McCain Roughing Up Sandinista: Smoking Gun in Campaign ’08?

[Judi Lynn]

McCain Roughing Up Sandinista: Smoking Gun in Campaign ’08?
August 28, 2008 By Nikolas Kozloff
Source: NACLA

Speaking at a news conference during a recent trip to Colombia, Republican presidential candidate John McCain remarked, "I must say, I did not admire the Sandinistas much." It's the understatement of the century.

According to Thad Cochran, a GOP Senator from Mississippi, McCain roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on a diplomatic mission in 1987. According to Cochran, McCain grabbed the Sandinista by the shirt collar and literally lifted him out of his chair. The Republican presidential contender, who is known for his hot temper, denied the allegations. "I had many, many meetings with the Sandinistas," McCain said. "But there was never anything of that nature. It just didn't happen."

Lorne Craner, an informal foreign policy aide to McCain who took part in the trip to Nicaragua at the time, told the Associated Press that he didn't recall the incident Cochran described. "Honestly, if my boss had grabbed a foreign government official like that and lifted him up I would certainly remember that," said Craner.

While the McCain aide could be telling the truth, Craner is hardly an impartial source of information: in addition to his ties to the McCain campaign, he is also president of the International Republican Institute, a shady public-private organization which has cultivated links to the right-wing opposition in Venezuela. McCain chairs the outfit.

More:
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/18593

[skids]

1. Teflon John...

That and many many examples of his temper problem have been out there for months.

Nobody seems to pay attention. They just whine about "needing more detail" from Obama because apperently they cannot be bothered read his website. Sigh.

Maybe once the conventions are over people will start to look harder at McCain and see what a risky proposition he is.

(Personally I think lettucegate will be his undoing.)

[C_U_L8R]

2. Holy Iran-Contra

juicy stuff... Oh I'd love to know more about McCain's complicity in that awful scandal.

[billyoc]

3. Hey, John, the FSLN won, and you lost. Again.

Thank God.

[MISSDem]

4. So Thad Cochran is lying. That doesn't make any sense.

I have also read where Cochran said "the thought of John McCain as President puts chills up my spine".