Posted by
Jennifer Waite on Monday, October 20, 2008 1:45:45 PM
If you followed any news this weekend you undoubtedly heard about a scathing New York Times article about Cindy McCain. Reports said she was slammed over her drug addiction, philanthropy, miscarriages and a Princess Di obsession. One would have thought there was some bombshell about Mrs. McCain beating the children or black market organ selling to support her drug addiction. Not so much. I’ve cherry picked the quotes that stick out to me (wonder where I learned to do that).
She has done relatively few solo events, grants interviews reluctantly— she declined to speak for this article —
Now, why on earth would she not want to talk to the New York Times?
and in introducing her husband at events, she offers few of the heartwarming anecdotes that are the stock in trade of the political spouse. When she finishes, she stands silently behind him, sometimes with an approving smile, sometimes looking strained.
So she’s shy.
From the start, Mrs. McCain’s marriage has been defined by her husband’s ambitions, and despite her sometimes punishing ride in political life, she does whatever she must to help fulfill them.
There’s this lady from Arkansas she should meet. I think she lives in New York now.
She played a role in the
Keating Five savings-and-loan scandal,
“Hillary Clinton, White Water”. Google it.
and just as her husband was rehabilitating his reputation, she was caught stealing drugs from her nonprofit organization to feed her addiction to painkillers.
Her husband was gone a lot, she had a bad back and 4 children. My husband’s gone a lot, I have back problems and two small children. I’ve often been grateful I don’t have access to the kinds of painkillers Cindy McCain became addicted. By the way, there’s an epidemic of American women with these kinds of addictions because they go to their idiot, self absorbed doctors for migraines or menstrual cramps and he or she gives them a never ending Rx for painkillers. Good luck, lady.
She has a fortune that sets the McCains apart from most other Americans, a problem in a presidential race that hinges on economic anxieties.
Her family’s story is the picture of the American dream. It should be an inspiration to struggling Americans.
Those close to Mrs. McCain say she aspires to be like another blonde, glamorous figure married to an older man: Diana, the Princess of Wales. Mrs. McCain sought out the same mine-clearing organization that the princess supported, joining its board and traveling to minefields, just as her role model had. Mrs. McCain recently told British reporters that as first lady, she would take her cues from Diana, throwing herself into international philanthropy.
What’s wrong with that? Although I’ve never understood the hype, I’d say if you’re interested in international philanthropy Princess Diana would make a fine role model. I wonder when the last time Jodi Kantor and David Halbfinger went across town to help the needy, let alone across the world.
Mrs. McCain has traveled by her husband’s side on the campaign trail and helped reorganize the campaign after it floundered in 2007.
By the way Cindy, good job.
When The New York Times reported last winter that Mr. McCain’s staffers had urged him to stay away from a female lobbyist during his first presidential run, Mrs. McCain stood by her husband at a news conference and defended his honor.
That article turned out to be baseless too didn’t it?
Referring to Mrs. McCain‘s first days in D.C. Diana Dunn, former wife of Maine Senator William S. Cohen, said,
“Cindy was a little bit star struck by John’s fame and the strength of his personality.“ Dunn also recalls the new Mrs. McCain as
gracious but timid, unschooled in Washington conversation, and worried about fitting in.
Maverick!
To me the article trashes John McCain’s qualifications as a husband more than Mrs. McCain’s character.
When he was home, the two were “as affectionate as you can be with John McCain,” said Wes Gullet, a former aide, explaining that his old boss, with his military training, restless energy and sarcastic humor, is not the cuddly type. “He’s a funny and vivacious guy, but he is not someone who spends his weekend watching ‘The Way We Were,’ ” Mr. Gullet said.
John McCain isn’t going to watch “The Way We Were” because he’s…not…gay! Also, Barbara Streisand is ugly and evil. My sources, who are equally reliable to those of the New York Times, tell me Streisan eats live kittens and throws the bones at orphans. It’s totally true.
Recently, Mrs. McCain has called the separations painful, volunteering that she endured several miscarriages alone. She spent subsequent pregnancies mostly confined to home, Ms. Ross said, sitting in a favorite stuffed chair, watching videos. But she rarely complained. “Her attitude was as a good soldier,” Mr. Gullet said.
Maybe she didn’t complain because she was grateful to be having successful pregnancies and was doing everything she could to protect them. Motherhood starts at conception too. Also, If John McCain was never home then how did he manage to keep poor Cindy pregnant all the time?
Mrs. McCain often mentions her travels to Rwanda at the height of the 1994 genocide — she wrote about it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece and has been praised by politicians and newspaper columnists for jetting into the heart of a massacre. As with her other charity trips, participants praised her eagerness to help victims of tragedy. But news accounts and interviews indicate, and a campaign spokesman confirmed, that Mrs. McCain traveled after the genocide had ended, spending time with refugees in neighboring Zaire, now Congo. Asked if she was ever in Rwanda, as Mrs. McCain has stated many times, a campaign spokesman, Jill Hazelbaker, said “she was driven to the Zaire/Rwanda border in order to assess the conditions of the refugees entering the country.”
Again, when was the last time any of us went to Rwanda?
Kantor and Halbfinger seem to be schizophrenic. The article meanders between describing Cindy McCain as a meek trophy wife and a shrewd opportunist. Whenever I read these things the same thought goes through me head. “Is that all ya’ got?” This isn’t news. This isn’t relevant. This is the “Pink Ladies” pickin’ on Sandy in Grease for… whatever they were picking on her for.
You live in New York for Christ’s sake. I thought that was the city that never sleeps. The center of the universe. Why don’t you get off your elitist butts, leave the office and find something newsworthy. You forgot the criteria for newsworthiness didn’t you? It’s okay. Stop by any community college journalism 101 night class and borrow someone’s textbook It’s in the first chapter. You can't miss it. Well, you probably will. You seem to be proficient at missing the most important part of everything.