Thad Cochran in Tuesday's Sun Herald on John McCain's temper

John McCain was a hard sell for Thad Cochran in the Republican primary. The Mississippi Senator made several pointed statements directed at John McCain. In the Boston Globe in January, Thad had this to say about Senator McCain.

"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

Thad is one of the largest purveyors of pork in the Senate. John McCain's only economic policies of note are to extend the Bush tax cuts, and to end pork barrel spending. It is not hard to figure out why Thad Cochran was in the GOP anybody-but-McCain camp.

John McCain locked up the nomination rather quickly. Cochran quickly had to eat crow and back-track off of his harsh statements. Tuesday's Sun Herald summed up the newly found accord between the two Republican Senators.

The two senators have made peace since the remarks. Cochran said McCain included him on a recent campaign visit to Meridian. He told the Sun Herald on Monday that McCain, whose ancestors lived in north Mississippi, is the best man for the job.

Monday Thad Cochran recounted a story to the Sun Herald where the Arizona Senator lost his temper and became involved in a physical confrontation while on a diplomatic mission to Nicaragua in 1987.

But 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 that year - 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 "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."

The comments have been so well received by the national media as well as the McCain camp that both Senators have released statements on the Cochran statement.

First here is the Cochran statement on the Cochran statement from the same Sun Herald article,

Cochran spokeswoman Margaret McPhillips released the following statement:

"I think Sen. Cochran went into as much detail yesterday as is necessary to make the point that, though Sen. McCain has had problems with his temper, he has overcome them. Though Sen. Cochran saw the incident he described to you, decades have passed since then and he wanted to make the point that over the years he has seen Sen. McCain mature into an individual who is not only spirited and tenacious but also thoughtful and levelheaded. As Sen. Cochran said yesterday, he believes Sen. McCain has developed into the best possible candidate for President."

As reported by CNN, John McCain released a statement on the Thad Cochran Nicaragua story.

Speaking to reporters in Colombia Wednesday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee flatly denied the report, calling it "simply not true."

"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."

So who is telling the truth here? Cotton Mouth wants to know.