In the classic gangster movie “Goodfellas” the character Tommy (Joe Pesci) is in Henry Hill’s bar when “made” Gangster Billy Batts begins telling a story of how Tommy used to make money shining shoes. This angers Tommy quite a bit, and Batts winds up telling him to “go home and get your f***ing shinebox.” Tommy flies into a rage and rushes out, only to come back later and beat Batts into a bloody pulp on the floor. The elder mafioso is later stabbed, shot and buried in a shallow grave.
I don’t know if Senator John McCain ever had any work in his early years involving a shinebox, but it seems he does have a story involving a milk crate. In this long analysis by the Washington Post, the tale involves a 1986 celebration of McCain’s first Senate election where a youthful Robert Wexler (head of the Arizona Young Republicans) had been in charge of setting up a stage which turned out not to be tall enough to get all of McCain’s face on television during his speech. The incident was witnessed by Jon Hinz, Executive Director of the Arizona Republican Party.
A platform that had been adequate for taller candidates had not taken into account the needs of the 5-foot-9 McCain, who left the suite and went looking for a man in his early 20s named Robert Wexler, the head of Arizona’s Young Republicans, which had helped make arrangements for the evening’s celebration. Confronting Wexler in a hotel ballroom, McCain exploded, according to witnesses who included Jon Hinz, then executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. McCain jabbed an index finger in Wexler’s chest.
“I told you we needed a stage,” he screamed, according to Hinz. “You incompetent little [expletive]. When I tell you to do something, you do it.“
Hinz stepped in to keep the peace, but might not have chosen his words very well.
Hinz recalls intervening, placing his 6-foot-6 frame between the senator-elect and the young volunteer. “John, this is not the time or place for this,” Hinz remembers saying to McCain, who fumed that he hadn’t been seen clearly by television viewers. Hinz recollects finally telling McCain: “John, look, I’ll follow you out on stage myself next time. I’ll make sure everywhere you go there is a milk crate for you to stand on. But this is enough.”
McCain spun around on his heels and left. He did not talk to Hinz again for several years.
Given some of the other incidents recounted in this article, had Hinz known the story of Billy Batts he might have picked a more tactful approach. There is a laundry list of incidents spanning two decades where John McCain has exploded with expletives and invective at those with the temerity to disagree with him. He has attempted to block the employment opportunities of very low level political actors who had invoked his ire years earlier. The stories describe a man who, once riled, holds a grudge for years on end.
But it doesn’t stop there. He apparently accused a fellow Senator of not being “a real Vietnam veteran” because he had been in the Navy and not serving on land. John Cornyn, Rick Renzi, (McCain’s Arizona co-chair during this campaign, now indicted on multiple felony charges) and Richard Shelby, among others, have all felt the wrath of McCain and been treated to his expletive laden rants. And it wasn’t all just words. A confrontation with fellow Republican Charles Grassley turning in a shoving match during a Senate committee meeting.
Mark Salter is one of McCain’s old friends, has co-written five books with the Arizona Senator and is now a strategist for the McCain Campaign. He provides this in his defense.
“I’m not saying he doesn’t have a temper, but it’s governable,” Salter said. “When he has a heated argument, it’s usually with one of his peers, who are unaccustomed to being addressed that way by anyone, really. Sometimes he can’t govern his tongue.
Notice the lack of past tense in the highlighted sentence. “Can’t govern his tongue?” Coming from one of McCain’s closest current associates, this could give pause to many people. This is a man who wants to be the leader of the free world… who will have to speak in tense situations with world leaders, some decidedly unfriendly to the United States.. the man who will have to answer that iconic “3 AM phone call” when a person running on little sleep might be even more grumpy than usual. And his own friend and adviser said he has trouble governing his tongue? There are incidents of not speaking to people for years after they angered him. What if the Prime Minister of England angers him at some point? Will he close their embassy for a few years?
A story which was once viewed as a few isolated incidents of “riled up, passionate” behavior is building into a much deeper and more troubling tale. Physical violence and incidents of vulgarity and lost temper dating back from the 80’s until at least 2006 are adding up to a very legitimate concern. Perhaps one who can’t “govern his own tongue” should have question marks over their effort to govern the most powerful nation on Earth.