THE MCCAIN WAY: ATTACK REPUBLICANS, A Top 10 List...

On Thursday afternoon, Romney said, “One thing I’m also gonna point
out is, particularly in a Republican campaign, I’m not going to talk
about the character of the people I’m running against.” He also cited
Ronald Reagan’s so-called 11th commandment, something along the lines
of, “though shalt not attack fellow Republicans.”

As per a request, here is a copy of the memo:

1. Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And “Screamed, ‘F*ck You!’ At Texas Sen. John Cornyn” (R-TX).
   “Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by
   questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry,
   profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The
   Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul,
   McCain screamed, ‘F— you!’ at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been
   raising concerns about the legislation. ‘This is chickens—stuff,’
   McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off
   the Senate floor Thursday. ‘You’ve always been against this bill, and
   you’re just trying to derail it.’” (Charles Hurt, “Raising McCain,”
   New York Post, 5/19/07)
2. In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton.
   SEN. MCCAIN: “I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush’s campaign
   is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I’ll
   use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay
   down the debt. Governor Bush uses all of the surplus for tax cuts, with
   not one new penny for Social Security or the debt. His ad twists the
   truth like
   Clinton. We’re all pretty tired of that. As president, I’ll be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what.” (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4)
3. Sen.
   McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) An “A**hole”,
   Causing A Fellow GOP Senator To Say, “I Didn’t Want This Guy Anywhere
   Near A Trigger.” “Why
   can’t McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a
   Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain
   erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman,
   Pete Domenici, saying, ‘Only an a–hole would put together a budget like
   this.’ Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained
   speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated
   debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have
   taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: ‘I wouldn’t
   call you an a–hole unless you really were an a–hole.’ The Republican
   senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for
   president, but changed his mind. ‘I decided,’ the senator told Newsweek, ‘I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.’” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
4. Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A “F*cking Jerk.”
   “Senators are not used to having their intelligence or integrity
   challenged by another senator. ‘Are you calling me stupid?’ Sen. Chuck
   Grassley once inquired during a debate with McCain over the fate of the
   Vietnam MIAs, according to a source who was present. ‘No,’ replied
   McCain, ‘I’m calling you a f—ing jerk!’ (Grassley and McCain had no comment.)” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
5. In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A “Scuffle” With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor.
   “In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a
   Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond
   asked, ‘Is the senator about through?’ McCain glared at Thurmond,
   thanked him for his ‘courtesy’ (translation: buzz off), and continued
   on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn’t part friends.” (Harry Jaffe, “Senator Hothead,” The Washingtonian, 2/97)
6. Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of The “Most Egregious Incident” Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate. “It
   escalated when McCain reiterated the charges Oct. 10 in a
   cross-examination, calling McConnell’s actions the ‘most egregious
   incident’ demonstrating the appearance of corruption he has ever seen
   in his Senate career.” (Amy Keller, “Attacks Escalate In Depositions,” Roll Call, 10/21/02)
7. Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign.
   MCCAIN: “Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who
   will lose to Al Gore. … The political tactics of division and slander
   are not our values… They are corrupting influences on religion and
   politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the
   name of the Republican Party or in the name of
   America
   shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be
   defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the
   agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton
   on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.” (Sen. John McCain, Remarks,
   Virginia Beach, VA, 2/28/00)
8. Sen. McCain Attacked Vice President Cheney.
   MCCAIN: “The president listened too much to the Vice President . . . Of
   course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was
   very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the
   Secretary of Defense.” (Roger Simon, “McCain Bashes Cheney Over
   Iraq Policy,” The Politico, 1/24/07)
9. Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer. “It
   was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the
   U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood.
   McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a
   young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall
   for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a
   witness to the outburst. ‘Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a
   good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn’t look good
   on television,’ Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz
   was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. … Hinz said
   McCain’s treatment of the young campaign worker in 1986 troubled him
   for years. ‘There were an awful lot of people in the room,’ Hinz
   recalled. ‘You’d have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He
   (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. It wasn’t
   right, and I was very upset at him.’” (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, “Stories Surface On Senator’s Demeanor,” The

   Arizona
   Republic, 11/5/99)

10. Sen. McCain “Publicly Abused” Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).
    “[McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesn’t
    ‘insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that.’ This is,
    quite simply, hogwash. McCain often insults people and flies off the
    handle…. There have been the many times McCain has called reporters
    ‘liars’ and ‘idiots’ when they have had the audacity to ask him
    unpleasant, but pertinent, questions. McCain once… publicly abused Sen.
    Richard Shelby of
    Alabama.” (Editorial, “There’s Something About McCain,” The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)

Source: The Boston Herald...