McCain Agape With Wrath

Apparently John McCain was operating under a 120-day cooling-off period. In the four months since the presidential race, the former Republican nominee has been, for the most part, a graceful loser, returning to the Senate to lead the loyal opposition with dignity. But yesterday, he exploded. "I hope the American people will rise up -- rise up!" he exhorted on the Senate floor, chopping the lectern with his hand. He growled. He roared. He flushed. He sputtered. He glared at colleagues. He hurled angry words, words such as "slap in the face" and "outrageous insult" and "disgraceful" and "theft" and "corruption." "If it sounds like I'm angry," the senator from Arizona explained, "it's because I am." This disclosure hardly seemed necessary. For while McCain's topic was familiar -- he was protesting the inclusion of earmarks in a spending bill -- the source of his ire was less notable than its intensity. His pair of speeches on the Senate floor, delivered within minutes of each other, resembled a public experiment in primal-scream therapy. Read the whole Sketch