No, this isn't a post about the new campaign ad by that name that's made Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) a "national laughing-stock." It's about the other 'Big Bad John' in the Senate that actually once blew up and shouted "F--- you" at 'Big Bad John' Cornyn during a senate meeting. This time it's Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) recalling a two decade old incident when John McCain supposedly lost his temper with an associate of Nicaragua's current President while on a diplomatic mission:
"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerrilla group here at this end of the table, and I don't know what attracted my attention," Cochran said. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever. I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, good grief everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission. I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him."
As McClatchy also notes, Cochran has been blunt in the past about what he thinks of McCain's temper:
"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran told the Globe. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
Although the McCain campaign denies Cochran's claim, this is just the latest of countless reports about John McCain's reckless and explosive temper, only this time he didn't blow up at his wife (or joke about beating her up, but that's not really an anger issue by itself. It's a character issue made worse by his anger issues), instigate another fist fight with a colleague, or get testy with the media (well, it turns out he did do that last one again). This time he was losing it getting tough with bad guys with guns.
Although McCain's anger problems have been well documented and Cochran's been on record as critical of McCain's temperament, color me at least a tad leery to believe this new decades-old recollection of his toughness with a South American "leftist" "guerrilla" group that just happened to coincide with McCain's trip to Columbia - a trip which also conveniently coincided with the rescue of 15 hostages, including 3 U.S. citizens and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt from the FARC, another South American "left-wing" "guerrilla" group. Next thing you know someone will be claiming McCain's visit had something to do with that. Oh wait, it seems Fox News already has. Go figure.
