Yeetle Box - McCain v. Cochran In A Steel Cage Death Match

Sen. John McCain denied a Republican colleague's claim that he roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on a diplomatic mission in 1987, saying the allegation was "simply not true."

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told a Mississippi newspaper that he saw McCain, during a trip to Nicaragua led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., grab an Ortega associate by his shirt collar and lift him out of his chair. Back then, McCain was a young and spry 50 year old man on a mission.

Known for his hot temper, McCain was questioned about the incident. McCain noted that at the time, he had been asked to co-chair a Central American working group in the Senate with Democrat Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and had made several trips to the region in that role. Actually, he said "re-matches."


"I had many, many meetings with the Sandinistas," McCain said. "I must say, I did not admire the Sandinistas much. We stood in opposite corners, me in red, white, and blue trunk, and them in yellow. Yellow for cowardice!"

Cochran's recollection of the alleged incident:

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerrilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention. But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever ...

"I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, 'Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission.' I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy ... and he just reached over there and snatched ... him."

Cochran said he didn't know who the man McCain grabbed was except that he was an associate of Ortega.

The newspaper posted the audio of its interview on its Web site - in the name of sports journalism.

Lorne Craner, 49, a former foreign policy aide to McCain who took part in the trip to Nicaragua, told The Associated Press that he doesn't recall the incident Cochran described.

Said Craner in hushed tones, "Honestly, if my boss had grabbed a foreign government official like that and lifted him up I would certainly remember that. And he doesn't take steroids, either."

Craner is president of the International Republican Institute, which McCain chairs.

Craner said he also doesn't recall whether the senators met with Ortega during the trip but believes they met with the Sandinista government's foreign minister or interior minister - one of Nicaragua's top wrestlers or boxers. He could not recall which.

He said the trip was one of several to Nicaragua made by McCain and other members of Congress around that time. According to sources who only speculate about these matters, McCain was vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team and may have been in training.

The McCain campaign had no immediate comment. However, they did comment later, but off the record. Then retracted what they had said, explaining that had a case of the "Mondays."

McCain sought to smooth things over with Cochran this year after the Mississippi senator said the idea of McCain as the GOP presidential nominee sent a chill down his spine. He extended his hand to Cochran, offering to arm wrestle. Winner take all.

The Yeetle Box