Did McCain rough up a Sandinista?

John McCain has rejected claims by a fellow Republican senator that during a 1987 meeting with Nicaragua's then-Sandinista government, he roughed up an associate of President Daniel Ortega.

Thad Cochran of Mississippi claimed in an interview with the Sun Herald that he saw McCain grab the man by his short collar and lift him up "as if he was about to throw him out of his chair". The senator, a McCain supporter renowned for his mild manner and measured speech, said he was disturbed by the incident, which took place during a diplomatic mission in a room full of armed men.

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla 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."

No punches were thrown and the situation was defused, Cochran said, though the target of McCain's ire appeared "ruffled" for some time after.

The senator went on to add, however, that McCain was now "level-headed" and in his opinion was the best man for the job.

McCain, who is known for his touchpaper temper, has flatly denied any truth in Cochran's recollection. "It's simply not true," he told reporters in Cartagena, Colombia, where he is currently on a visit. He acknowledged that he "did not admire the Sandinistas", but went on to say: "There was never anything of that nature and it just didn’t happen."

So what really occurred? Lorne Craner a former foreign policy aide to the Republican nominee who attended the Nicaragua trip, said he had no recollection of the incident described by Cochran.

"Honestly, if my boss had grabbed a foreign government official like that and lifted him up I would certainly remember that," said Craner, who is president of the International Republican Institute, which McCain chairs.

It seems unlikely, however, that the Mississippi senator would fabricate such an incident. McCain has in the past crossed swords with Cochran, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, over pet projects tagged onto spending bills by committee members. But would he go so far on the basis of a grudge?

Cochran shocked Americans earlier in the year with an uncharacteristic outburst on the subject of McCain's temper, which he suggested would be an impediment to his presidency. "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran told the Boston Globe in January. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

Since then, however, McCain has made an effort to smooth things over with Cochran, who has even joined the Republican contender on the campaign trail.

Asked why Cochran raised the Nicaragua incident now, the senator's spokeswoman, Margaret McPhillips, said: "I think Sen. Cochran went in to as much detail Monday as is necessary to make the point that, though Sen. McCain has had problems with his temper, he has overcome them."

"Decades have passed since then and he wanted to make the point that over the years he has seen Sen. McCain mature into an individual who is not only spirited and tenacious but also thoughtful and levelheaded," McPhillips added. "He believes Sen. McCain has developed into the best possible candidate for president."

However McCain's legendary temper has surfaced much more recently. In 1995 he had a scuffle with Senator Strom Thurmond, a Republican from South Carolina, on the Senate floor, while just last year, he screamed "F*** you! at John Cornyn, a Republican senator from Texas, during a heated debate over immigration.

During his first presidential run in 2000, when questions were raised over his inability to win the support of his colleagues, one GOP senator described an incident the previous year in which McCain had repeatedly called fellow Republican Pete Domenici an "a**hole" as the New Mexico senator addressed the Budget Committee in his role as chairman. The senator who witnessed the incident told Newsweek he had previously considered supporting McCain for president, but then changed his mind.

"I decided," the senator said, "I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger."

Comments

[JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO]

Well, the man who reports this ugly incident is an American senator, and he is a Republican.

Even if he doesn't like McCain, it is hard to see any motive for making this up.

Besides, the incident is in keeping with McCain's well-known temper, said by those who've seen it in full fury to be frightening.

McCain as a young man bucked authorities and acted the typical troubled brat, fond of ugly tricks, in school. His academic record is mediocre.

He is the son and grandson of admirals and clearly did not have the talents needed to rise in the Navy. He only got into pilot's training by his father's pulling strings.

I suspect McCain suffers from the syndrome common to so many sons of famous fathers, especially ones who just don't have big talent.

It's actually another way in which he resembles Bush, because Bush and his father just about came to blows on more than one occasion.

As retired General Clark accurately said, getting shot down in a fighter doesn't qualify you to be president.

[jorge wheelock]

This was well deserved I'm sure. I'm a Nicaraguan citizen living in Nicaragua, and assuring you, that at times, this is the only way to deal with these Sandinistas.

[Paul]

As a Nicaraguan I would like to assure your readers that if indeed this incident did occur, McCain is better for it. Roughing up Sandinista's should be seen in a positive light when compared to financing Sandinista's as a few Obama cronies have done in the past. Namely the great Reverend Wright.

[Tim Jackson]

I'm surprised that you have not mentioned the most famous allegation about McCain losing his temper; namely that he called his wife a c*** in front of a number of journalists in the early 90's.

[Bob Evans]

And if McCain did such things, do you not think that Yanks would prefer a president who possesses testiculī to testosterone-free president incapable of producing the testosterone to defend them?

[Mark]

I like the idea of McCain as an a$$ kicker. LIke Reagan, he wont be bullied or intimidated but will call the bluff and up the anty when punk leaders want to play poker.

Uncle John wants YOU!

[ELDERDON]

I'd like this type of response from McCain when Obama sits across from him in a debate. Then I'd vote for the old bastard!

[Richard Wilkinson]

Dr. Strangelove can not wait to push the red button and start his 100 year war.

[Don Meaker]

Simple physics indicates that the story is false. Try picking up a large child by the collar.

Now throw in that McCain was badly injured during his stay in Vietnam. He barely has enough movement left to dress himself, and someone would have him performing Schwarznegger-esque feats of strength.

Odd thing about politicans. They can make a lot of money selling out their few votes to the opposition. We see it happen every year in California, where one or two Republicans are picked off (by significant amounts of bribery) to vote with the Democrat majority on what ever tax bill or infringement of our rights comes down the pike. As a sellout minority you can do right well, better than you can as a member of the Majority which has to, like, govern responsibly.

[Don Meaker]

The US has been in Cuba since 1898. In Germany since 1944, in Japan since 1945, in Korea since 1949.

Why? Because we stay, and wars don't start. We leave (as we left Europe in 1919) and wars start again. When we went back into Europe we lost 4000 men, in Sicily alone. More at Salerno. More at Anzio and Monte Cassino. More again as we fought up the length of Italy. More in Normandy. More across France. More in Southern France. More in Belgium. More in Germany.

We lost about 100,000 men in WWI, and 300,000 dead in WWII. We lost much less that that during the long stay as part of NATO. That is why staying makes sense. Not to fight a 100 year war, but to prevent one.

Doesn't high school teach anything anymore?

[Uncle Ralph]

Channeling C.S. Lewis, "We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful." -- On the other hand, we make men like John McCain.

Take your pick.

###

[Dave H]

Good for John McCain. The Sandanista's were and are a bloody terrible bunch of thugs. I wish he would have actually flung the pig again the wall.

[anomaka(2008: year of the underdogs)]

God help us if this guy gets elected. This is the kind of attitude that got us in Irak. Loser!

[Gyrd]

A 'scuffle' with Thurmond? How could anyone get angry at a senile guy in his mid-to-late 90s, steered by his aides? I'd like to hear more about that supposed incident.
How does McCain pick anyone up by the lapels when he can't lift his own arms above shoulder level, due to his war wounds?
Cochran is a Mississippi politician, and is used to a certain audience. He probably thought he was doing McCain a favor by saying that he will physically beat up all of America's enemies, one-by-one.

[GFR]

Keep up the good work, London Times. You've just given a bunch of Americans another good reason to vote for John McCain.

[Pedro Arauz]

Thank God there are plenty of people like Mr.McCain who don't fall for the leftist crap!
The USA will have to realize the power to anhilate such evil and use the weapons it has before otherwise. In South America we have to eliminate from Chavez to Ortega, fast!

[chris ford]

Torontoan John Chuckman is clearly in no contact or understanding of what is left of Canada's military if he writes of McCain:

"He is the son and grandson of admirals and clearly did not have the talents needed to rise in the Navy. He only got into pilot's training by his father's pulling strings."

1. Any Naval Academy graduate is eligible to put in for pilot's training.
2. He did succeed in becoming a highly rated carrier jet combat pilot for 7 years - which is a meritocracy because like Royal Navy sub officers, the environment is too dangerous, too many lives rest on such officer's performance to allow a non-hacker with extraneous political or family "pull" to persist. Dangerous to the pilot and others not just the combat air missions, but everyday sorties and carrier takeoffs landing on "the most dangerous 2 acres anywhere".
3. McCain was rated as a naturally gifted pilot in his fitness reports, being a natural flyer&fighter, aggressive, cool under pressure.
4. He went on after POW captivity to regain his wings when doctors said it was impossible, by undergoing a year of excruciating pain breaking up 6-year old scar tissue and lenthening shortened muscles and ligaments to regain flexibility from what his therapist said was the "worst knee injury and scar tissue problem I ever saw, the worst agony I ever saw a patient put up with in therapy to reach their goal". All voluntary, all which McCain was told was not necessary for his opportunities to work for higher promotion, but a point of honor with him because he told others he would do whatever it took to bend it enough to fit in a cockpit, and regain what the Communists took away from him .
5. He showed executive ability as commanding officer of the Navy's largest fighter wing, gaining high marks for leadership and receiving the Navy's 1st peacetime Presidential Meritorious Unit Commendation. In his last position as Navy Liason to the Senate, he was acclaimed by Senators from both Parties for superb work and superb support of them.
6. How far McCain would have gone in the Navy if he had not lost the entire middle of his career - 5 1/2 years in brutal captivity, 2 years to heal his POW mental and physical wounds - is unknown. But in any case he left a highly decorated Captain of the US Navy, widely admired by his peers and the public - evn those that disagree with his politics or acknowledge he had temperment and comportment issues on being freed from Vietnam that took a few years to shake free of.

Chuckman is correct that simply being shot down (or getting wounded or getting medals for heroism) doesn't qualify one for President. I personally don't want McCain in because of his politics and weak economic credentials. But there is no denying that McCains 27-year service to the nation was exceptional, and is an ongoing source of inspiration to civilians and military alike on the nature of honor, duty, sacrifice.

Not just in the USA. And outside the POW story, every modern Navy and many air force and Army, plus professional firefighters study tapes of the Forrestal fire, which killed 134 and wounded 161 in a conflagration. Part of the training notes a pilot whose jet is engulfed in a sea of flames from burning jet fuel, who climbs out and calmly jumps into the lake of burning fuel, ducking and rolling and emerging burning and put out with an extinguisher. Saving his life by cool action now taught to others. Some of the training adds that the burned pilot then ran Back Into The Flames to rescue a fellow pilot, reached him, and was dragging him out when the 1st 500lb bomb exploded, killing most of the damage control party and throwing him and his charge 50 feet and leaving him with shrapnel in his legs and chest. A month later, he had most of the shrapnel out, burns healed, and volunteered for combat duty on another aircraft carrier while the Forrestal was overhauled. On his 7th flight, he was shot down.
John McCain.

[haralambos]

What about Chuck Norris for Mc cain's VP?

[Cic]

John McCain may, or may not have have made it into flight school because his father was an Admiral; I can however assure you that his becoming a pilot who successfully took off and landed from a moving aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean had nothing to do with his father pulling strings. You are either successful at taking off and landing, or you are dead.

[KmiloY]

As a nicaraguan citizen i can say,"great if he did it" That's the kind of guts that foreign policy needs

[Stephen]

Better question: Would Obama even know what a Sandanista is?

[Infidel]

I can only hope he bloodied the bastards nose. The Sandinistas deserve only the noose.

[Bonnie]

I also would like this type of response from McCain when Obama sits across from him in a debate. Then, a few people could vote for the old guy and most could see the light and vote for Obama, the man the generals call No Drama Obama and No Shock Barack. We need a steady hand, brilliant mind and a compassionate soul in the White House in this very dangerous world, not a testosterone-hyped old man with untreated PTSD. Think about it. Obama 08 Oh yeah!

[Bonnie]

I see no reason for Cochran to make up this incident and it is in line with much that is documented about McCain's volatile temper. In any case, I imagine this meeting with the Sandinistas could be verified. There were thousands of people in the U.S. that worked with the Sandinista government during the 80s, helping build schools, digging wells, teaching, working with churches. The connections with Nicaragua and its people run deep in the United States faith community. Once it's verified, not only will people know about one more serious hot-headed incident with McCain, but they'll know he lies (saying this didn't happen). Lying about this is a doubly-serious character flaw. Should such a person have his finger on the button? No. Simply no.

[Thabo in London]

As a member of a society that has repeatedly voted in a party that openly admires communist regimes, let me say how shocked I am at McCain's behaviour!

How dare a man, who was subjected to years of brainwashing and torture by Asian communists, lay his hands on a member of a similarly brutal Latin American communist regime.

He is clearly guilty of a hate crime and is probably racist!