DCFOUNTAIN.COM

On McCain’s legendary life-long temper:

Over the years, John McCain has demonstrated a streak of anger so nasty that even his former flacks make no effort to spin it away. Even McCain admits to an “immature and unprofessional reaction to slights” that is “little changed from the reactions to such provocations I had as a schoolboy.”…Several years later, during another debate over servicemen missing in action, an elderly mother of an MIA soldier rolled up to McCain in her wheelchair to speak to him about her son’s case. According to witnesses, McCain grew enraged, raising his hand as if to strike her before pushing her wheelchair away.

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On McCain’s opportunistic nature, which often has led him to place ambition over country:

In the end, the essential facts of John McCain’s life and career — the pivotal experiences in which he demonstrated his true character — are important because of what they tell us about how he would govern as president. Far from the portrayal he presents of himself as an unflinching maverick with a consistent and reliable record, McCain has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to taking whatever position will advance his own career. He “is the classic opportunist,” according to Ross Perot, who worked closely with McCain on POW issues. “He’s always reaching for attention and glory.”

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Larry Wilkerson, retired U.S. Army colonel and former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, on McCain’s about-face endorsement of a Bush torture policy:

What his former allies in the anti-torture fight found most troubling was that McCain would not admit to his betrayal. Shortly after cutting the deal, McCain spoke to a group of retired military brass who had been working to ban torture. According to Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former deputy, McCain feigned outrage at Bush and Cheney, as though he too had had the rug pulled out from under him. “We all knew the opposite was the truth,” recalls Wilkerson. “That’s when I began to lose a little bit of my respect for the man and his bona fides as a straight shooter.”

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On McCain’s misogynistic tendencies and verbally abusive behavior toward his wife:

During his 1992 campaign, at the end of a long day, McCain’s wife, Cindy, mussed his receding hair and needled him playfully that he was “getting a little thin up there.” McCain reportedly blew his top, cutting his wife down with the kind of language that had gotten him hauled into court as a high schooler: “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.” Even though the incident was witnessed by three reporters, the McCain campaign denies it took place.

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