John McCain’s tantrum is noticed…
The latest John McCain temper tantrum has been widely reported and commented upon in the press and the old blog-o-sphere. Today, as noted by Michael Scherer, the latest hissy fit from Sentator “Hey-you-kids-get-of-my-lawn” McCain was the source of a fun exchange at the White House:
Q (Helen Thomas): McCain said he’s going to oppose everything.MR. GIBBS: Well, yes, I find it curious that not getting your way on one thing means you’ve decided to take your toys and go home. I don’t think—it doesn’t work well for my six-year-old; I doubt it works well in the United States Senate, because we have issues that are important for his constituents and for all of America.
Look, again, when it comes to financial reform people are going to have an opportunity to weigh in on behalf of the banks or on behalf of consumers. And I’ll let their vote on that dictate which side of that ledger they feel most comfortable on.
Q (Chip Reed): Are you comparing McCain to a six-year-old?
MR. GIBBS: I’m saying that I think the notion that if you don’t get what you want you’re not going to cooperate on anything else is not a whole lot different than I might hear from a six-year-old.
Somehow, I am certain that is is good news for Not-President John McCain and the conservatives everywhere.
Cheers
dengre
(as I watched the full briefing I saw who asked the questions, so I gave Helen Thomas her props)
March 24, 2010 7:12 pm
Posted in: Good News For Conservatives, Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush
87 Comments
87 Responses
Short Bus Bully - March 24, 2010 | 7:15 pm · Link
Waitadamnminute…
Are you saying that McCain did NOT win the election?
News to me.
jacy - March 24, 2010 | 7:15 pm · Link
I think implying that John McCain has the restraint and common sense of a 6-year-old throwing a tantrum is an insult to tantrum-throwing 6-year-olds everywhere.
dmsilev - March 24, 2010 | 7:15 pm · Link
Shorter Gibbs: “Yes.”
-dms
Linda Featheringill - March 24, 2010 | 7:15 pm · Link
Ooooh! Did someone turn Mr. Gibbs loose? Getting a little feisty, aren’t we?
Thanks. You just gave me a lovely chuckle with my dinner. :)
Short Bus Bully - March 24, 2010 | 7:18 pm · Link
Shorter Gibbs: “Fuck yes I’m comparing John McCain to a pissy little six year old you thick headed motherfuckers!”
Dennis G. - March 24, 2010 | 7:18 pm · Link
@jacy:
The difference between John McCain and an average six year old having a meltdown is that you can talk reason to the six year old and help them get out of it.
McCain, OTOH, is just a tire fire…
demkat620 - March 24, 2010 | 7:18 pm · Link
I just think that Obama and his guys love needling McCain.
But I’m sure somebody will have him on Sunday to repeat his tantrum. Fluffy probably.
mr. whipple - March 24, 2010 | 7:20 pm · Link
@Dennis G.:
“The difference between John McCain and an average six year old is the 6 year old is out of diapers.”
Fixed.
Redshift - March 24, 2010 | 7:21 pm · Link
@mr. whipple: I wouldn’t be too sure about that…
Annie - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
You really have to wonder if he has gone off the deep end—loosing the election clearly is still boiling around in his belly….And, he is a primary fight that he could well loose. Talk about giving the opposition a great talking point.
Apparently the other kids in the Republican party agree. They are refusing to work after 2:00pm, thereby holding up a number of committees that should be meeting….
I think all Republicans need a “time out” in the corner so they can reflect on their behavior.
Violet - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
President McCain is going to take his tire swing and go home.
Cat Lady - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
I’m feeling a pop and a fizz in the Dems. They’re starting to realize that it feels good to win. Now, let’s play some offense!
dmsilev - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
Weathervane alert: In his first two segments, Tweety has had a pair of Dem Reps (DCCC head Chris Van Hollen and Majority Whip James Clybourne) to ask them whether the right wing is out of hand and whether the GOP leadership has an obligation to tamp things down (answers: yes, and yes).
Maybe the “serious media establishment” is starting to get a tad nervous about the maniacs running around right now?
-dms
Litlebritdifrnt - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
Longer Mr. Gibbs “I think we should all ignore Mr. McCain chucking his fucking toys out of the pram” More of this please, call it like it is, just as he tweeted yesterday in response to the VP saying “this is a big fucking deal” “yes Mr. Vice President it is” I love me some Mr. Gibbs, he is a national treasure and I hope that he doesn’t burn out and quit to spend more time with his fambly. I would hate that, cause honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else better suited to his job.
dmsilev - March 24, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link
@mr. whipple: David Vitter could help McCain out there.
-dms
Mark S. - March 24, 2010 | 7:23 pm · Link
Cue the 8,000 wingnut posts on how Gibbs slandered a war hero.
freelancer - March 24, 2010 | 7:23 pm · Link
OT - More proof for Mr. Hewitt that racism is a thing of the past in America.
I weep for the children of wingers.
goblue72 - March 24, 2010 | 7:23 pm · Link
When the White House sat down with the Republicans for the healthcare summit, and McCain started in with the “Mr. President, during the campaign….”, I got the distinct impression from Obama’s response that he was pretty much OVER with putting up with McCain’s nonsense.
minachica - March 24, 2010 | 7:24 pm · Link
OT: Twitter discovers the obvious: You can’t spell ‘Socialist’ without ‘Cialis’.
Joseph Nobles - March 24, 2010 | 7:24 pm · Link
The most amazing post documenting Republican misbehavior ever ever at TPM.
maryQ - March 24, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
As the mother of a six-year-old. I am deeply offended. Comparing John McCain to a six-year-old is an affront to six-year-olds everywhere. My daughter never reacts like that.
fucen tarmal - March 24, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
some day gibbs, and others in his position will have the testicular, and ovarian freedom to answer unnecessary follow-up questions like “are you comparing john mccain to a six year old”, with the type of honesty and sarcasm we on the internet have come to expect and revere…
yes, yes, i am, rahm saw him in the shower, many friends of ours have seen john mccain in the shower, and they feel as well as i do, as highlighted by his statements and his behavior on the question of financial reform, and on other matters of this country’s and the business of the united states senate, that comparisons between john mccain and a six year old are entirely justifiable.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - March 24, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
I am just thankful that whackjob isn’t president and double that having a bigger whackjob a heartbeat away from the presidency. It is a testament to the crazy in this country that they got as close as they did.
Dreggas - March 24, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
@Annie:
Can’t work after 2:00pm, that’s nap time.
Violet - March 24, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
@dmsilev:
Perhaps, but I think the media has just realized that the Dems won. They’re awfully slow at picking up on things like that. But everyone likes to be associated with winners and the Dems just won big.
Litlebritdifrnt - March 24, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link
@Annie:
Ouch Annie it is “losing” “lose” there is nothing that drives me batshit crazy more than the “loosing” and “loose” thingys. Other than that I agree with your comment.
Lev - March 24, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link
I think McCain should be beatable even if he wins the primary. This quote, coupled with a few other recent Walnuts gems, could be the lynchpin of a critique that focuses on McCain being extreme, old, disinterested, bored, and nasty.
Robin G - March 24, 2010 | 7:27 pm · Link
@freelancer:
Have you met the children of wingers? They’re all deeply obnoxious in high school. Then they go to college, or out into the real world in some capacity—and 75% of them turn into bra-burning lefties. It’s awesome. Kids rebel against their parents, particularly restrictive parents—and conservative parents are as restrictive as they come.
This is of course totally anecdotal, but I’ve seen loooooooots of it.
Martin - March 24, 2010 | 7:27 pm · Link
Country First, bitches!
Cat Lady - March 24, 2010 | 7:27 pm · Link
@Joseph Nobles:
Yeah, that’s something to bookmark right there. All the Gooper crap in one place, for posterity. I would have gouged my own eyes out by the time I was half way through looking through all of that sewage.
KC - March 24, 2010 | 7:27 pm · Link
Funny comment, but what I like about it is where it’s going— Wall Street versus consumers. It’s where the administration’s needed to be for a while now. Maybe they’re preparing for the financial reform fight? Don’t know, but with the stories about how programs for modifying foreclosures are failing, I think they need to step the game up a bit.
Brachiator - March 24, 2010 | 7:28 pm · Link
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, as Dubya tries to do penance for his Katrina mis-steps, he perhaps shows that he just isn’t comfortable touching some people (Bush Shakes Haitian’s Hand, Wipes His on Clinton)
freelancer - March 24, 2010 | 7:28 pm · Link
@Robin G:
True, but even the Phelps clan has some kids that grew up and didn’t run away.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - March 24, 2010 | 7:30 pm · Link
@Brachiator: Dear god.
Ailuridae - March 24, 2010 | 7:30 pm · Link
@dmsilev:
Its going to take someone getting shot sadly.
Violet - March 24, 2010 | 7:31 pm · Link
Lead off story on NBC Nightly News is the Republican/teabagger/wingnut out of control threats, violence, etc. Interesting….
AxelFoley - March 24, 2010 | 7:33 pm · Link
@Short Bus Bully:
Was that Gibbs or Samuel L. Jackson?
Urza - March 24, 2010 | 7:33 pm · Link
@freelancer “I weep for the children of wingers.”
And this is why we are where we are today. Many parents never accepted civil rights in the first place. Not just the ones that were hardcore against it, but many just let slip little racial slurs here and there. It leads children to believe that its ok to denigrate others, even when the parent didn’t intend it.
Not only is this not over after we finish this round of idiocy in the name of the tribe, but in another 30 years or so we get to do it again, and again after that unless we find a way to truly dig that weed of racism out of the national psyche.
And no, white people becoming the minority soon won’t solve it, its likely to make it even worse.
Davis X. Machina - March 24, 2010 | 7:37 pm · Link
He’s like a six-year-old in another way—and he shares it with the old GOP generally—a fixation with taking turns. Dole got the nomination in ‘96 because it was his turn. McCain was supposed to get it in 2000, because then it was his turn, and that little shit Bush took his turn. Then 2004 was off the table. Now it’s 2008, and that goddam n****** took his turn.
And now he’s too old.
LuciaMia - March 24, 2010 | 7:39 pm · Link
Re: McCain. Looks like we can’t turn into the ‘Nanny State’ fast enough.
Annie - March 24, 2010 | 7:40 pm · Link
@Joseph Nobles:
Thanks for the link. It is an amazing letter. I printed it out to keep as a reminder that there are sincere and sane conservatives.
@maryQ:
LOL.
@Litlebritdifrnt:
yes, yes, yes…I plead a long day at work, need for a glass of wine, and while I am an organized thinker, my writing can be sloppy…
Litlebritdifrnt - March 24, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link
@Annie:
Forgiven, have a glass of wine, at least then you can blame it on being drunk! I do it all the time :)
lamh31 - March 24, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link
@freelancer:
Fax or phone call, doesn’t this constitute a threat?
WereBear - March 24, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link
@Brachiator: Remember, during the first Presidential campaign, Dubya was caught on camera, between commercials on Letterman, wiping his glasses on the cardigan of the show’s producer.
El Cid - March 24, 2010 | 7:42 pm · Link
Everyone knows that the mature response to not getting your way in politics is to put a brick through a window, or maybe cut someone’s propane tank lines.
mr. whipple - March 24, 2010 | 7:44 pm · Link
It really is a short hop from killing treasonous Liberals to treasonous Liberal media members.
Brachiator - March 24, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@WereBear:
Still, the contrast even in the short video is telling. Dubya is stiff, uncomfortable, hands off. Big Dog Bill Clinton hugs people, leans in close as he listens to a young Haitian woman.
kay - March 24, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@lamh31:
I don’t know, but it won’t faze Stupak. It will only turn him further.
He’s a moralist and he’s dogged and determined as hell, whatever you think of his ideas or his tactics to get concessions (I don’t care for those).
He’ll consider a threat a moral challenge. They aren’t going to win that fight.
JCT - March 24, 2010 | 7:50 pm · Link
I want to see the MSM show a graphic of the Snowbilly Grifter’s little Facebook graphic with the gun sights.
Words fail me.
Little Dreamer - March 24, 2010 | 7:51 pm · Link
@dmsilev:
Does this establish a timeline for peak MSM? Is it possible our media will finally pull back on the propaganda and start doing their jobs? Could we even dare to hope?
Nah, unpossible!
Nim, ham hock of liberty - March 24, 2010 | 7:52 pm · Link
@Robin G:
I followed that same script. Execrable Reaganite Jugend in high school in the 80s, and just getting more liberal as I get older.
I’m knocking on the door of 40, and the conservative parents are still wondering when I’m going to outgrow this phase.
So…add 1 more to your list of examples.
tammanycall - March 24, 2010 | 7:52 pm · Link
@Annie:
Larison?
PeakVT - March 24, 2010 | 7:53 pm · Link
McCain, OTOH, is just a tire fire…
Heh-indeedy.
nutellaontoast - March 24, 2010 | 7:54 pm · Link
since when is McCain not the president?
Dannie22 - March 24, 2010 | 7:55 pm · Link
McCain is just another poor, beleaguered white man.
Little Dreamer - March 24, 2010 | 7:56 pm · Link
@Davis X. Machina:
And now JD Hayworth is about to take his senate seat too, yeah, I can see why he’s so cranky!
I can’t say I’m unhappy about it though. ;)
lamh31 - March 24, 2010 | 7:58 pm · Link
@kay:
I hear ya, but still, whatever ya might feel for Stupak, primary, vote him out, hell call him everything but a “son of God” on the intertubes, but man even he doesn’t deserves threats like that.
what interesting though is that conserv considers Stupak a Judas, Dems considers Stupak a Judas, so what the hell did he even get out of his whole stupid as kamakozee mission.
Violet - March 24, 2010 | 8:02 pm · Link
I think NBC Nightly News showed her Twitter page tonight, but not the graphic. Their lead segment was about the threats, violence, etc. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30.....4#36026294
Keith G - March 24, 2010 | 8:11 pm · Link
@Brachiator:
Well you have to assume that while that were growing up, growing up the families of those two men has very different relationships with people of color. I am sure that young Shrub was served breakfast every day by a Black woman, but he seldom shook her hand.
rob! - March 24, 2010 | 8:12 pm · Link
I think I want Hayworth to beat McCain in the primary just to see McCain turn fire engine red, call his wife the c-word, and then explode into tiny little wrinkly bits, right on live TV.
RareSanity - March 24, 2010 | 8:25 pm · Link
@JCT:
I was rather shocked that ABC Nightly News did, in fact, show the rifle sight graphic…wingnuts out of control was the lead story, no less.
Annie - March 24, 2010 | 8:25 pm · Link
@tammanycall:
Yes. I read him all the time…And, LGF…
Mike in NC - March 24, 2010 | 8:25 pm · Link
@WereBear:
A dry run for wiping his ass with the Costitution.
Martian Buddy - March 24, 2010 | 8:29 pm · Link
Great. The mean old man saw his name in the paper. That means six more weeks of bitter.
Leelee for Obama - March 24, 2010 | 8:29 pm · Link
@dmsilev: They do live in the same town, ya know; and the new Law will help them as well as it helps us serfs, so there’s that.
Besides, when people start foaming at the mouth and sending gun threats and such, it makes the Villagers as nervous as a cat in room full of rocking chairs. They want status quo, not Quo Vadis.
Leelee for Obama - March 24, 2010 | 8:32 pm · Link
@Brachiator: OMG, even Monk would’ve waited! Unbe-fucking-lievable!
Leelee for Obama - March 24, 2010 | 8:36 pm · Link
@Martian Buddy: Winnnnnnnn!
AhabTRuler - March 24, 2010 | 8:42 pm · Link
Part of being the establishment elite is developing a keen sense of what threatens the establishment. They may be idiots, and gullible as all hell, but they’re not stupid!
PeakVT - March 24, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link
@Brachiator: If it happens again, I hope Clinton turns around and punches him in the face (yes, the neck would be more effective, but less humiliating).
gbear - March 24, 2010 | 8:49 pm · Link
@JCT:
Rachel Maddow showed it. I consider her to be MSM even though she’s very good.
AhabTRuler - March 24, 2010 | 8:50 pm · Link
Nah, just have their Secret Service details fight it out.
Les - March 24, 2010 | 8:53 pm · Link
@lamh31:
The Bishops luurve them some Stupak. Personally, I wouldn’t want any of those fellas making any… affectionate gestures in my direction. Although, unlike John McCain, I am not 6 years old.
zzyzx - March 24, 2010 | 8:57 pm · Link
Anyone else notice that McCain used the phrase, “Putting lipstick on a pig,” today? I thought that was incredibly offensive. Do they even try?
gf120581 - March 24, 2010 | 9:04 pm · Link
I like to see Gibbs getting fiesty. Let’s hope the Dems keep up the “We win and you guys suck!” attitudes, because it’s all the GOP deserves.
No doubt some of McCain’s assholiness stems from his primary challenge from Hayworth (and now I’m rooting for Hayworth to win not just because he’d be easier to beat, but to see the massive volcanic eruption from Grampy if he loses), but the bulk of it stems from his seething rage over losing the Presidential election. He just cannot get over the fact that Obama beat him. McCain seemed to think the presidency was “due” to him or something and he’s still pissed that this young punk swooped in and took it from him. Now all traces of the so-called “maverick are gone, replaced by this petty, spiteful old fuck who acts like Archie Bunker with a bad case of hemrroids.
How far the mighty have fallen, eh?
SiubhanDuinne - March 24, 2010 | 9:13 pm · Link
@Brachiator #47
@Keith G #59
You know, I really think Dubya doesn’t like any kind of contact with any human body—including his own (no, I honestly don’t mean it that way, for once). When he was POTUS I used to notice in just about every clip of him that he walked with his arms kind of stiffly held away from his body. Most people, when they are walking, either purposefully or casually, allow their arms to swing—and their arms or hands will often brush against their thigh or hip. Not Dubya. It’s really very weird and I’m sure someone skilled in interpreting body language could provide valuable insights on whether there’s some kind of pathology at work.
It’s especially noticeable in those long-angle video clips at the Crawford ranch when he and Cheney and Condi and Rummy and Rove would stroll five abreast to the waiting press corps. All the others swing their arms in the normal way but GWB dangles his arms from the shoulders like a bird with a couple of injured wings. You can also see it a lot when he approached the mics in the WH or Rose Garden.
I know many people commented on his awkward “cowboy” gait, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of someone deconstructing the way he used/uses his arms and hands. It seems to me almost like an Adrian Monk tic, and has puzzled me for years.
JCT - March 24, 2010 | 9:19 pm · Link
@RareSanity:
That is awesome— I would have liked to have seen that.
Sounds like the wingnuts may have finally really jumped that shark—if we were lucky they would now fall back into the tank.
@gbear—Rachel is the greatest, I’ll have to check it out.
TooManyJens - March 24, 2010 | 9:30 pm · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think Angela Merkel wishes that were true.
Will Danz - March 24, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link
Luckily, we can get the real truth from The Maverick in his next Exclusive
interview on any of the Sunday AM political gab circuses.
It’s so rare that we get to hear from John McCain, after all. He’s so hard at work crafting great legislation that helps this country to…
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! sorry.
Phoebe - March 24, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link
They do this to push McCrazypants over the edge. It works every time.
This is what Obama did to Bill Clinton in Nevada, when he told that local paper that the last truly transformative president was Reagan. Bill Clinton absolutely lost it and took every opportunity to embarrass himself after that.
SiubhanDuinne - March 24, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link
@TooManyJens #77: Oh, you’re right! I had forgotten all about that little episode.
And of course he did kind of touch Clinton when he wiped his hand on him. But these are possibly the rule-proving exceptions. I still think there’s something at play in what we laughingly call his mind, that manifests in a range of physically awkward postures and gestures, and the armchair psychologist in me wants to know more, something beyond a glib “he’s just being a cowboy.”
Anne Laurie - March 24, 2010 | 10:21 pm · Link
@TooManyJens:
Simple explanation: Dubya can’t touch human flesh—even his own—without trying to damage it.
Enceladus - March 24, 2010 | 11:46 pm · Link
It’s always Chip Reed who gets his panties in a twist whenever Gibbs says something even slightly critical about some sainted republican.
As when he gave Gibbs this same schoolmarm treatment when he had the gall to push back against that walking shitstain Dick Cheney.
Brachiator - March 25, 2010 | 12:47 am · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
The funny thing is, the only people who think that Dubya is a cowboy are Europeans who have never been to America and only know the country through tv and the movies, and certain East and West Coast dudes.
Hell, the Crawford “ranch” ain’t even a ranch, and before he bought it so that he could fool the rubes, Dubya lived in upscale gated communities (apart from the Texas governor’s mansion).
Worse, Bush can’t even ride a horse.
RE: I hope Clinton turns around and punches him in the face
Like in the movie Ghostbusters, there’s probably some rule that you can’t allow Secret Service details to collide.
Dr. Egon Spengler: There’s something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, “bad”?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That’s bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.
asiangrrlMN - March 25, 2010 | 5:37 am · Link
@SiubhanDuinne: Well there is this anecdote from the current prez’s book. Apparently, W. is a germophobe. I like your explanation, too, though. He’s just not terribly comfortable with any human contact not of his own initiation.
noleft - March 25, 2010 | 6:39 pm · Link
Oh PLEASE, give me a break, you must be so perfect…the guy was seriously angry and got caught in the moment of being annoyed. McCain is still working, has never stopped working, and will continue working for this Nation and for the state of Arizona! Just read the papers, watch the news, he is everywhere talking about what he is doing and how he plans on continuing the fight against this government takeover of healthcare. Make no mistake, McCain is MAD and has every right now. I AM MAD, many people are MAD…
Loraine - March 25, 2010 | 7:11 pm · Link
McCain is going nowhere, McCain will fight for us like he always has. I cannot turn on tv or open a paper without being shown or hearing his works. I suppose when you all get angry, you sit down, cross your fingers and say nothing. Of course not, human nature is to get frustrated when someone (Obama) is messing up our Nation.
Dennis G. - March 25, 2010 | 7:37 pm · Link
@noleft:
I will agree that McCain is mad. Mad like a batshit crazy hatter.
He is a bitter old man with an endless grudge who puts pretty grievances above the needs of his Nation. Sure, he used to talk a good game, but he has not put his Country above partisan politics for years. He’s angry because most people in America have rejected him and his angry old man routine. And soon the voters of Arizona will reject him as well.
Perhaps we are lucky that he is refusing to work any more. At least that way he can’t do any more damage.
Cheers