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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Temper, temper

Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:02 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid delivered a blunt, broadside attack on McCain’s temper in an interview this afternoon with MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell.

McCain, he said, “doesn’t have the temperament to be the president of the United States. Everyone who’s ever worked with John McCain knows of his temper. It’s explosive to say the least.”

Reid went more macro and accused Republicans, in general, of using “Orwellian dialect.” “Whatever they say, believe the opposite,” he said.

*** UPDATE *** The RNC responds this way: “On the same day that one of Obama’s senior aides had to resign because of special interest controversies, it’s ironic to see Harry Reid on cable TV offering partisan attacks," writes RNC spokesman Alex Conant. "Harry Reid should join the serious debate on the Senate floor about why his party’s nominee doesn’t think rising gas prices are a problem.”

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As long as the camera continues to stay on McCain, he will defeat himself, you can bet on that.

http://www.politivine.com
WOAH! Harry, where did you come from! Or should I say, where have you been? Dems pile on!

Obama '08
LOL!!! Absolutely hysterical.  You gotta love Reid.
With this constant barrage, we should be seeing some of John McCain's infamous temper soon.  <grin>

It's time to come together as Democrats for our country.  Bush/Cheney have created a fascist state with corporations running our government.

It's time to join together to work towards electing a Democratic President with a workable Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate.  

This time do something smart and vote for your wallet, vote for the economy, vote for the environment, vote for jobs, vote for America!  

Vote for the smartest candidate in the race, a real leader (and no that's not McCain -- not by a long shot)

Vote Democratic 2008 -- don't let the corporations and their Republican stooges win again.  
McTemper is just the right guy to have his hand on the red button...not!
He's only saying that because he is a Democrat.  We need more Liebermans who are not afraid of reaching across party lines.  It's time our Representatives and Senators represent the American people and not their political parties and/or the highest paying lobyists...
More tails from the McCrip;

This is who we need in the White house someone who will ensure all of our Nukes get used ready to lead the 1st day! Also veto the new beer bill!

God Help Us All!
Harry"the truth"Reid is great man!
McCain strikes me as a very conflicted individual, testy, self pitying, self aggrandizing, kinda Bush-like in his sadomasochistic complex. Obama, on the other hand, met his psychoological nemesis, in Hillary, but he prevailed and thank God he did. Now he just has to avoid Scarlett the Siren, and he might just make it to Ithaca.
Orwellian dialect is called "Newspeak."

I think Mr. Orwell learned it from the Republicans, who learned it from the Nazis who learned it from the Communists!!!

Can I have my gas tax refund now please?
This would be funny if it weren't so scary!
Oh wow!  Go Democrats!  Hit this man!  Keep up the pressure!  Dems not united??  HAH!!
FINALLY!!!

This is fair game!!!

The American public need to know this about McCain!

One of our friends here yesterday commented whether McCain, is in fact, the GOP's sacrificial lamb this election. How can they seriously hope to win with him?

If this keeps up, it will be the RNC Convention in chaos, not ours!

It's no better for them!
McCain is itching for more war, and I do worry about his temper. Somebody that volatile, that closed-off and that condescending should NOT answer a 3:00 a.m. phone call.
(Reid went more macro and accused Republicans, in general, of using “Orwellian dialect.” “Whatever they say, believe the opposite,” he said.)

You should not be listening to Republicans in the first place.  Too many people did 8 years ago and look at what happened.
Obama definitely needs a LOT of mouthpiece to compensate his lack of experience... Truly a bad sign and he's far too dangerous to made as President because he won't be able to tell heads from tails once he is in office. Most likely, his advisers will be running the show just like Cheney et al riding the idi0t Bush for the last 8 years.

Go McCain!
repubs have proved overr and over they do not know the truth
Harry Reid is a thump in the head, what would he know about standing on his own two feet? Few years back he was a nothing and today he remains a nothing, bag of useless wind. Comes from a hill top town where the wind blows 24/7 and two speed traps , one on each side of town 23/7. Thats where he learned how to be a paper hanger! A sick excuse for a statesman. Hillary can't even stand him!!!
"Senator Obama does not have principles to be the the President of the United States. He's nothing more than a political opportunist." - The American People


Vote against vague promises of change.
Vote against old liberal ideas.
Vote against higher taxes.
Vote against Jimmy Carter's second term.

Vote for security.
Vote for fiscal restraint.
Vote for experience.
Vote for bipartisanship.
Vote for John McCain.
Yes, I remember well when McCain came out with his angry public comments against conservative Christians.  That was in the spring of 2000.  Back then, the George W. Bush campaign suggested that McCain was tempermentally unsuited to have his finger on the nuclear trigger.  So far in this campaign, in 2008, McCain has been trying to project a very even tempered image, but I predict he will snap publically at least once before November.
"You know, when we'e talking about war, we're really talking about peace." - George W. Bush
One would think that years of being a P.O.W. would have done something to quash his explosive temper.
Man, this is some serious stuff we're witnessing here!  I think it's time for us to have either a town hall meeting or a debate between Sen. Obama and Sen. McSame, leave the surrogates out of it, and may the best man win (I'm putting my money on Obama) : )

OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!
This is just what the Democrats should have done for Senator Kerry!  I hope they keep this up until November, because they will need to inorder to gain back the White House.

Obama 08
Whats a matter, some one steal Harry's lolly pop?
What's with the dems today? Every one of them are packing six shooters on both hips, and have let fly!

We should have paid closer attention to the Pelosi, Dean, and opther's conference yesterday 'stressing unity'! WOW!!!

Welcome to the GE John! Your three month vacation is over pal!
this was observed fron the start of the primaries. mccain is maintaining his temper as long as he tries to please the electorate. should he become president, then you will see the real temper and its ugly effects. Vote wisely.
Do we have McCain on tape, doing his thing with that mean temper of his?

GASOLINE IS NOW $4.05 A GALLON, PER AAA. DOES ANYONE CARE?

The cost of oil and gasoline is destroying our economy. The Dow Jones stock market index is down (minus) 200 points today. The Energy Department says to expect gas to remain at four dollars a gallon for 2009.

WHAT IS OUR GOVERNMENT DOING ABOUT THIS? APPARENTLY NOTHING EXCEPT REPORTING THE BAD NEWSTO US. BOTH DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN BICKERING ABOUT MONDANE ISSUES WHILE THIS ENERGY CRISIS WAS DEVELOPING.

Our Congress and President has either been ‘asleep at the switch’ or ‘afraid to tell us’ the economic doom that was coming. These outrageous energy costs on top of the mortgage crisis will be absolutely devastating to the lower-middle class and working-poor families.
MANY WILL LOSE EVERYTHING — JOBS & HOMES & HEALTHCARE.

TAXPAYERS WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FUND ANY ADDITIONAL “HEALTHCARE” PROGRAMS.

DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT OUR COLLAPSING ECONOMY?
——————————————————————————————————————---------



"Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness.  In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett.  At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, 'You're getting a little thin up there.'  McCain's face reddened, and he responded, 'At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c___.'  McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day.  If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days."

- The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't
GD CLOUDS!  THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!
NEVER SURRENDER!!  DIVORCE WHEN THE GETTINS GOOD!
Finally, the democratic party is growing a soine. It is about time they hit McCain on his temper
Finally, the democratic party is growing a soine. It is about time they hit McCain on his temper
@Tony: "We need more Liebermans who are not afraid of reaching across party lines."

Independents do not reach across party lines.  They just reach around.
Dear Hillary/McCain Democrats
Do not use my name again in the same instance as McBush
Do not soil my political legacy wth your petty sophmoric attitude
Do not waste your vote on another round of Bushlike policy when we can barely survive it the next 6+ months
Do what I did-----congratulate Obama on his victory and get on board with YES WE CAN
The problem with McCain is that he just isn't a very smart guy. He gets confused on points because all of the campaign talking points are just too much for him to remember. So when he gets a question that is not scripted, he stumbles, because he doesn't have a memorized, prepared response.
There is much BS in regards to the "surge" allegedly working. Lieberman/McCain/Bush/Cheney point to the May deaths in Iraq as a show of progress. Indeed, there were 19 American deaths in the month of May; unfortunately as of today, the month of June is much more bloody. Already there have been 11 deaths of American troops:
http://icasualties.org/oif/
Confounding that there is the image of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki kissing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
American lives are being lost, Republican neo cons are advancing the notion that Iran is responsible for the instability in Iraq; and our chosen puppet in Iraq is hugging and kissing the leader of Iran!?!?! WTF is happening?!?
McSame/Bush/Cheney/Lieberman must stop this BS fantasy that our troops are DYING for. November can't come soon enough.
Well even Thad Cochran, yes Republican Senator Thad Cochran has talked about McCain's terrible temper since people are looking for non-Democrats to verify that fact.  John McCain is unfit to be President.
what's mccain got to be upset about? it's not like his stupid comment about troops coming home being "not too important" is making headlines on msnbc or anything. his free ride from the press continues while obama's lint navel continues to make headlines daily

way to go, msm
A:Hillary/McCain Democrats: Please Shut Up! You have nothing relevant to say and you embarass yourself among the mostly intelligent people on this blog that would like to discuss and debate issues. Like I say over and over again, go ahead and cast your vote for McCain but your irrelevent whining post that you cut and paste over and over again will have no sway on our political views.

B: Reid isn't just lashing out at McCain. There was an article in the Huffington post a few months back that interviewed a whole bunch of high ranking military officials. All of them stated that McCain's temper and hawkish attitude are not condusive to a war time leader. Many of them said that if John McCain was leading them into battle they would not follow. I encourage you to look it up in the archives.
Amen!Duel Personality McCain gets too angry over his in his inability to get it right.
If Elected ...
McCain Sees ‘No Plan B’ for Iraq War

WASHINGTON, APRIL 13 — Senator John McCain said that the buildup of American forces in Iraq represented the only viable option to avoid failure in Iraq and that he had yet to identify an effective fallback if the current strategy failed.
“I have no Plan B,” Mr. McCain said in an interview. “If I saw that doomsday scenario evolving, then I would try to come up with one. But I cannot give you a good alternative because if I had a good alternative, maybe we could consider it now.”

In a discussion of how he would handle Iraq if elected president, Mr. McCain argued that the success of the Bush administration’s strategy, which seeks to protect Baghdad residents so Iraqi political leaders have an opportunity to pursue a program of political reconciliation, was essentially a precondition for a more limited American role that could follow.

“I am not guaranteeing that this succeeds,” said Mr. McCain, who has long argued that additional troops were needed. “I am just saying that I think it can. I believe it has a good shot.”

He said that if the Bush administration’s plan had not produced visible signs of progress by the time a McCain presidency began, he might be forced — if only by the will of public opinion — to end American involvement in Iraq.

“I do believe that history shows us Americans will not continue to support an overseas engagement involving the loss of American lives for an unlimited period of time unless they see some success,” he added. “And then, when they run out of patience, they will demand that we get out.”

“So how do you motivate the Maliki government? Well, one of the ways is go sit down and have dinner with him like Lindsey Graham and I did last week,” he said, alluding to his Republican colleague from South Carolina. He said that he and Mr. Graham had warned Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki that the patience of the American public was running out. Many members of the Bush administration and other lawmakers have met with Mr. Maliki to make the same point.

“We’re telling you, there’s been votes in both houses of Congress which portend, unless the American people see measurable success, that we’re going to be out of here,” Mr. McCain said, recalling the message he had delivered to the Iraqi leader. “No matter whether I happen to agree with it or not.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/us/politics/15mccain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Hillary/McCain Democrats (Sent Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:20 PM)
"...Vote against Jimmy Carter's second term...

--------------------------------------

For some reason I doubt you even have the slightest idea what the inference behind that particular neo-con talking point refers to. You just heard it come out of McMoron's mouth so you think it makes sense. Be original please, and most of be informed before you shoot your mouth off about things.
Looks like the Dems finally grew a spine, interesting times! May the pile-on continue until the Republicans see sense!
Hillary Protesters,

John McCain has shown his distain for women in many different ways.

I won't repeat the usual laundry list that you have read here time, and time, again.

But know this. He sought to use his power as a Senator, to interfere with two women seeking employment, and public office. They had committed the unforgivable sin, (against McCain's oppressive nature), by speaking up to him. They disagreeed with him, and as a result he nursed a grudge toward them, for an insane amount of time.

When one submitted an application for employment in a Gov.'s office, McCain made it a point to call with a false, and nasty personal attack, seeking to thwart her chances to secure the job. It did'nt work, as he is known for being vindictive.

The other was running for a down ballot, local office. Again, he went after her.

I found this information in the blogosphere, months ago. Research John McCain. He's a mean, nasy piece of work.
It's clear that McCain has made his entire identity that of a war hero. And he is. Nobody disputes that. What I can't make sense of is how anyone thinks he can possibly be objective concerning war. The more he speaks, the more obvious it is that he is absolutely clueless about Americans priorities. His tunnel- vision scares me, but worse are the people who don't see this as a common sense issue.  
Gonna be a long, hot summer for McFossil!
So much for the Dems not coming together, eh? I laugh everyday at how the Repukes are scrambling this year. And their weapon of choice? A 71 year old war monger who can't remember what he said from day to day! That;s the BEST they could come with? Pleeze! No wonder they're still serving the same old dog food of the 1950's! Good to be a Dem this year, isn't it?
Bush/Cheney have created a fascist state with corporations running our government.  The Republican Congress has "borrowed and spent" us into an inresponsibly huge deficit, with the paper being held by the Chinese and some oil rich states in the Middle East, and now McCain wants to borrow MORE?


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