mean

[JulieSA]

the poo has not stuck to the wall.

Maybe, just maybe...it's because it's a bunch of poo?

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Let the campaign to cast McCain as an "old angry white man" begin! Um, has anyone seen the anger absolutely oozing out of Rev. Wright and Michele Obama? Hey, it's all good because Smokin' Jobama is calm, cool, and collected! He says nothing, but his words are so calming. Lullabye and good night.... Look beyond his smile and all you'll find are the failed policies of the 60's and 70's, but not to worry. Look at those teeth! Hear that vocabulary! FEEL the change coming! Yep, he'll put Iran, Hamas, Syria, and North Korea in their place because, because, well, because he MEANS to do it! He'll reward the poor by taxing the rich and the poor will be all the better for it, well, not because they'll be better off, but, dammit, those rich bastards won't be as rich as they used to be. That'll learn 'em!

[2warvet]

AMEN!

[desmirl]

Your racism is showing, and it ain't pretty.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Is playing the "racism" card a knee jerk reaction or were you trying to be funny? What the heck did I write that was racist?

[tiredofhillary]

In 1961, a young Black man, after hearing Pres. John F. Kennedy's challenge to, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,' gave up his student deferment, left college in VA and voluntarily joined the Marines. After 2yrs as a Marine, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide med assistance to the Marines and Navy personnel.)

He did so well as a corpsman that he was valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary tech. He was assigned to Bethesda, as a member of the commander in chief's med team, and helped care for Pres. Lyndon Johnson. For his service on the team, the White House awarded him 3 letters of commendation.

While this man was serving his country, Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, who was born the same yr as the Marine, rec'd 5 deferments. Pres. Bill Clinton & G. W. Bush, both 5 years younger, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both avoided serving this country.

Who's the real patriot? The man who interrupted his studies to serve his country or our 3 political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots those who actually sacrifice something or those who just talk about their love of the country?
After the military, the marine finished his final yr of college, went to seminary, was ordained as a minister, and pastor of a large church in one of America's biggest cities. This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

And he grew up to be a lovely little loud mouthed race baiter. How nice for him. Care to comment on that tiny little (multi-million dollar) house he's building right now courtesy of his church? Must be him "clinging" to religion.

[Viper]

Actaully it was during the current primaries that 2 Repug Senators came out and said McCain was not fit to command because of his temper. They said he scared them.


And of course in the 2000 Campaign it was George Bush/Rove who said he was unstable because he was tortured and unfit to command and that he had a black baby and that his wife was a drug addict.


Regards

[lanshark]

Look beyond his smile and all you'll find are the failed policies of the 60's and 70's

All I see when I look at John McCain is 8 more years of the same failed Republican policies. I thought the Republicans are supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility (fooled me once... that's one of the main reasons I quit the Republican Party back in the early 1990's).

Instead we have the biggest debt in the history of the country, a looming recession, $114 per barrel of oil, nearly $4 per gallon gas, people losing their homes, falling incomes, increasing joblessness, a never ending war in which no one can define victory which is costing us 1000 of our best and brightest each year not to mention a couple billion dollars every month... I don't see how a Democrat could possibly do worse. If Obama or Hillary do nothing else than to get us out of the hell hole called Iraq it will at least save many American lives and billions of dollars.

Do you know what is worse than so-called "tax and spend" Democrats? It's "borrow and spend" Republicans. At least the Democrats pay for what they spend.

[JulieSA]

PART FOUR:

" When he asked me about Karen Johnson, who says McCain tried to block her from getting a job, I asked for details: what job; who did he call, when did it happen, etc. He said he couldn't give them to me because he had promised his source he wouldn't share those kind of details with McCain in advance of publication. Source didn't ask for her identity to be protected and didn't put the details off the record. They all appeared in the story. I explained to Leahy that this was a very unusual form of confidentiality, that an incident that was given to him on the record could not be shared with the subject of the story so that we could provide an informed response. There is only one reason that a source would act for that kind of selectively targeted and temporary confidentiality, to deny us the ability to disprove the story, which we could have done in ten minutes. It's like telling someone he's been accused of pedophilia, asking for a response, but declining to identify the incident in question. Mr. Leahy was unpersuaded.

In sum, this is one of the more shoddy examples of journalism I've ever encountered. But for the infamous NYT story, I'd say it was the worst smear job on McCain I'd ever seen.

END

[JulieSA]

PART THREE:

"I am quoted regarding the Renzi incident saying something like "no punches were thrown," making it seem as if i was excusing any incident as evidence of bad temper unless McCain drew blood. In fact, Leahy suggested to me that McCain had thrown a punch (I believe he got this from a defamatory book published recently by a Democratic activist). I responded directly to an accusation. More, I told him that McCain hadn't lost his temper at all. McCain routinely refers to people and colleagues as "boy." He does to me, to Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, and almost everybody. It's like saying hey, buddy. He means nothing by it. Renzi was relatively new to Congress, and got upset when McCain refered to him in this completely innocuous way. All McCain told Renzi was that he meant nothing by it, and Renzi should calm down or words to that effect. That was it. And I explained all that to Leahy. None of it made it into the story. That wasn't only place in the story he declined to quote me fairly or to quote my explanation at all."

[zigzag1]

The same Renzi that was McCain's state campaign chair in AZ until he got indicted.

[JulieSA]

PART TWO:

"The story about the Young Republican in 1982 is entirely fictional. The Bob Smith incident is entirely fictional. The Karen Johnson story is entirely fictional. Most of the others are exaggerated beyond recognition. Let me give you two examples of Leahy's reporting practices that serve to underscore that he had a thesis he wanted to prove and forced facts to make them fit it.

[JulieSA]

PART ONE: Here is Mark Salter's take on this story

"Saw your post about the WP story on the McCain temper. If one half of it were true, it would give me pause. As it happens, the piece is 99% fiction. [Reporter Michael] Leahy is a nice guy, but the story was one of the more dishonest I've read in a while. I talked to him for over two hours. Some of the instances, like the Bob Smith one, he never even raised with me so I could respond. For others, he declined to print my rebuttal. He used my quotes in ways that made them seem as if I were confirming his thesis when I insisted that McCain's temper is no greater than the average person's, and that I personally know 20 or 25 Senators with much worse tempers. He argues, sometimes heatedly, with his peers, but he doesn't hold grudges or pick on people subordinate to him. If you want to tell what members of Congress have ungovernable tempers, you need only look at how rapidly their staffs turnover. As a twenty-year veteran Hill staffer, I can assure you that is the best indicator of which members have bad tempers. McCain's staff serve tenures well beyond the norm, because they are treated exceedingly well by him.

[GrandpaMcCain]

And, let's take a quick poll....

Nope, nobody cared. Move on.

[JuneCleaversBeaver]

One would think she would know how to cascade the various parts so that they would appear on the thread in chronological order

[Fleisch]

He is abusive to people who disagree with or challenge him, so the contentment of his toadying staffers is irrelevant. There is general consensus on the Hill that he has a foul temper, as shown in a Washingtonian poll of all Hill staffers. The only Senator who came out worse was Ted Stevens.

[JulieSA]

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/mediapolitics/1666.html

That's a fun poll. Here are some results of that poll:

Senator I’d like to see win the presidency in 2008

1. George Allen (R-Va.)

2. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

3. Tie: John McCain (R-Ariz.);

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)

Straightest Shooter
1. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

2. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)

3. Tie: Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.);Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)

[JuneCleaversBeaver]

Well! If Mark Salter says it...

[Citizen54]

Those of us who dread the thought of a President McCain should keep in mind that this only adds to his tough-guy image (which somehow appeals to many voters who are not).

[Fleisch]

OMG! In the navy, swollen cheeks, bald, likes to fight... McCain is Popeye!

[ched]

Old, on the brink of dementia, and borderline alcoholic with a short fuse - a really, really short fuse - should disqualify yo to run the shuffleboard tournament at the senior center, let alone the country.

Thank you, Sen. McCain, for your service the the country. But let's face it: you barely made it out of the service academy (and probably wouldn't have if it weren't for your father and grandfather), you weren't much of an officer while you were in the service (if you're honest, you'd admit that getting shot down was the best thing that ever happened to your career), and you weren't much of a pilot, either (anybody can crash a plane; but 5 of them? Seriously, how do you do that?). Your professed concern for fiscal responsibility would sound more convincing if you hadn't totaled half a billion dollars worth of flying equipment.

You have many good reasons to be angry. However, it is increasingly apparent that you have no business having your finger on or anywhere near the button, let alone during these dangerous times. The very fact that, despite your obvious mental and psychological handicaps, you STILL seek to be commander in chief in order to fulfill some kind of inadequacy-daddy complex, only underscores your inadequacy for the office.

[sagopalm]

Leave it to a republican to back McCain's unstable, temper driven decision making capabilities to someone who is reasoned and uses a more cerebral approach.ie: either Obama or Clinton. But then, republicans got us into the bush era so there's no credibility left in their party whatsoever. Talk about whiners...they vote for the biggest dipshit they can find to be leader of the free world and all they can do is criticize liberals and say we hate America. And now to top it off, they want McCAIN???????
Who is it that really hates America??? It's sure as hell not the liberals.

[WinslowLeach]

This is a Jekyll & Hyde issue. Every time he speaks in public, he is meek and quiet.
Must be a blast watching him transform.

[JulieSA]

This part of the article is interesting: "George Stephanopoulos once described Clinton's "purple rages," which left Stephanopoulos, often the subject of Clinton's private lashings, so shaken that he broke out in hives, sunk into depression and began taking an antidepressant."

I guess the presidency survived his temper tantrums. Hillary's almost campaign didn't though--he had to be put on a leash after he lost his temper so many times on the campaign trail.

[GrandpaMcCain]

Carpetbagger.

[JeremyO]

Is Hillary a Neo-Con? She said something interesting in the ABC debate.
Hillary's Civil War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK_fXnubsm8

[GrandpaMcCain]

Poor baby.

[dwillisno1]

As it happens, the piece is 99% fiction.

So the one percent thats true is about Clinton?

Usual JuliaSA bullshit.

[yeswecancan]

Tell me again why a guy with a hair trigger temper, who bullies and taunts people and tries to physically intimidate them and who can't stand anyone to disagree with him should be considered presidential material??? All those Dems threatening to bolt to McCain better take a realllll close look and get over their hurt feelings.

[thedudeabides]

perfect guy to have his finger on the nuclear trigger...

[JSquercia]

My thoughts exactly . Certainly not the guy I want answering that 3AM phone call