The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Age, temper are issues for McCain
PUBLISHED: March 20, 2008
The worst-kept secret about the GOP candidate for president is that he can fly off the handle. Everyone in Washington knows it; everyone in the press corps knows it; and even the candidate knows it.
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He acknowledged in a 1998 interview that he "works all the time" at taming it and, "Every time I lose my temper, I've regretted it."
The most recent example was caught on video tape. He did not blow his top, but everyone who saw the exchange with a reporter got another peek at the McCain temper.
Of course, the downside of being a president with a short fuse is that, in a moment of crisis, one should be cool, calm and collected.
A GOP senator told the Boston Globe as much.
"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," said Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
With that in mind, the McCain campaign felt it necessary, after the airplane exchange, to issue this news release:
"In Case You Missed It: McCain Balances Public Temper with Private Acts of Compassion."
The flowery release noted that when liberal Democrat and fellow Arizona Rep. Mo Udall was dying in a hospital — you guessed it — McCain showed up.
Udall's son is quoted as saying, "John continued to visit my dad when he had almost literally no visitors" and he did it week after week.
And there were other examples of McCain's kinder and gentler side.
It was all well and good, but it was like saying a murderer had just killed three people, but in the previous 364 days, he had not killed anyone.
Last September, McCain demonstrated his testy side during an interview on Mackinac Island. Again, he didn't go ballistic, but in response to a totally innocent question, McCain's edginess was palpable.
McCain was asked to list his strong and weak points about being president. He hit the first answer out of the park, but on the weak stuff he noted, "My one weakness is answering stupid questions like that."
He later added, "You know, every once in a while I run into aggressive reporters like you, and that's OK ..."
In a flash you saw the combative McCain who came real close to telling the reporter where to go.
Apart from the temper thing, Democrats also are hoping that McCain's age of 71 will produce a senior moment that could do him in much like it did for Richard Austin, a former Michigan secretary of state.
Austin at the time was considerably older, at 84, but on statewide TV he had a senior meltdown, which, in part, cost him the election.
What if McCain gets lost in a speech, or tumbles to the ground while deplaning, a la Jerry Ford, or worse yet, gets photographed dozing off on the platform, a la Bill Clinton?
Democratic consultant Mark Grebner believes McCain is "a risk to the party; he's a gamble."
A temper and getting older — how the candidate handles both could be critical to the outcome of the November election.
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