Report: McCain Exploded With Rage During Gambling Outing

Writing for the Daily Beast, Michael Kinsley relays a disturbing story about John McCain from Jeff Dearth, former publisher of the New Republic, when Dearth and McCain attended a magazine industry conference at a casino hotel in Puerto Rico in 2005:

McCain's game is craps. So is Jeff Dearth's. Jeff was at the table when McCain showed up and happily made room for him. Apparently there is some kind of rule or tradition in craps that everyone's hands are supposed to be above the table when the dice are about to be thrown. McCain--"very likely distracted by one of the many people who approached him that evening," Jeff says charitably--apparently was violating this rule. A small middle-aged woman at the table, apparently a "regular," reached out and pulled McCain's arm away. I'll let Jeff take over the story:

"McCain immediately turned to the woman and said between clenched teeth: 'DON'T TOUCH ME.' The woman started to explain...McCain interrupted her: 'DON'T TOUCH ME,' he repeated viciously. The woman again tried to explain. 'DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO?' McCain continued, his voice rising and his hands now raised in the 'bring it on' position. He was red-faced. By this time all the action at the table had stopped. I was completely shocked. McCain had totally lost it, and in the space of about ten seconds. 'Sir, you must be courteous to the other players at the table,' the pit boss said to McCain. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? ASK ANYBODY AROUND HERE WHO I AM."

This being Puerto Rico, the pit boss might not have known McCain. But the senator continued in full fury--"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"--and crisis was avoided only when Jeff offered to change places and stand between McCain and the woman who had touched his arm.

Read Kinsley's full piece here.

Also this week, Brave New Films released a new video focused on McCain's temper, featuring "original interviews with former U.S. Senator from Arizona Dennis DeConcini, former Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Jon Hinz, former Arizona Republic Editor Pat Murphy, and Eleanor Apodaca, sister of a Vietnam POW/MIA soldier. All four attest to McCain's explosive anger, three of them with personal anecdotes."

Watch it:

Comments

[azakayaks]

I'm not going to claim that "The Rolling Stone Magazine" is beyond reproach in accuracy, nor that it never has a political agenda. I do, however, remember that during the Watergate hearings and subsequent impeachment of RMN the Stone was running good, factual articles by the likes of Woodward, Holtzman and others.
In that vein, and with that caveat, there's a very good (if lengt*/2hy) article in the current issue dealing with Mr. Straight talk express . Interviews with felllow former pows, and all. It would seem that Mr. POW may have (quite) a few skeletons of his own. From conduct as a "heroic former P.O.W. to dealings with Keating, and a few other items of interest as well.
Here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain
I'm posting a second link to an article in the Phoenix New Times which has a very interesting article on the background of Cindy's family and it's ties to Kemper Marley, the Don Bolles murder and the Phoenix mob.
That one is here: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits/6
It seems that if Cindy, Sara, and the other wing-nuts want to look at worrysome connections they needn't even leave John's family and in-laws to find a plethora.

"That One" & Biden '08
Rankle Hiway Hussein Palin (I'm a proud mudflatter)
http://mudflats.wordpress.com//)

[RFBorjal]

"McCain--'very likely distracted by one of the many people who approached him that evening,' Jeff says charitably--apparently was violating this rule."

More probably, he was concentrating on what he was doing to the woman beside him who "reached out and pulled McCain's arm away."

[invisible]

I really have no dislike for John McCain. But, more than EVER, we really do need someone who can keep cool under pressure.

[jayelo]

Holy Smokes!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs&eurl

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

No smoke or mirrors

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/

[qui9]

Can anyone get the casino footage of this? Its probably somewhere, its a casino.

[BillCarson]

Apparently there's a 18 1/2 minute gap on the tape.

[Indubio]

How many times have we heard the phrase "do you know who i am? Whatever a celebrity or anyone with an overblown perception of their self worth encounters a problem (be a drunk driving, confrontation by security, whatever... DO YOIU KNOW WHO I AM? The appropriate response would have been a non-chalant, "no one gives a f*** you you are. This is craps and you need to keep your hands above the table or leave. Celebrities spend their lives being coddled when most of them really need a good swift kick in the ass. McCain's lucky he wasn't confronting my wife because she would have sliced him to ribbons with her sharp tongue.

[liluskikus]

Maybe the Secret Service should have a talk with Palin and McCain. Their language is giving armed and disturbed followers a rationale for taking "justice" into their own hands....what with 50 caliber sniper rifles so readily available narcos and "heroes" alike.

[ovcatto]

More like a classic symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and more than understandable in McCain's case. I'm certainly not a political supporter of Sen McCain (Obama O8) but as a former sufferer of severe symptoms of PTSD, I can tell you that you when some triggering event occurs the anger can be uncontrollable and harder still to accurately explain to others.

Just my two cents.

[Paganus]

Thanks for this perspective. Anyone who is interested in the debilitating, long-term affects of war on the human psyche might want to read Johnathan Shay's Achilles in Vietnam.

[RRonin]

Cindy McCain insists that her husband is too much of a superman to have ever had PTSD. Marie Claire magazine interview, October 2008

[BillCarson]

>More like a classic symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and more than understandable in McCain's case.

Your right. After all that McCain went through as a POW in Vietnam it's certainly understandable that he would have PTSD. That being said, I still don't want him anywhere near the nuclear trigger.

[shiningstar1]

These disturbing reports about McCain's temper makes me wonder if he has any domestic abuse in his history. Coming from an abusive family with terrible tempers I am extremely sensitive to people who behave this way and can not be around that level of anger without getting my stomach tied in knots. I guarantee that there is more to this story. It seems like many of the stories about his temper involve women. I'm surprised that nobody from his personal past has come forward. I love how calm and intelligent Obama is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlI01jo8A0Y

[standup2them]

shiningstar1 McCain has some demons in his head. People who know him said he goes into rages. Did you check out the video on you tube when McCain starts going into a rage with a women who wanted to know about the M.I.A. from nam? Wow! He made her cry. He was swearing and screaming and then he got up and stomped out of the room. Or the story how he poked a young guy in the chest with his fingers after being elected as state rep. He got mad because after his speech that people couldn't see his mouth-- so one of his buddies fix it for him and placed a milk crate next to the podium. He's a loose cannon to say the least. One nam vet said he should never be trust to run the united states. That was on t.v.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

I saw it was really disturbed,,

[standup2them]

Scary huh? Obama/Biden 08'

[pasc]

Has anyone seen McCain's pharmaceutical records? These stories make me wonder if maybe he is bipolar.

[Wingit]

Remember a couple of days ago the statement, "my fellow prisoners"? You have to wonder what's going through this man's brain.
There are a couple of observations of McCain in the press that pop out also. When he feels himself getting angry, he will try to crack a joke and kind of laugh at it himself. If that does not go well; look out, there he goes.
There is a sound trigger to McCain's temper also. If someone in a close area is rattling keys, duck for cover, because mCCain is going to explode.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

You mean like the Hair Plug joke?

[dvs0826]

Where is the video of him doing this? In the article there is an image of him at what appears to be a craps table, and in the bottom right corner you can see a cutoff "Youtube" logo. But the video in this article does not contain the same image, so it must have been taken from another youtube clip somewhere. Where? Anyone have a link?

[standup2them]

Go to youtube if you want to see the true McCain the one he doesn't want anyone to see. M.I.A mother trying to get some answere from him. He starts to freak out!

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

McCain had already forgettn about his "FELLOW PRISONERS" once he dumped his wife for the Money and smile.

[Debanne]

Those were the same words spoken by Larry Craig as he was being arrested for his restroom escapade. ( Do you know who I am?) Just another example of how some Republicans feel they are above the law or others.

[epski]

What a classic sense of entitlement...

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

I believe he is an ELITEST!

[Mason]

Of the numerous and inventive McWhatever monikers that have been penned about this elephant, I believe I have a new one to recommend based on the video. Dare I say McPi*sed?

Hasn't he heard of therapy?

I think I'm beginning to understand why this aging over-the-hill man so covets the presidency, his "precious" in Gollum-speak. He's never been happy in his own skin because he has refused to confront his inner demons and by so doing he has ceded authority over his life to them. Explosive rage in reaction to minor acts that he mistakenly perceives as disrespectful demonstrates little, if any, self esteem. So, like a moth in the presence of a flame, he covets money, authority, and power. Dissatisfied with sharing the public spotlight on the powerful group of 100 public figures that comprise the Senate, he seeks a way of drawing more attention to himself, so he baptized and anointed himself as the Maverick of Straight Talk. But the demon in charge is never satisfied. Small wonder then why he so covets the presidency and why we must act to deny him his precious.

[BetterAmerica]

You can tell he has a bad temper. It's probably not controllable b/c of his time as a POW. It's scary to think about him negotiating with rogue nations about nukes. He could just get mad and push the button.

His temper showed at the last debate when he called O "That one".

[Mason]

I don't intend to minimize the psychological and physical horror of POW internment by saying this, but I suspect that his fellow prisoners would not be so charitable as to attribute his rage and inability to control it to his time as a POW.

He was living and acting out of control long before he attended the Naval Academy and went to war.

[McGaladon]

Agree. Can't give cites; was back when he was running against Bush -- who'd a thought it would only get worse? But I recall reading, a number of places, that even as a small child, McCaln had a terrible temper. To be kind, it's not easy being a military brat, & he the third generation expected to be a Naval hero, but w/ all the moving around, & his father a raging alcohoic.... Not a great background. One thing has puzzled me for 8+ years: Bushes I & II, McCain, Obama....at most not one spent more than 3 years in public schools. Yet all (but, somewhat, Obama) keep playing the "just folks" game, and voters keep buying it !! OTOH, we've got the very potentially President Palin, who went to 5, or was it 6? colleges ... including....Hawaii!! before gettting a B.A. No wonder they call Obama an elitist! Compared to Palin... And Bush II ended up at Harvard after the Law School at the U. of Texas at Austin turned down his application! That also never got much press. Feh!

[standup2them]

George jr got into Yale his father had connections.

[McGaladon]

What he suffered in the war was awful, true, but I recall reading, back when he was running Against Bush, that anyone who knew him & was willing to speak out at the time said he had a terrible temper even as a small child. Given, the expectation
that he be the third generation Navy hero, his background as a a 'military brat' which is always difficult, and the fact that his father was a raging alcoholic must have been influential. Well, it's sad, but it doesn't mean he should be president as a consolation prize! Also odd, he, as did both Bushes, and Obama spend all, or all but 2 or 3 years in private schools, yet somehow only Obama is "elite"??

[JimMan35]

Was this photo taken in the past week or so? This suit, blue shirt and orange tie is a new look for the usually dowdy McCane. There's some way to read the coding in photos on the internet. Anyone have info?