Gossiping Liberals

So according to the Author of a Book called, “The Real McCain” the author alleges that in a heated moment in the midst of the 1992 Senate re-election, John McCain publicly called his wife the worst name you can call a woman within earshot of 3 reporters who provided the information to the our author (who has no agenda in writing his book) anonymously. The Reporters didn’t report the story because they didn’t know how to deal with cursing in a family newspaper.

Yeah, right. I’m not John McCain’s biggest fan, but this is a stretch. (I’m not giving linkage because at this point, I believe the allegation is garbage and garbage won’t get linked.) For starters, the story goes that she mentioned McCain playfully that McCain was getting a little thin on top to which McCain responded that at least he didn’t paint himself up “like a strumpet.”

This is such an unbelievable response from any guy, that the rest of the story becomes silly. The idea that the reporters were afraid to report swear words in 1992 also seems off. I read the Dan Quayle feature in the Washington Post and it included swear words, sure Son of a rhymes with witch is a little less inflammatory than what is alleged McCain said to his wife, but this could be easily addressed by saying:

Phoenix (AP)-In a moment of anger, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) publicly went on a tirade directed at his own wife, Cindy.

There’s no report like this. A story like in 1992 (the supposed year of the woman) would be too good to pass up particularly with McCain facing a female opponent for US Senate.

In the end, we’re given a story from an author with an agenda based on heresay from three anonymous sources that may or may not exist. For the author, this may be enough to include it in his book, but I’m certainly not buying it.

By the way, what are the odds that a liberal blog will do some Lexis-Nexis searches, find out what reporters were covering McCain in 1992 and get them to make on the record statements about this alleged incident. I wouldn’t bet on it.

UPDATE

A slightly more credible allegation found by Huffington Post. Since when did Congress become fight club?

Perhaps the most remarkable story of McCain’s temper involved Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi. Two former reporters covering McCain, one who witnessed the following events and one who confirmed the facts provided by the first, relayed it to me as follows: In 2006, the Arizona Republican congressional delegation had a strategy meeting. McCain repeatedly addressed two new members, congressmen Trent Franks and Rick Renzi, as ‘boy.’ Finally, Renzi, a former college linebacker, rose from his chair and said to McCain, “You call me that one more time and I’ll kick your old ass.” McCain lunged at Renzi, punches were thrown, and the two had to be physically separated. After they went to their separate offices, McCain called Renzi and demanded an apology. Renzi refused. Apparently this posture made McCain admire him, as they became fast friends.

I said slightly more credible and I’m not buying this. This allegedly happened in the presence of a reporter who never thought to write about the story. As HuffPo documents, McCain’s other outbursts including a scuffle with the then-92 year old Strom Thurmond on the Senate floor have made the media quite easily. That the fight with Renzi would go uncovered seems odd.

To top it all off, it’s really hard to imagine members of Congress behaving like two bit hoods.  Finally, you once again have anonymous reporters who may or may not exist as the source. You can tell as many stories about John McCain as you like, but he’s the Republican nominee for President and you better have some proof.