See You Next Tuesday

In his book “The Real McCain”, Cliff Schecter wrote that in 1992 (I believe still anonymous) witnesses saw John McCain having one of his characteristic temper tantrums that culminated in his calling his wife, Cindy, another word that starts with a c. At a presidential forum in Iowa yesterday, someone decided to ask him about it.

Marty Parrish, a Baptist minister and tech. business owner, was the one that did the asking:

PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a (expletive)?

MCCAIN: Now, now. You don’t want to … Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.

The audience gasped at the question and applauded at McCain’s handling of it. Parrish was escorted from the event and questioned by Secret Service, but not charged. Parrish had checked in to the event as a member of the press.

It would have been nice to see at least some form of denial pop up in McCain’s answer. Even if he was genuinely moving the questions along in fear that Parrish was going to go on some “c-word” laden tirade, it would have taken seconds to say something like: “…there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language and I am one of them. Therefore, I never would have used it towards my wife. So I’ll move on…”

Why was Parrish questioned by the Secret Service? Is the “c-word” a code name for a terrorist cell or something? What would he have been charged with if he had been charged? Public obscenity?

Video of the incident available at the source.

Tags: John McCain, Cliff Schecter