Report: McCain Pushed Woman In A Wheelchair

[jefferson_dem]

Report: McCain Pushed Woman In A Wheelchair
The Huffington Post | September 7, 2008 02:20 PM

On Sunday, McClatchy Newspapers published a story on Sen. John McCain's oft-discussed temper, detailing one incident in which McCain allegedly pushed a woman in a wheelchair.

According to McClatchy's report, in 1996, McCain was met in the Senate office halls by a group of family members of POW-MIAs who had been pressing him to pursue more information on their relatives.

Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.


As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

McCain's staff wouldn't respond to requests for comment about specific incidents.

It's impossible now to determine whose recollection of these events is accurate. But Democrats clearly continue to see McCain's temperament as a potential electoral liability. Appearing on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday, Sen. Barbara Boxer argued that McCain's hot-streak is a legitimate campaign issue that should dissuade voters from electing him commander in chief.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/07/report-mccain-pushed-woma_n_124615.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I've read about this incident

Glad to see that it's getting a bit of exposure in the corporate media. BTW, I'm not surprised that it got reported by McClatchy - easily my favorite source for print news.

[tularetom]

2. "Raised his left arm ready to strike her"

I thought his injuries were so bad he couldn't even raise his little t rex arms.

[Barack_America]

15. That is truly frightening.

And, I'm sorry, but Cindy McCain comes across as a battered woman. If not physically, then certainly emotionally. I've seen that look before in a woman's eyes...

[terrya]

3. Jesus, that sounds like that scene in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"....

when Bette Davis pushed Joan Crawford down the stairs in her wheelchair.

Yikes!

[Dormantboy]

4. This man is dangerous

Imagine how his temper will influence his decision to go to war with countries such as Iran for minor incidents. God help us.

[Arugula Latte]

5. Welcome to DU, Dormantboy!

:hi: :toast:

Agree -- McCain is a ticking timebomb.

[uppityperson]

12. for some reason dormantboy is very dormant. Check profile.

[Arugula Latte]

13. Oops. That didn't last long.

Oh well. :)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. McCain continues to display a nasty temperament, even now

I can't get over the way he still has this hard-on against the French, which he has displayed two or three times in the last few days.

In his speeches, he shows a very cocky and snarky attitude towards the French when he talks about the fact that they have made nuclear energy work for them and that in his opinion, even the French can get it right once in awhile. He also says that the French now have a pro-American president, suggesting that they have been our enemy in years before that.

The guy isn't a diplomat. In fact, he lets his emotions rule him. He's still got the Freedom Fries attitude in him, despite the fact he claims to say the Iraq war was a mistake when it began.

The guy is simply not fit for the presidency.

[progressivebydesign]

7. "It's impossible now to determine whose recollection of these events is accurate."

SIX YEARS AGO!!! Not 60 years, not 10, but 2002. I can remember almost every detail of my life in 2002, and you can bet that you'd remember a SENATOR raising his hand to a disabled woman on oxygen and pushing her out of the way.

[Doremus]

11. Actually 1996.

Not ancient history either, but more than 6 years ago and before cell phones routinely came with cameras, alas.

[wurzel]

8. If it isn't on tape it never happened.

[Phx_Dem]

9. I loved that story. It was actually written

by McClatchy so, hopefully, will get picked up by some daily papers.

McCain is such a dick. I wish someone could ask Bob Schieffer if being a former POW makes it okay to bully people; push a woman one into a wall and raise his hand as if to strike a women in a wheelchair?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/51660.html

[Gabi Hayes]

10. this has been discussed in depth here before, and it's vey controversial, to say the least.

ties to Ted Sampley's group make this something I don't think is worthwhile having anything to do with

what's the point, anyway?

the PO Dubya narrative is the strongest one they have

there's so much else out there that, given the proper exposure, should kill his campaign flat dead

simple things on video, like the lettuce story:

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=rWOZKeOauNI

I can't BELIEVE they haven't put this into an ad!!!!!

if that doesn't resonate in the spot that Americans care most about, NOTHING will

[Barack_America]

14. Barbara Boxer was hitting McCain hard about his temperament on CNN.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson could only feebly defend him, saying, "everyone has a temper".

As Boxer pointed out, not everyone has a temper like THAT!

[libnnc]

18. I've read (maybe it was here) that KBH and Gramps don't get along at all.

Would love it if she was recorded telling the truth about how she really feels off camera.

[pa28]

16. He's too unstable to be President.

Remember 2000. Bush pasted him with this issue and it stuck. The idea that McCain did not have the mental balance for the job took hold and became conventional wisdom. It should be so again but the public needs to be reminded.

The issue is a trouble spot for McCain and there are facts to back it up. He pushes disabled people he's mad at, got into a fistfight with Rick Renzi, became enraged at his wife an called her a c&!t in public. It's unfortunate he spent five years in a dark pit in Hanoi but it damaged his reason and judgment. I for one don't want him as the man with his finger on the button - especially now that a new cold war is on the horizon.

[Mimosa]

19. Spread it around pa28

You all, I have MS and I'm getting worn out. I've been a cyber warriro for Obama since November. I never slowed down. I keep distributing info wherever there's a chance to get people to think.

I'm so tired. But I love everybody here so much. You're all so generous.

I just saw Democratic underground's donation page for Obama/Biden made it over the top. At least $50,000 to help our guys win.

[BigBearJohn]

17. Why would ANYBODY want to elect a man who shoves someone in a wheelchair? WTF? n/t

[27inCali]

20. MoveOn needs to do a spot

with this woman that he pushed.