Is McCain fit for the presidency?

According to a report on Huffingtonpost.com, a new book by Cliff Schecter, “The Real McCain” offers a look at McCain’s legendary anger streak. Perhaps the most interesting episode was a confrontation between McCain and Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi. According to a reporter who witnessed the incident, during a strategy meeting, McCain repeatedly referred congressmen Trent Franks and Rick Renzi as ‘boy’. Eventually, Renzi rose from his chair and said “You call me that one more time and I’ll kick your old ass” at which point McCain lunged at him. The two had to be separated after throwing punches.

 

Believe it or not, McCain actually called Renzi in his office later and demanded an apology. I suspect Renzi responded with a polite ‘screw you’ (you can replace ‘screw’ with any expletive that has a nicer ring) but at any rate, the two became fast friends, so I guess it’s all good. Keep in mind though that the incident was never reported and the witnesses have remained nameless.

Still, it does seem to fit a pattern of similar behavior. It was reported in Washingtonian magazine that McCain once “scuffled” with Strom Thurmond, (wow, can you picture that cage match?) and dropped the F-Bomb on at least three fellow republicans. Add to that an offensive joke he made about Chelsea Clinton written about in an opinion piece by Sidney Blumenthal. “Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly?” he asked. “Because Janet Reno is her father.” Well being so disrespectful of someone’s child doesn’t score too many points in my book, and I’m sure Bill would have handled it if he wasn’t so *ahem* busy.

What’s my point? Well does this affect how you feel about voting for this guy? I’m sure nobody has forgotten the infamous “Dean Scream” which pretty much derailed Howard Dean’s presidential bid. If this “red faced rant” (his words, just ask David Letterman) toppled a frontrunner in the primaries, could revelations in this book have a similar effect on McCain’s run for The White House? Time will tell.

I’ll leave you with a part of McCain’s response to the recent reports. “If I lose my capacity for anger, then I shouldn’t be president of the United States…” Nice one John.

Tags: Cliff Schecter, John McCain, Republican, Rick Renzi, The Real McCain, The White House, Trent Franks, US Presidential race 2008