Does Sen. John McCain have the temperament and judgment to be president? His behavior at a dinner with journalists last week indicates he may be too emotionally volatile to make it through the campaign without embarassing himself.
Arianna Huffington was at the dinner, and wrote about it (“John McCain Bites My Head Off”) here:
McCain’s “volcanic” temper is legendary and there were concerns in GOP circles during the 2000 campaign that his tantrums could become an issue.
Toward the end of the conversation, I raised my hand and asked McCain:
“Given that you’ve said that you are ‘scared to death that it’s going to be a very hot spring in Afghanistan,’ and given that you have also said, repeatedly, that only a substantial increase in troops in Iraq would make a real difference, why not send the 21,000 troops headed to Iraq, in what is clearly an act of desperation, to Afghanistan instead?”
During his response, McCain equated those opposing his position with “the far left.”
“Do you consider Sam Brownback part of the far left?” I jumped in.
The Senator flared and told me that if I’d only let him finish his answer instead of interrupting, we could have “a civil discussion.”
He then continued on about why he supports the escalation … Along the way, he denied that he had used the phrase “the far left.”
Wow, I thought, the Straight Talk Express has run so far off the rails McCain is now denying things he’d said in front of close to two-dozen note-taking journalists not half-a-minute before.
I pressed on: “You keep presenting the Iraq debate in terms of left vs right and Democrat vs Republican, when there are clearly major rifts in your own party over the direction we should take. And you yourself have changed your mind about the number of troops we need.”
With a growing edge in his voice, McCain explained that he had sat down with General Patraeus. “He looked me in the eye,” said McCain, “and told me ‘I can do it with 21,000. And if I can’t, I’ll ask for more.'” McCain went on to say he believes that in a country of 300 million we should be able to have a large enough volunteer army to do whatever we need to do.
“That’s all very good in theory,” I replied, “but, in practice, where are these additional troops going to come from? And you keep saying that the American people are ‘frustrated’ about Iraq, which totally minimizes the outrage there is at continuing to be mislead by this administration.”
He had clearly had it with me and told me that since what I had just said was a statement and not a question, he didn’t have to respond.
McCain’s bad temper is legendary and there have been longstanding concerns about it in GOP circles. For example, in 1999, during McCain’s first presidential bid, the Washington Post reported that Arizona GOP officials who had felt the wrath of McCain’s “volcanic” temper were fearful his tantrums could become a factor in the 2000 race. After McCain won the New Hampshire primary, operatives for then.Gov. George W. Bush started a whispering campaign in South Carolina against McCain that characterized him as “unstable.”
Last Sunday, on “Meet the Press,” Sen. McCain seemed vey depressed. It appears something’s going on behind the scenes with the GOP’s putative frontrunner.
UPDATE: Republican tool Bob Novak has a column up criticizing McCain’s performance on MTP:
Democratic strategists … were surprised and delighted by his dour appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press†last Sunday. One Democratic leader referred to McCain’s performance … as “comatose.†A Republican adviser to McCain said it was one of the worst performances ever on “Meet the Press.â€
