John McCain's Unpresidential Demeanor

John McCain has long been dogged by his reputation for having an explosive temper. In fact, I wrote about this back in July. Now Aznew, on RK, also has an post questionning McCain's fitness to be president given his problem holding his tongue.

According to Aznew's diary, with a link to a report in a McClatcy news story, McCain even clashed with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing in 1992. Here's a brief description from McClatchy, and reported by Aznew, of what happened.

Back in Washington, families of POW_MIAs said they have seen McCain's wrath repeatedly. Some families charged that McCain hadn't been aggressive enough about pursuing their lost relatives and has been reluctant to release relevant documents. McCain himself was a prisoner of war for five-and-a-half years during the Vietnam War.
In 1992, McCain sparred with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing. McCain's prosecutor-like questioning of Alfond - available on YouTube - left her in tears.

Four years later, at her group's Washington conference, about 25 members went to a Senate office building, hoping to meet with McCain. As they stood in the hall, McCain and an aide walked by.

Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.

As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

And here's the actual video of the exchange.



At very best, he's rude and dismissive of people who were working desperately to find their loved ones who were POWs and MIAs in Vietnam. Ms. Alfond looked heartbroken.

Given that McCain would rather run on character and personality than issues, something stated by his campaign manager, Rick Davis, let's indeed look at McCain's personality. He often appears to be a bully to those with less power than him.