McCain: A Question of Temperament

John McCain Admits He Has A Temper, But Opinions Differ On How Much Of A Liability It Might Be

(Washingtonpost.com) 
While in the course of a policy disagreement at a luncheon meeting of Republican senators, McCain reportedly insulted Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico with an earthy expletive. Domenici demanded an apology. "Okay, I'll apologize," McCain said, before referring to an infuriated Domenici with the same expletive.

Salter insists that many of McCain's run-ins with colleagues and activists have resulted from McCain's conviction that his honor in some way has been questioned. "If he feels a challenge to his integrity, then he'll say something," Salter said. "If he thinks you betrayed him...he'll tell you, he'll be angry....But he's also exceedingly forgiving."

During the early 1990s, McCain telephoned the office of Tom Freestone, a governmental official little known outside Arizona's Maricopa County. McCain had an unusual request. He wanted Freestone, then chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, to reject a job applicant named Karen S. Johnson, whose last governmental position had been in the office of a former Arizona governor and who had just interviewed for a position as an aide in Freestone's office.

According to two employees in the office, McCain told Freestone that the applicant's past political associations left her carrying unflattering baggage.

The pair of Freestone staffers thought it odd that a U.S. senator would even know that Johnson had applied for a job in their office, let alone that he had taken time out of his workday to pick up a phone and weigh in on a staffing matter so removed from the locus of Washington power. But McCain's disenchantment with Johnson was personal: A few years earlier, he had an angry exchange with her while she was the secretary for Republican Arizona Gov. Evan Meacham, who was impeached and forced out of office for campaign finance violations.

Around the time of Meacham's ouster, Johnson said, McCain paid a visit to him. Johnson recalled that McCain swiftly used the opportunity to lecture Meacham: "You should never have been elected. You're an embarrassment to the [Republican] Party."

A stupefied Meacham just stared at the senator. An indignant Johnson, as she tells the story, snapped at McCain: "How dare you? You're the embarrassment to the party."

As Johnson and another person working in Freestone's office remember, the surprised supervisor told Johnson about McCain's objections to her. "But I'm hiring you anyway," Freestone told her.

For Johnson, McCain's call raised questions as to whether he bore a lasting animosity against anyone who ever challenged him. "Everyone in [Freestone's] office thought it was all ridiculous...and petty," remembers Johnson, a devout Republican conservative who today is an Arizona state senator.

"Senator McCain says he has no recollection of ever making a phone call to block a job for Karen Johnson," Salter said.

During roughly the same period, McCain requested the firing of an aide to Arizona's senior U.S. senator, Dennis DeConcini, according to two top figures in DeConcini's office.

The aide, a veterans affairs expert named Judy Leiby, first ran into problems with McCain in the late '80s, when she sought to correct what she regarded as a McCain misstatement about DeConcini's record on a veterans issue. She was attending a Phoenix meeting between McCain and some veterans when she rebutted a McCain assertion that DeConcini, a Democrat, favored a bill that included a cut of some veterans benefits. "That is incorrect," Leiby said, detailing the specifics of DeConcini's position as McCain listened stonily.

Sometime afterward, McCain called DeConcini and asked that he dismiss Leiby, insisting to the senator that his aide had become a toxic, partisan figure. According to the two people in the office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, DeConcini defended Leiby and, praising what he characterized as her bipartisan fairness and expertise, urged McCain to give her a second look. McCain refused, repeating his demand that Leiby be fired.

DeConcini "politely told McCain to go to hell," according to a source close to the conversation, adding: "Not once in [DeConcini's 18-year Senate tenure] did another senator ask for an aide to be dismissed. Not once did anyone speak about an aide like that."

Episodes such as the Johnson and Leiby incidents, along with McCain's oft-chronicled blowups on Capitol Hill, have led critics to say he has a vindictive streak, that he sees an enemy in anyone who challenges him.

"I heard about his temper more from others," said Grant Woods, McCain's first congressional chief of staff, who is generally regarded as McCain's closest confidant in his early political years. "According to them, he really unleashed on some of them, and they couldn't figure out why....It happened enough that it was affecting his credibility with some people. If you wanted a programmed, subdued, always-on-message politician, he wasn't and will never be your guy."

Woods helped orchestrate McCain's first House campaign in 1982 and worked to get him elected to the Senate in 1986. That year the Arizona Republican Party held its Election Night celebration for all its candidates at a Phoenix hotel, where the triumphant basked in the cheers of their supporters and delivered victory statements on television.

After McCain finished his speech, he returned to a suite in the hotel, sat down in front of a TV and viewed a replay of his remarks, angry to discover that the speaking platform had not been erected high enough for television cameras to capture all of his face -- he seemed to have been cut off somewhere between his nose and mouth.

A platform that had been adequate for taller candidates had not taken into account the needs of the 5-foot-9 McCain, who left the suite and went looking for a man in his early 20s named Robert Wexler, the head of Arizona's Young Republicans, which had helped make arrangements for the evening's celebration. Confronting Wexler in a hotel ballroom, McCain exploded, according to witnesses who included Jon Hinz, then executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. McCain jabbed an index finger in Wexler's chest.

"I told you we needed a stage," he screamed, according to Hinz. "You incompetent little [expletive]. When I tell you to do something, you do it."

Hinz recalls intervening, placing his 6-foot-6 frame between the senator-elect and the young volunteer. "John, this is not the time or place for this," Hinz remembers saying to McCain, who fumed that he hadn't been seen clearly by television viewers. Hinz recollects finally telling McCain: "John, look, I'll follow you out on stage myself next time. I'll make sure everywhere you go there is a milk crate for you to stand on. But this is enough."

McCain spun around on his heels and left. He did not talk to Hinz again for several years. In 2000, as Hinz recalls, he appeared briefly on the Christian Broadcasting Network to voice his worries about McCain's temperament on televangelist Pat Robertson's show, "The 700 Club." Hinz's concerns have since grown with reports of incidents in and out of Arizona.

In 1994, McCain tried to stop a primary challenge to the state's Republican governor, J. Fife Symington III, by telephoning his opponent, Barbara Barrett, the well-heeled spouse of a telecommunications executive, and warning of unspecified "consequences" should she reject his advice to drop out of the race. Barrett stayed in. At that year's state Republican convention, McCain confronted Sandra Dowling, the Maricopa County school superintendent and, according to witnesses, angrily accused her of helping to persuade Barrett to enter the race.

"You better get [Barrett] out or I'll destroy you," a witness claims that McCain shouted at her. Dowling responded that if McCain couldn't respect her right to support whomever she chose, that he "should get the hell out of the Senate." McCain shouted an obscenity at her, and Dowling howled one back.

Woods raced over, according to a witness, and pulled Dowling away. Woods said he has "no memory" of being involved, "though I heard something about an argument."

"What happens if he gets angry in crisis" in the presidency?" Hinz asked. "It's difficult enough to be a negotiator, but it's almost impossible when you're the type of guy who's so angry at anybody who doesn't do what he wants. It's the president's job to negotiate and stay calm. I don't see that he has that quality."

Having reunited with his old boss after a falling out in the '90s, Woods is back on board. Barbara Barrett, too. Other Arizona Republicans, once spurned or alienated from McCain, have accepted invitations to rejoin him, though not Sandra Dowling or Jon Hinz, who said, "I've just seen too much. That temper, the intolerance: It worries me."

How Big a Factor?

Historians are generally ambivalent over whether hot-tempered leaders have fared any worse than the placid. Harry S. Truman once threatened bodily harm in a letter to a reviewer who wrote disparagingly about the musical talents of his daughter. Richard M. Nixon ranted, and so did Bill Clinton. George Stephanopoulos once described Clinton's "purple rages," which left Stephanopoulos, often the subject of Clinton's private lashings, so shaken that he broke out in hives, sunk into depression and began taking an antidepressant.

"Clinton could flare up," remembers John D. Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff. "You might have to endure five minutes of him yelling. But you could challenge him....He would sometimes get mad when [aides] pushed back - but it was a passing moment; tomorrow would be fine. You didn't get in the doghouse for pushing back."

"Temper can sometimes be a political instrument," said James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. "There are sometimes calculated displays of temper, which is what Lyndon Johnson used to persuade people....

"But sometimes somebody's temperament can get in the way of aides telling him the truth, which happened [during the Vietnam War] with LBJ. His temper scared some [aides] away, which was not good for anyone....That's always part of the risk with a strong temper...and so it's always relevant."

After his failed 2000 presidential campaign against George W. Bush, McCain sensed the political cost of his temperament. During a debate, he had snapped at Bush: "You should be ashamed....You should be ashamed." In May 2006, he told CNN: "My anger didn't help my campaign. It didn't help. People don't like angry candidates very much."

McCain's defenders today include an old nemesis - Grassley.

"It doesn't mean I'm buddy-buddy with McCain," the senator said recently. "He may have a short fuse....But I've come to the conclusion that his strong principles, sometimes backed up by considerable" - Grassley paused - "not temper, but considerable conviction, is what a president ought to have."

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, the targeted secretary-turned-state senator. "That goes for people here and overseas."

[abbe91]

"I guess a temper is only a negative if you''re a republican.
Posted by katg21 at 01:36 PM : Apr 22, 2008"

It''s only negative if you confuse Al-Qaeda with Chi''ites, Iraq with Mexico and the USS Forrestal with a bowling track.

[katg21]

I seem to remember hearing that Hillary has quite a temper, what about Howard Dean...WHO CARES!!! I guess a temper is only a negative if you''re a republican.

[leftyintexas]

"Does he get angry? Yes," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who supports McCain''s presidential bid. "But it''s never been enough to blur his judgment....If anything, his passion and occasional bursts of anger have made him more effective."

Yeah, like we believe anything coming from your pie hole, Joe.

[abbe91]

"retired a full colonel (20+ years)
* Posted by trapbreak at 09:26 AM : Apr 21, 2008
Wasn''t McCain in the navy?
Posted by LibH8er at 03:45 PM : Apr 21, 2008"

Indeed ... they were so happy after he trashed 5 planes (one only in combat) that they made him the only colonel in the US Navy history ever.

[watcher269-2009]

Yes,just what we need in the Whitehouse these days. A loose canon with his hand on the button.

Posted by kansas1946

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That''s the point with McCain - you don''t know where his hands are!

At least with Bill Clinton - you knew where his hands were - on interns - Female ones.

Not like Bush and Cheney - I remember reading that Bush FARTS in front of his interns to see their reactions.

I can''t imagine what Cheney does to his!

I know one thing - I wouldn''t shake hands with McCain - he probably had his hands in his Depends.

[watcher269-2009]

McCain supports the Bushit/Cheney military decision to:

Strained by the demands of a long war, the Army and the Marine Corps recruited significantly more felons into their ranks in 2007 than in 2006, including people convicted of armed robbery, arson and burglary, according to data ...

McCain supports giving Felons GUNS!

McShame supports Arming Felons with the latest military technologies so when the come back to the States - they can use them against us!

McSame supports teaching Felons how to kill Iraqis at first - then the felons will come home - find out there are no jobs or health-Care for them and the FELONS will start killing YOU to get what they want and need!

A Vote for McSAME is a vote for higher Crime rates in the United States!

Vote for Trained Killer Felons - Vote McCain!

[cfin5]

Any of our Presidents should have a "Don''t tread on me" attitude towards any nation/sect/group/individual who would do me harm. A foolish man is slow to pick a fight with a hot tempered individual. Especially one with the biggest stick in the valley. All he has to do is a few public "stunts" with a foreign policy theme to seed the rep,.....then say nothing at all regarding said policy and blink at nothing. It''s called being the LEADER.

[lindaredtail]

Kansas 1946 You''re right again. I used to admire him though not always agree with him. The Quakers, Amish, and Shakers of Pennsylvania are all conscientious objectors usually. They are very good people and I''m not surprised that they are for Obama. They would rather negotiate than drop bombs. The Republicans falsely portray themselves as the party of God. They are the party of a particular type of militaristic apocalyptic Christianity that I have a pile of research on my desk that mainstream Christianity rejects. I have research from the Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic Churches as well as authors and independant researchers. Their "party of God" belief is a false delusion.

[kansas1946]

kansas1946 thank you. I know that I''''m right about Bob Jones. I forget about the Anti-Christ part. Is it rightful for John McCain to associate with someone like that?


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Posted by lindaredtail at 06:42 PM : Apr 21, 2008
+ report abuse
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No, it isn''t. But he is so desparate to look "Christian" enough to the radical-right, that he dances with the devil. It is interesting to note, that the majority of the Quaker community, about as Christ-like a group as you can get, is supporting Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, and almost all of them are supporting which ever Democrat gets the nomination. For a party (Republicans) to scream constantly about being the party of God, it is interesting that the Quakers are supporting Democrats. Maybe these folks can smell hypocties better that the rest of the "Christians."

[obama8years]

Listened to a few soundbites on the News about Obama speaking to a group of Jewish people, telling them how he disagreed with Carter and that we must not negotiate with a known terrorist organization and they applauded him%u2026take that context and recall previous dialogue to an entirely different audience how we need to negotiate with Iran and Syria. So which Obama do you believe?

Let%u2019s face it, anyone that believes Barack is believing in the myth. This man will say and do anything to get elected. What%u2019s sad is that so many people are getting duped and they don%u2019t even know it or refuse to believe it; they are drinkin%u2019 the Kool Aid.

Just like his disrespect for the flag only to plaster his backdrop with wall to wall flags, just like his lame excuse for not wearing an American flag on his lapel and now wearing one after yet another lame attempt to give reason to now feel it appropriate to wear one, and his distancing himself from Rev. Wrong but all the while not really distancing himself at all, and just like his distancing himself from Louis Farrakhan yet showing no discontent for his church giving The Nation of Islam, a lifetime achievement award%u2026just what kind of drug are these people on%u2026

So it%u2019s clear to me, this man%u2019s words are just that, words.