Synopsis of Excellent AP article

[CARLHAYDEN]

McCain's Sharp Tongue: an Achilles Heel? 

Saturday, February 16, 2008 11:30 AM

WASHINGTON -- Temper, temper. Republican John McCain is known for his. He's been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication, but he's also had some success extracting his hatchet from several foreheads.

Even his Republican Senate colleagues are not spared his sharp tongue.

"F--- you," he shouted at Texas Sen. John Cornyn last year.

"Only an a------ would put together a budget like this," he told the former Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Pete Domenici, in 1999.

"I'm calling you a f------ jerk!" he once retorted to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.

With Cornyn, he smoothed things over quickly. The two argued during a meeting on immigration legislation; Cornyn complained that McCain seemed to parachute in during the final stages of negotiations. "F--- you. I know more about this than anyone else in the room," McCain reportedly shouted.

Cornyn chuckled at the memory of what he called McCain's "aggressive expressions of differences." The Texan has endorsed McCain.

"He almost immediately apologized to me," Cornyn said last week. "I accepted his apology, and as far as I'm concerned, we've moved on down the road."

The political landscape in Arizona, McCain's home state, is littered with those who have incurred his wrath. Former Gov. Jane Hull pretended to hold a telephone receiver away from her ear to demonstrate a typical outburst from McCain in a 1999 interview with The New York Times.

McCain has even blown up at volunteers and, on occasion, the average Joe.

He often pokes fun at his reputation: "Thanks for the question, you little jerk," he said last year to a New Hampshire high school student wondering if McCain, at 71, was too old to be president.

Other times, his ire is all too real. This has prompted questions about whether his temperament is suited to the office of commander-in-chief or whether it might handicap him in a presidential campaign against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are not known for such outbursts.

"I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger," Domenici told Newsweek in 2000.

McCain's temper hinders his efforts to make peace with his critics and rally Republicans behind his candidacy for president. That could be a big problem, because his most persistent foes _ conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson _ talk to tens of millions of people each day.

McCain and his advisers insist the acrimony is about matters of policy: "We have disagreements on specific issues from time to time," McCain recently said of his critics.

In fact, the disputes often are as much about style as they are about substance.

McCain's tone was certainly on Dobson's mind when he issued a stinging anti-endorsement on Super Tuesday. He mentioned various issues, but Dobson also said the senator "has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language."

Privately, some conservatives grouse that McCain can seem more convivial toward his liberal colleagues. Just last week, McCain had an animated conversation and shared a belly laugh with liberal Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, his partner on controversial immigration reforms, on the Senate floor.

And then there is his choice of words _ not just the expletives, but also the use of dismissive phrases such as "agents of intolerance" to describe televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell during the 2000 presidential campaign.


 

[Lief 🗽]

Anyone who yells obscenities at John Cornyn is a hero in my book.

[8 out of 11 is not deserved]

You seem to dislike McCain as much as I dislike Hillary.

I still contend has more honor than Hillary.  He was willing to lose an election supporting a surge.  She voted for Iraq simply to maintain political viability ( remember she advised Kerry he had to vote for it for political viability in the infamous "I actually voted for it before I voted against it" in 2004).

A person who votes for War, putting young lives at stake,  to maintain political viability is far, far worse in my book.

Now, I can agree with you about selecting Obama over McCain.

Hillary...Hell no..Never

[The Hack Hater]

Oh, McCain!(lol)

[YRABNNRM]

George W. Bush: "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."

Dick Cheney: "Go fcuk yourself."

[Keystone Phil]

I'm especially a fan of the "F--k you" to Cornyn mainly because I don't know why everyone hates the guy. Even though I don't know why, I dislike him, too. It's just the cool thing to do.

[Nutmeg]

Makes me like him more, although not as much as I did in 1999-2000.