On Friday, during a back-room discussion on the new immigration-reform package, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) started shouting at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who dared to disagree with him on the legislation. Apparently, McCain accused Cornyn of raising petty objections, and Cornyn accused McCain of having dropped in without taking part in the negotiations. “F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” McCain reportedly shouted. Paul Kane added that McCain also “used a curse word associated with chickens.”
I noted over the weekend that McCain has made something of a habit of launching profanity-laced tirades against his colleagues — especially his Republican colleagues — which might explain why his presidential campaign hasn’t exactly racked up endorsements from the Senate GOP caucus.
Today, McCain seems to have settled down a bit.
Tensions run high on immigration, and the bargain reached last week sparked intramural hostility between Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who had a bitter exchange during the last closed-door meeting before a deal was announced.
Cornyn, who opposes the agreement, said that McCain, a supporter, has apologized to him for launching a profanity-laced tirade at the Texan accusing him of holding up the deal.
Fine. It doesn’t explain why McCain felt compelled to take such an abusive attitude in the first place, but he made the effort to apologize, which was clearly the right move.
(Just as an aside, of the nation’s major dailies — NYT, WaPo, LAT, USAT, WSJ, Boston Globe, NY Daily News, Chicago Trib — only one published an item on the McCain incident. If, say, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had screamed, “F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” to a colleague, do you think the major dailies might have mentioned it?)
Of course, it’s not just on the Hill. McCain can be nearly as unhinged on the campaign trail.
Mitt Romney, for example, has been critical of the immigration reform measure. Someone asked McCain today about the former governor’s position on the issue.
Mitt Romney has been trying to make quite a bit of political hay out of the compromise immigration bill — he sees it as one of John McCain’s key weaknesses as relates to the Republican base and a great way to differentiate himself as the One True Conservative in the race (at least until Fred Thompson jumps in).
Well, today, on a conference call with bloggers, Mr. McCain fired back at the former Massachusetts governor, who has (of course) held varying positions on immigration over the years.
“Maybe I should wait a couple weeks and see if it changes,” Mr. McCain said of Mr. Romney’s position on immigration this week. “Maybe he can get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his yard.”
As Ryan Lizza noted, it kind of helps “reinforce the idea that McCain is a little thin-skinned and quick to fly off the handle,” doesn’t it?
Watch for “temperament” to be a bigger campaign issue in ‘08 than in any cycle in recent memory.
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