It's About Time

somebody looked at the other side of John McCain. Not the war hero, not the media darling, not the "maverick" or the "straight shooter," but the real one who is a scandal-tainted, bad-tempered right-winger.

The temper is the worst, and even Cindy was on the receiving end of a filthy epithet:

But it is not just McCain's politics that are disturbing. It is his personality, too. For McCain has a secret reputation as a man with a ferocious, unpredictable temper. He is a man who has a knack for pursuing vendettas against those he thinks have slighted him, even if they are lowly aides.

The list of worrying incidents is long. In 1995 he ended up almost physically scuffling with aged Senator Strom Thurmond on the Senate floor. And, according to some accounts, in 2006 he had a fight with Arizona congressman Rick Renzi, throwing blows in a scrap whose details have only recently been detailed in Schecter's book. Schecter unearthed another unpleasant incident from 1992 in which McCain, tired after a long day's campaign, reacted badly to his wife Cindy teasing him about his baldness. 'At least I don't plaster on the make-up like a trollop, you cunt,' McCain snapped in front of eyewitnesses. Schecter says he has three sources for the story. McCain's campaign have denied it.

Democrats are in a hell of a bind, and not just because Obama is so outrageously weak a candidate but also because McCain is such a media darling.