"Do I feel passionately about issues?" John McCain has said. "Absolutely. Do I get angry when I see pork barreling and wasteful spending? Absolutely." But his care for the most important topics of the day notwithstanding, McCain has had more than a few volatile run-ins with colleagues, staffers, and officials. Back by popular demand, here are the next ten most egregious instances of John McCain's temper getting the best of him.
10. Volunteer Campaign Aide
Back on November 5, 1999, the Arizona Republic ran a story about one particular example of McCain's mistreatment of his own campaign staff, an outburst that would haunt him for years to come. Just hours after McCain was elected to the Senate for the first time, a campaign volunteer was setting up a podium, from which the newly-elected Senator was to deliver a victory speech. When the 5'9 McCain saw that the podium was being set up to accommodate a taller man, McCain snapped, hurling expletives and epithets at the young aide as members of the press and supporters watched.
9. Judy Leiby, Senior Aide to Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ)
In Ron Kessler's July 5, 2000 Newsmax piece titled, "McCain's Out-of-Control Anger: Does He Have the Temperament to Be President?" the author recounted McCain's encounter with Judy Leiby, a senior member of Senator Dennis DeConcini's staff. DeConcini, an Arizona Democrat, had announced his retirement, and McCain had stopped by to wish him well. Seeing a large crowd, McCain shook the hand of everyone in the office - except Leiby, who had differed with him on a number of issues during her time in DeConcini's office. Sensing the awkwardness, one of the other staff members asked McCain if he'd been introduced to Leiby. "Oh," he said, "I know her." McCain wheeled back to Leiby and said, "I'm so glad you're out of a job, and I'll see to it that you never work again." McCain admitted that he'd made the comment, saying that he hadn't held Leiby in "particularly high esteem."
8. Jim Abbot, Coronado National Forest Supervisor
In the same Newsmax piece mentioned above, Kessler interviewed Jim Abbot, a park ranger who oversaw operations at Coronado National Forest, a large forest located in McCain's home state. Abbot had become concerned that construction on a new building at the University of Arizona was threatening some of the park's endangered wildlife, and petitioned for a temporary halt to construction. When it was granted, McCain got in touch with him. "If you don't cooperate on this project," he threatened, "you'll be the shortest tenured supervisor in the history of the Forest Service."
7. Robin Silver, Bob Witzeman - Medical Doctors
Stemming from the issue of construction and the endangered species in Coronado National Forest, McCain received a visit from two doctors who had been involved in local environmental preservation: Robin Silver, and Bob Witzeman. At the very mention of the matter, McCain exploded, slamming his fists on his desk, scattering papers about the room, and unleashing a tirade of expletives and threats that lasted for 10 minutes. Silver commented that McCain's outburst was uncalled for, and McCain apologized.
6. Rep. John LeBoutillier (R-NY)
A New York Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. John LeBoutillier had interviewed McCain in a meeting regarding POWs. During the meeting, LeBoutillier had placed a tape recorder on the table.
Later, LeBoutillier encountered McCain in the course of House business, but McCain refused to speak to him without confirming that he wasn't tape recording the conversation. "Are you wired up?" McCain demanded. Despite LeBoutilliers assertions that he was not, McCain insisted that he lower his pants and prove that he was not wearing any kind of listening device.
"He's a vicious person," LeBoutillier said of his former colleague.
5. Senator Richard Shelby, (R-AL)
In a piece that ran in the January 28, 2000 edition of Investor's Business Daily titled, "Can McCain Control His Temper?" the editorial board raised the issue of an incident between McCain and another of his Senate colleagues, Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama. Shelby had cast a vote against the nomination of Defense Secretary John Tower, and McCain became enraged, getting an inch away from Shelby's face. McCain screamed at him, letting expletives and names fly. Mcain was "half boasting" when he said, "I was madder than hell when I accosted him."
4. Delegation of Female Air Force Pilots
Former editor of the Arizona Republic, Pat Murphy, wrote a detailed editorial that was carried by a number of different papers in December of 1999. Murphy pointed to an incident in which a delegation interested in expanding opportunities for female pilots visited McCain at his Senate office back in 1991. McCain greeted them by calling them "honey," and "sweetie," and then proceeded to disparage them, calling them "a bunch of Pat Schroeders." Schroeder was a Colorado Democrat who had championed women's rights issues while in office.
3. Diane Smith, a McCain Constituent
Murphy also mentions Diane Smith, a constituent of McCain, who wrote to the Senator to criticize what she perceived as unfair treatment of Anita Hill, the woman who claimed to have been sexually harassed by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. McCain personally called the 60 year-old woman and berated her for "questioning [his] integrity."
2. Sandra Dowling, Maricopa County School Superintendent
In a 60 Minutes interview with Morley Safer, Sandra Dowling, the Maricopa County (Arizona) superintendent of schools, recounted the time she'd refused McCain's demand that she retract her support of a political rival of one of McCain's protégés. McCain screamed at her, threatening to "destroy" her. Her son soon thereafter lost his appointment to the US Naval Academy (of which McCain is an alum). McCain denied any connection, though he sits as an ex officio member of the Board of Visitors.
1. NBC
The television network NBC refused to support a television rating system that McCain had proposed be introduced. McCain wrote to the network's president, Robert Wright, threatening to work to have the Federal Communications Commission lift NBC licenses on locally-owned stations.
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