McCain's History of Blow-Ups: Volume 3

As we inch closer to election day, we’ll continue on with Part III of the many instances of Senator McCain’s erratic temper. For Part I, click here. For Part II, click here .

Casino Patron

Back in 2005, The Daily Beast reports that McCain was in Puerto Rico as the guest speaker for a magazine industry conference, held at one of the island’s major casinos. After his speech, McCain headed to the casino for a stint at the craps table. Now, anyone who plays craps knows that when the dice are about to be thrown, everyone’s hands are suppose to be off the table. But McCain, whether unfamiliar with the rule or simply distracted, left his hands on the felt. A small, middle aged woman who was a casino regular reached over and touched McCain’s arm, apparently trying to make him aware of his gambling faux pas. But McCain wasn’t having it. “Don’t touch me!” he screamed. The woman tried to explain, but McCain cut her off. “Do you know who I am?” Again the woman tried to explain, and again, the red-faced McCain interrupted. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”

New York Times Reporter: "Why Are You So Angry?"

"Morning Joe’s" Mika Brzezinski

You may have heard of Joe Scarborough (the former-Republican-Congressman-turned-talk-show-host) and his MSNBC daily, "Morning Joe." Now, given his past affiliations with the GOP, Scarborough tends to be pretty forgiving to guests of his own party. He’s more or less fair, but it’s no stretch to say that a Republican is a lot more likely to consider "Morning Joe" friendly territory than is a Democrat.

On September 16, McCain appeared on Scarborough’s show. When co-host Mika Brzezinski questioned him about the tenor of his campaign ads, McCain became irritated. He accused Brzezinski of being an open “Obama supporter,” and urged her to convince Obama to accept his invitations to debate him in town-hall format. Brzezinski was taken aback, saying that she wouldn’t classify herself as the Senator had. At the tail end of the interview, Brzezinski again brought up McCain’s jab, pointing out that her brother had been working for his campaign, and had worked for George W. Bush for several years before that. McCain bristled: “Thanks. That was a cheap shot.”

Grabbing Foreign Dignitary by Shirt Collar

One incident was recently brought to light by Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran, a McCain supporter no less (albeit, one who only begrudgingly supported his colleague after he’d sealed the nomination). During a meeting at the height of US-South American tensions in 1987, McCain reached across a table to physically assault a dignitary from the Nicaraguan delegation. Cochran recalled McCain grabbing the man by his shirt collar, "to tell him what he thought about him or whatever."

Des Moines Register Editorial Board

Responding to the disturbance, the pit-boss approached McCain and said, “Sir, you must be courteous to the other players at the table.”

McCain wheeled and began shouting at the pit boss. “Do you know who I am? Ask anybody around here who I am!” He went on repeating his question until one of the other players at the table intervened and offered to trade places with McCain, so that he wouldn’t have to stand next to the woman who had run afoul of the Senator.

Bush Staffer

Taegan Goddard, the Political Wire blogger who is renowned for his ability to be among the very first to break stories out of Capitol Hill, wrote on October 9, 2008, about a senior Bush staffer who’d confided in him about the GOP’s presidential nominee. According to Goddard’s source, there were “at least three occasions where he saw McCain fly into a fit of rage, including one time where he got physical and actually shoved the person who was annoying him.”

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