I want to thank the mainstream media ("CNN division") for - perhaps inadvertently - doing the American people a great service. When Campbell Brown asked what John McCain considered to be inappropriately tough questions of a campaign spokesman, McCain got so mad he canceled his interview with Larry King.
Larry King: Caught in the crossfire of a John McCain temper tantrum. Who would have thought that would ever happen?
Why didn't John McCain take his anger out on Campbell Brown?
Or was it that Brown's questions were just the straw that broke the camel's back and McCain just blew up at the next significant "target opportunity" already on his media schedule: Larry King?
We've been waiting to see John McCain when he gets angry. And we still haven't actually seen him that way. But we've had a chance to see the fallout. Not a pretty sight. It's schoolyard level behavior. Reminds me of how George W. Bush decided to end the tradition of letting Helen Thomas ask the first question at presidential press conferences, because he thought her questions were too tough.
Gee, Senator McCain. If you can't face getting tough questions from the media (or even a staff person getting tough questions), how are we supposed to believe you'd be able to meet with Putin or Medvedev without trying to punch them in the eye?
And now - with the entire Republican Party blaming the "liberal media" for not giving Sarah Palin a pass, as John McCain thinks they should - we get to witness how the McCain anger might translate into a foul mood on the part of his entire administration some day.
Added to the proof we now have - because serious journalists have uncovered that John McCain really wanted Joe Lieberman to be his VP (thank you, NY Times!) - that John "Maverick" McCain wasn't willing to buck those in his party who said he'd get a negative reaction to picking Lieberman... and the fact that McCain went with Palin before she was truly vetted... and you begin to have a real window Inside McCain's Mind.
(1) He backs down when told he cannot have the VP he really wants
(2) He then makes a choice based on almost no relevant, critical fact checking.
(3) When those he cannot control (the media in this case) question his decision - and how it was reached - he throws a conniption fit, trashing the work of well-meaning people along the way and blaming those he cannot control for why things aren't going the way he wants them to. (Sounds like George W. Bush again, doesn't it?)
Forget about Sarah Palin's mind... how she behaves when given political power... for a minute. Yes, I know her pro-big oil, anti-environment values are the exact opposite of what American needs today. (And thank you, Tom Friedman, for calling McCain out on this point today.) And I know she's got a vindictive streak. Forget about her for now.
Focus on the Emotional Maturity Issue as it applies to John McCain. Focus on his judgment. Because, inside his mind... it's not a pretty place.
I respect and honor all John McCain went through as a POW. Always have. Always will. But I do not want someone whose mind works the way his does to occupy the Oval Office. We have a much better... a much saner... much more rational option... in November.
Follow Steven G. Brant on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SteveBrant
