Candidates On Losing Their Tempers

Presidential Contenders Answer Katie Couric's "Primary Questions"

(CBS)  For the series “Primary Questions: Character, Leadership & The Candidates,” CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the 10 leading presidential candidates 10 questions designed to go beyond politics and show what really makes them tick.

For the fifth part of the special series "Primary Questions," Couric asked the candidates: “When was the last time you lost your temper and what came of it?"

In a new CBS News / New York Times poll, 37 percent of Americans say they would vote against a bad-tempered presidential candidate, even if they agreed with that candidate’s position on most issues. Fifty-seven percent would still vote for that candidate.

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Check out the complete poll results.

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Also, check out the candidates' full responses to the previous questions in our "Primary Questions" video library.

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RUDY GIULIANI

Couric: When was the last time you lost your temper and what came of it?

Giuliani: (LAUGHTER) Would have been when the Yankees lost. I think it might have been when the Yankees lost in the (LAUGHTER) in the playoffs. Not only do I occasionally lose my temper, happens with the Giants too. But, then I have a bad day the next day. Judith will tell you that I'm in a much better mood when the Yankees win than when they lose. And football even gets me a little more emotional. Like if there's an interception or something.

Couric: You had a bad day on Monday then?

Giuliani: Agh. (LAUGHTER) And I'm a big, I'm a big Eli Manning fan. And I think there's too much pressure being put on him. I think, I think that I remember days in which even Joe Namath had four or five interceptions. It just happens.

Couric: That was a rough…

Giuliani: It happens.

Couric: …day for him.

Giuliani: It happens.

Couric: Didn't he? What was four or five?

Giuliani: It was four.

FRED THOMPSON

Couric: When was the last time you lost your temper and what came of it?

Thompson: Let me see. (LAUGHTER) I don't know. I don't really think I lose my temper. I get aggravated. And, you know, I can say some hateful things sometimes. I don't ever think I lose my temper, lose control. I don't remember I was late to an event. I had a couple days ago, I had a Medal of Honor winner, head of a veteran's group of people who were endorsing me. And when I got there, Columbia, S.C., they were all there, 30 or 40 of 'em, standing there. He was standing there. What a hero. Just to read his background, what he's done. And, we got caught up with the car and the traffic and the direction, that our leader was leading us in and so forth. And we were 15 minutes late to these people, standing there, waiting on me, to honor me with an endorsement after what they have been through and who they were. I had a few things to say about that.

Couric: How did you express your temper in that situation?

Thompson: I said, "Please don't do this again."

Couric: Just like that?

Thompson: I'm kidding. No, no. (LAUGHTER)

BILL RICHARDSON

Couric: When was the last time you lost your temper and what came of it?

Richardson: I lost my temper last night when I was bone tired and I couldn't find the bathroom light. I'd flown in from New Mexico. And I was in the hotel. And I couldn't find the bathroom light and I got mad and lost my temper.

But thankfully it was just with myself. (LAUGHTER) That was the last time I lost my temper. But I do that frequently. You know, I'm somebody that sometimes needs to cool down my fuses.

Couric: What happens when you lose your temper?

Richardson: Well ... I just get - a little bit of an inner rage. I never - well, sometimes I take it out on people. But it - but it ends quickly. It's because I demand a lot from myself and I expect others to. But that's a little side of me that I'd like to control a little bit.

Praise others a little more. Thank people more. But in the end, sometimes I lose my temper and - and - and yell a little bit.

BARACK OBAMA

Couric: When was the last time you lost your temper? And what came of it?

Obama: You know, Michelle, my wife, will tell you that I actually am pretty even-keeled. I don't get mad too often. You know, I think probably the last time I got angry was when I heard about George Bush vetoing the S-chip legislation and just watching that argument unfold. And the reason is because I meet a lot of families who really need help. Every day in this campaign you'll hear folks who can't get insurance for their kids because they've got what is considered a pre-existing condition. And I know what it was like when my daughter when she was three-month-year-old got meningitis and had to go into the hospital. And just the terror in my heart that she might not be okay. But I had health insurance. And I tried to imagine what it would be like if you didn't. And so when I hear people characterize this as, you know, socialized medicine, or we don't need to provide health insurance for folks who they can afford it, you get a sense that there's a part of Washington that's just out of touch with ordinary people. And that gets me, gets me frustrated.

Couric: Anything more pedestrian or banal than that in terms of losing your temper?

Obama: Well, I don't…

Couric: Just your day-to-day life?

Obama: I don't have to, I don't have to drive these days because Secret Service is driving. So my moments of road rage are limited. (LAUGHS) And my girls are perfect. So they don't get me mad.

Couric: You're obviously not home that much.

Obama: Right. You know. If I am mad at Michelle, then she is probably mad at me too. And I'm probably the one who's wrong. And my staff, they've performed well. Sometimes I get mad at myself. You know, I mean, the truth is when I get angry oftentimes it's because I don't feel that I did everything that I could to move the ball forward, to, you know, maybe I, in terms of reaching out to a constituency I didn't I wasn't passionate enough, or I didn't in an interview, I wasn't able to deliver a message that I wanted. I sometimes get frustrated with myself. And that's usually good. Because it spurs me to work a little harder the next time.

MIKE HUCKABEE

Couric: When was the last time you lost your temper? And what came of it?

Huckabee: Really blew my lid type lost my temper? It's been a while since I've gotten to the point of, you know, really throwing things. But, just this morning, I had a little incident where we had a scheduling mess-up. And I was not really happy about it. But I've learned that, it's really, not helpful to scream and yell. And I rarely - ever do that. I just don't. Sometimes, what I will do is maybe send out a rather curt e-mail. And people get the point. (LAUGHS) And that's probably the way I express my outrage, more so than verbally.

Couric: What did you do this morning, when you had the scheduling mishap?

Huckabee: Well, I sent out an e-mail on my Blackberry. And I sent it out to several staff people who were involved. And I said, "This was a humiliating issue where I attended a breakfast today that I had on my calendar for tomorrow." And all these people had assembled and it, there wasn't time on my schedule to get there. So I had to disrupt it and hurry over and spend a few minutes with a group of people who thought they were going to meet me today. And I thought I was going to meet them tomorrow. It was bad. It was (LAUGHS) really bad.

Couric: Were they mad?

Huckabee: Amazingly, they weren't. And they had to be the most gracious people on planet Earth. And all I could do was to go in and just fall all over myself with apologies and express to them my sincere depth of humiliation. And I told them I would all, to every one of them, I would bring pastries to their front door on Christmas Day to make up for it. What else can I do?

[mmecarney]

Mitt Romney told a bold faced lie to Katie. Any person who thinks he''s being secretly video taped by a camera set on a tripod at eye-level two feet from his face is simply not smart enough to be president.

[dcamb2]

Katie..I am a Veteran and very interested in the Flag Amendment and the use of "Under God in our Pledge of Allegence and the burning of our Flag..Could you add this to your questions to those seeking the office of President of the USA just what their views of this very important subject is..

[cattlekate]

Thanks, Katie, for your brilliant questioning.

Would you please ask which candidate drinks beer? Because that''s how I will base my vote - which candiate I want to have a beer with.

Or you could ask the candidates what they think about Kevin Martin''s proposed FCC rule change allowing greater monopolization of the media so we can get more fluff like your so-called news pieces.

[violet74]

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[germanmom]

I guess there are different levels of losing one''s temper...My kids say I''m mad when I think I''m just getting "intense". lol

[mudrose-2009]

Dirty democrats are just as useless as they have ever been.
Posted by gunownerdan

And you are just beginning to understand this, when?

[truebluefm]

Oh yeah, this is some real news worthy ***. Hillary, what a big *** phony she is. Remember her appointment by her equally worthless husband to create an insurance for all Americans. Big Pharma paid her to shut her trap and she did. And what about the 42 people murdered because of the WhiteWater scandal. Have you all forgotten about that? Oh hell, never mind, just back to your television sets.

[thy1138]

I wish we could ask this question of other former potential candidates. In particular, the former New York State Governor George Pataki. He was invited to the Republican Convention to give a speech. When he arrived, speech in hand, he was handed a speech, so it was reported, that Newt Gingrich wanted him to read, which he refused. I wonder if Mr. Pataki was angry. He appointed Bernadette Castro, who ran unsuccessfully against US Senator Patrick Moynihan, to the state historic preservation office, and her last announcement was to open the Purple Heart Center near Vails Gate, NY where the troops in the American Revolution were asked to stay that winter after the treaty had been signed, just in case. Senator Clinton passed a law to make the Purple Heart postage stamp permanent, not the whim of a whoever politician sponsored one this term or that.

[gunownerdan]

Dirty democrats are just as useless as they have ever been. The rotten republicans are happy for sure.

[thgdriver]

Huckabee son''''s killing of that poor dog by hanging it is right up there with Mike Vick.

The actions of a son or daughter go to the type of upbringing in the home and the failure of the parents to teach right from wrong. First he tried to cover it up, when that failed he tried to make the excuse the dog was sick and emaciated. With that kind of thinking I would not want Huckabee to rescue me from a prisoner of war camp. I would get hung!!!
Lies, lies and more lies.
Huckabee just lost my vote!!

[hillaryin08]

The Democrats funded the war again. I guess this is not news.

[mudrose-2009]

Too good not to share:

To All My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[mudrose-2009]

Hillary should just bring a frying pan. If she can''t cook she can certainly slam one of her opponents with it. It''s not a temper tantrum. She''s just trying to knock some sense into them.

[gunownerdan]

If you love big government, high taxes, and the destruction of our constitutional rights, then Dr. Ron Paul is not for you.
Vote for Hitlery or Ghouliani.

[cbs4me3]

Hillary: I am a white guy who stongly supports you, and I am not alone. You are our best hope; stay strong and be tough. Stay on your message. There is much work to be done.

[nolalou]

incognito13,
While I agree all the major candidates should have been given a chance to answer to 10 ''primary questions'', your statement that "He (Ron Paul) raised over 6 million dollars in one day. None of the candidates you interviewed could have ever done that." is not true! Hillary Clinton raised about the same amount in one day, back in June!

Not that single day fund raising will necessarily make a difference. After all, in 2004 Howard Dean broke all previous records for internet fund raising, and you see how fast he tanked after coming in 3rd in Iowa.

[xlib]

antizion-site your source.

[xlib]

While cbs is filling the site with nonsense fluff pieces like this, Turkey and the Kurds are heating up. For two days other sites have run stories on attacks and counterattacks while this "news" site ignores it.
Do we need anymore proof that our news is filtered and ginned up so that we only learn what they want us to learn??
For you libs, there are other sites other than cbs.

[antoniof123]

fluff and more fluff.

[fibonacci_]

I simply cannot believe there are still people that think George Bush is a great president. How incredibly naive does one have to be?