Did John McCain Rough Up A Sandinista?

From the Mississippi local, the Sun Herald:

Cochran recounts McCain dustup with the Sandinistas

By MICHAEL NEWSOM

McClatchy Newspapers

GULFPORT, Miss. — Notably mild-mannered Republican Sen. Thad Cochran shocked many earlier this year with comments about John McCain’s volatile temper. He has since mended fences with the GOP presidential nominee.

But as first reported at sunherald.com today, Cochran told the Sun Herald that he witnessed a confrontation between McCain and a Sandinista rebel decades ago where McCain "got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him." …

Cochran said he observed McCain engage in a physical confrontation with a Sandinista while participating in a diplomatic mission led by Sen. Bob Dole and others in the fall of 1987. Cochran, McCain – who had won election to the Senate the year before after serving in the House – and other members of a bipartisan committee of lawmakers called the Central American Negotiations Observer Group – met with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, head of the left wing political party known as "Sandinistas," about tensions in the region.

The atmosphere was tense, as the U.S. was pressing the countries involved "pretty hard." Cochran noticed a disturbance at the meeting table in a room lined with armed personnel.

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla group here at this end of the table and I don’t know what attracted my attention," Cochran said. "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."

There were no punches thrown and the two sat back down. The man, who appeared to be ruffled after the confrontation with McCain, was an associate of Ortega’s, possibly a lieutenant, but Cochran said he was unsure of his identity…

Alas, Mr. McCain is denying this account.

From the Associated Press:

McCain denies roughing up Sandinista

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 2

CARTAGENA, Colombia – 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." …

The Republican presidential contender, who is known for his hot temper, was questioned about the alleged incident at a news conference Wednesday here. He 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.

"I had many, many meetings with the Sandinistas," McCain said. "I must say, I did not admire the Sandinistas much. But there was never anything of that nature. It just didn’t happen." …

Throttling a Sandinista is the best thing we’ve heard about Mr. McCain in a long time.

But of course he had to go and ruin it all by denying it.