McNasty's Ongoing Tantrum

Not yet recovered from his shellacking in the 2008 Presidential race, Arizona Sen. and perpetual sore loser John "Grumpypants" McNasty won't let go of the phony Benghazi issue, because in part it allows him to vent his resentment at the President every Sunday on teevee. He was on Press the Meat yesterday, where Dancin' Dave Gregory tried to get Grumpypants to explain exactly what the Obama Administration was "covering up" on Benghazi. Grumpypants fumed and sputtered before falling back on a maudlin reference to the four Americans who were killed.

Sadly, the Senator will be around for a few more years, so he'll continue to spread his bitter guff. It's a shame that the Sunday poo-flings haven't wised up to his routine, and book a guest less interested in settling scores and more interested in shedding light.

McNasty's Personal War

Arizona's poster boy for Obama Derangement Syndrome Sen. John "McNasty" McCain's vendetta against President Obama is nothing new, and continually manifests itself in his mindless opposition to everything the President proposes. John Heilemann's piece in New York Magazine gives several reasons why U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice will be nominated and confirmed as the new Secretary of State, despite McNasty's hostile and objectively racist opposition. Here's number 4:

"4. Because McCain is being a jackass—and Obama is sick of it. Arguably more than any other national figure, the senior senator from Arizona is driven in every aspect of his public behavior by personal pique.... In the wake of the 2008 election, when he was soundly thumped by a Democratic challenger whom he regarded as a neophyte and a pretender whose experience and valor were no match for his own, McCain immediately shed all traces of mavericky independence and became one of Obama’s fiercest critics from the right."

He notes that the White House has long seen McNasty in this light, and wants the fight with him -- one that they rightly believe they'll win. Despite his constant appearances on Sunday talk shows, no one should take McNasty seriously, especially after his reckless and idiotic pick of snowbilly Sarah Palin for his running mate, and his very clear derangement over the man that beat him out of the Presidency.

BONUS: Newsweek/Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky adds his perspective on McNasty's growing irrelevance.

McNasty's Bitter Road

It seems that Arizona Sen. and anger management candidate John "McNasty" McCain has never gotten over his thrashing in 2008 by then-Sen. Barack Obama. Almost from the start of President Obama's term, he positioned himself as one of the most bitter and partisan voices on the Rethuglican right. He even abandoned previously held positions on immigration and other issues in order to oppose the man that beat him out of the Presidency.

Lately, McNasty has been angrily denouncing the Administration over the handling of the Benghazi attack. But, when he had an opportunity to attend a top secret briefing yesterday on the attack, he was AWOL. When asked by a CNN reporter why he missed the briefing that could have answered the questions he'd been raising, McNasty blew his top.

For someone so reckless as to select nincompoop grifter Sarah Palin as his running mate, and so deeply bitter four years after his rejection by the voters, we are fortunate that we're not dealing with a President McNasty these days.

McNasty's Lingering Bitterness

After Arizona Sen. John "McNasty" McCain went down to a decisive defeat in 2008, instead of assuming the role of elder (very elder) statesman, he retreated into a bitter pattern of undermining President Obama. It certainly must have stung in 2008 when former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell supported Barack Obama over him, and now that Powell, a Republican, has "re-upped" with the President, McNasty is beside himself with anger. He's accusing Gen. Powell of getting us into the Iraq War, as if McNasty and the neocon Bushies had no role to play. Powell is a man of honor, and never would have presented the misleading and false information to the U.N. had he not trusted the neocon apparatus. Powell rectified that error by leaving Dumbya's administration after the deception was revealed to him, to be replaced by Condi "bin Laden Determined to Strike" Rice at the State Department.

McNasty will hold on to his resentment of Powell and the President for the remainder of his blighted life, no doubt. We can only be thankful that the majority of voters rejected him in 2008.

UPDATE: While McNasty hasn't yet used the racist dog whistle, Romney campaign co-chair and former NH Gov. John "Screw You" Sununu hasn't been afraid of using a racist bull horn. Screw You recently claimed that Gen. Powell's endorsement was based on his racial identification with the President, rather than policy. The closer we come to election day, the less these thugs will try to disguise their racism.

Quote of the Day

"It's almost like he's a little grumpy with me now." - - 13 year-old Elizabeth Conway, a reporter for Scholastic Kid covering the McNasty campaign.

Next thing you know, McNasty will be shouting, "get off my lawn, you damn kid!"

Three Strikes. You're Out.

The third and final Presidential debate ended with Sen. Obama winning in post-debate polls conducted by both CNN and by CBS. The CNN results had viewers awarding the debate to Obama by 58 to 31. Sixty six percent had positive views of Obama, compared to 49 percent for McAngry. CBS' poll of undecided voters had similar results: Obama won the debate among them by a margin of 53 to 22. That makes the third debate that viewers said Obama won.

The most striking thing about the debates continued to be the difference in the candidates' personality and demeanor. Obama was calm, rational, and informed. McAngry was aggressive, snarling and seething with hostility that showed in the way he glared at Obama. And did you notice McNasty's rapid blinking? Weird.

Given the fact that one of these men will have their finger on the nuclear trigger, isn't it past time to ask if something strange is going on in McAngry's noggin? Some unresolved Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or related mental illness? Everyone has some temper to deal with, but this guy is a ticking time bomb. Remember what his Rethuglican colleague of nearly 30 years, Sen. Thad Cochran said just last January about McAngry?

"The thought of his being President sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

A Matter of Character

The McNasty campaign is on a mission to turn the attention of the voters away from the tanking economy and on to the "character" of Sen. Obama, trying to portray him as "different," "foreign", and "untrustworthy." Here's a video compilation of people who have worked with McNasty, including a former Senator and a former head of the Arizona Republican Party, who believe that McNasty's rage is a disqualifier for the Presidency. It's very disturbing, and you have to wonder why the mainstream media isn't pursuing it. Oh, wait. The barbeque. Never mind.

George Will Applies A 2 by 4 To McPanic's Head

Sen. Maverick McPanic is not having a good week. The polls are showing Obama either maintaining his lead, or increasing it. The public is blaming the Rethugs by a 2 to 1 margin for the financial meltdown. And now this morning, George "Quill Pen" Will is letting McPanic have it for his intemperate reaction to last week's crisis. A few phrases capture the mood:

"McCain Loses His Head" (headline of article)
"childish reflex"
"McCain's shallowness"
"McCain's smear"
"McCain's Queen of Hearts intervention" (ref. to Alice in Wonderland)
"substituting vehemence for coherence"
"boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes"
"a dismaying temperament"

Ah, fresh air coming from the conservative side for a change.

Temper, Temper!

Read this interview of St. John McNasty by Time Magazine. Either he's off his meds, or he's one angry old guy. Silence on some questions. Brusque replies (or non replies) on many others.

He has a reputation in the Senate for having a nasty, quick temper (ask Rethug Senators Charles Grassley, whom he shoved one time, and Thad Cochran, who said McNasty "scares me."). We're betting before the campaign is over, there will be a big "anger incident" that, if the mainstream media chooses to stop protecting their barbeque buddy, we'll all get to see.