Posted by: AzBlueMeanieWhile serious newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times continue to do in-depth investigative news reports into Sen. John McCain, our local yokel newspapers the Daily Star and Tucson Citizen continue to ignore these excellent investigative reports by not publishing even a news service abridged version, or referencing the articles in an editorial. I strongly encourage them to do so.
Why the news blackout? Are the local papers protecting their favorite son Saint John from public scrutiny? Or protecting their advertising revenue bottom line by not upsetting McCain’s campaign contributors who also happen to purchase substantial amounts of advertising in their newspapers? They would not allow revenue to affect their professional journalistic judgment, now would they?
The Sunday Washington Post ran a front page lead story by Michael Leahy on the volcanic temper of Sen. McCain. McCain: A Question of Temperament Leahy provides the details of several confrontations McCain has had with fellow Senators, other politicians and even a campaign staff member over the years.
Here is a sampling of the report…
As a high school student, McCain "defied authority, ridiculed other
students, sometimes fought. The nicknames hung on him at Episcopal
[H.S.] mocked his hair-trigger feistiness: "Punk" and "McNasty." Hoping
to emulate his father and grandfather, also an admiral, he went on to
the Naval Academy, where his pattern of unruliness and defiance
continued, landing him near the bottom of his class. "I acted like a
jerk," McCain wrote…"
Leahy reports a sanitized version of the infamous confrontation
McCain had with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in 2007 during the immigration
reform bill debate. McCain called Cornyn a "chickenshit", and got into
an angry shouting match with Cornyn. “F— you! I know more about this
than anyone else in the room,” shouted McCain at Cornyn. McCain to Cornyn: "F— YOU! [courtesy Free Republic].
"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."
Leahy reports a sanitized version of comments made by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), more fully reported in the Boston Globe
earlier this year: "The thought of his being president sends a cold
chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is
erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." Famed McCain temper takes a break on campaign trail – The Boston Globe
Leahy reports that "Former senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire
Republican, expresses worries about McCain: his temper would place this
country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in
danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him.’"
"Smith admits to not liking McCain, a point he has often made over
the years to reporters. I’ve witnessed a lot of his temper and
outbursts," Smith said. "For me, some of this stuff is relevant. It
raises questions about stability. . . . It’s more than just temper.
It’s this need of his to show you that he’s above you — a sneering,
condescending attitude. It’s hurt his relationships in Congress. . . .
I’ve seen it up-close.’"
Leahy reports other well-documented instances of McCain’s
confrontations with senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Pete Domenici
(R-NM), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), and Richard Shelby (R-AL).
Local politicians have not been spared his wrath. Leahy reports on
Paul Johnson, former Mayor of Phoenix; Tom Freestone, former county
supervisor in Maricopa County; Karen Johnson, presently a state
senator; and Sandra Dowling, former Maricopa County school
superintendent.
Leahy also reports the sad story of a campaign worker, Robert
Wexler, who was the victim of McCain’s uncontrolled rage during his
first senate race in 1986. Note to anyone running for elective office:
this is not the way to treat your campaign staff.
Leahy’s report concludes with: "One man’s bulldozer is another’s
bully. ‘I don’t think that he forgets anyone who ever opposed him, that
he can ever really respect or trust them again,’ said Karen Johnson…
‘That goes for people here and overseas.’"
McCain attempts to downplay his volcanic temper as simply "youthful
indiscretion" (to quote George W. Bush). "As a young man, I would
respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone who I
perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect. Those
responses often got me in a fair amount of trouble earlier in life."
It was not limited to his youth. McCain has demonstrated a continuing
history of having a hair-trigger temper and has proven to be "an
erratic hothead incapable of staying cool in the face of what he views
as either disloyalty to him or irrational opposition to his ideas."
I don’t know about you, but having the right temperament and
emotional stability are qualities I strongly consider in choosing a
president. John McCain fails the test.
The New York Times followed with a front page lead story on
Tuesday by David Kirkpatrick and Jim Rutenberg regarding the special
favors McCain has bestowed on Tucson’s own billionaire real estate
developer, Don Diamond. A Developer, His Deals and His Ties to McCain – New York Times I guess our local newspaper editors and reporters were too buy schmoozing with "the Donald" at his cocktail parties.
The premise of the article is laid out in this passage: "For Mr.
McCain, the Arizona Republican who has staked two presidential
campaigns on pledges to avoid even the appearance of dispensing an
official favor for a donor, Mr. Diamond is the kind of friend who can
pose a test."
No kidding! Read on.
"A longtime political patron, Mr. Diamond is one of the elite
fund-raisers Mr. McCain’s current presidential campaign calls
Innovators, having raised more than $250,000 so far." "Mr. Diamond and
his family have given more than $55,000 to Mr. McCain’s campaigns" over
the years.
The article details how McCain has provided assistance to Mr.
Diamond in ways both small and large for his largess over the years,
mostly through federal land exchanges.
And "the Donald" is not concerned about the appearance of political
correctness in describing his friendship with McCain: "Mr. Diamond, for
his part, said Mr. McCain had only done his job. “I think that is what
Congress people are supposed to do for constituents,” he said. “When
you have a big, significant businessman like myself, why wouldn’t’t you
want to help move things along? What else would they do? They waste so
much time with legislation.” "The Donald" continued: "I want my money
back, for Christ’s sake. Do you know how many cocktail parties I have
to go to?"
Yes, everyone should have their own senator on retainer to answer
their every beck and call and do favors for them. It is so much more
important than that whole "promote the general welfare" thing the
Founding Fathers put in the Constitution. What the hell were they
thinking?
Apparently money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you a senator. Even a millionaire senator who doesn’t need any money.
"The Donald" was not done with his tone-deaf arrogance, however.
"Mr. Diamond said he still thinks that Mr. McCain is too worried about
avoiding any appearance of a favor. ‘He doesn’t bring home enough for
the state,’ Mr. Diamond said. ‘It is a sore subject between us.’"
One final story from last week, Sen. McCain has finally released his
personal income tax records, but only for two years, and it does not
include the personal income tax records of his millionaire heiress
wife, Cindy. All the other presidential candidates and their spouses
have released their personal income tax records for multiple years, why
not the McCains? Why is the news media not pressing McCain on this
issue the way they did for the other candidates?
And while the lame news media is at it, they should ask the McCain’s
about their charitable contributions, which were directed heavily to
elitist prep schools where their children attended school (buying them
admission?), and garnering a tax deduction to boot! "John McCain’s Charitable Contributions" by Ken Silverstein (Harper’s Magazine)
Excerpt:
"Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to
the foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than
for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period,
the McCain foundation made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More
than $500,000 went to his kids’ private schools, most of which was
donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain
apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools
attended by his children.
* * *
Collectively, McCain’s kids’ private schools rank as the largest recipient of his foundation’s money."
And John McCain had the nerve to call Barack Obama an elitist?!
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