CNN praises Ms. McCain for being 'perfect'
By Steve Benen Thursday Mar 06, 2008 6:40pmCNN’s Anderson Cooper has an item about John McCain’s wife that doesn’t sound especially objective or neutral. The headline reads, “Can Cindy McCain really be that perfect?” Seriously, that's the headline.
She’s always dressed in a killer suit and never has a hair out of place. We went to Phoenix, where Cindy McCain grew up, to talk with those who know her best. Good friend Betsy Bayless, a former Arizona secretary of state, says Cindy is a “fun down to earth person with a great sense of humor.”
She had a privileged upbringing. Her father started one of the largest beer distributorships in the country and today Cindy is the Chairman of the Board. The company is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Cindy graduated from the University of Southern California with a teaching degree and went on to become a teacher, but meeting John McCain changed all that. They met before he was in politics at a cocktail party in Hawaii. He is 18 years older than she is.
They apparently had instant chemistry. John was separated from his first wife at the time. About a month after his divorce, Cindy and John McCain got married.
Not to be picky, but this is incomplete. John McCain was, as a factual matter, still married and living with his wife in 1979 while, according to The New York Times, “aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.” (McCain then divorced his wife, who had raised their three children while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, and launched his political career with his new wife’s family money.)
Now, one can certainly argue that McCain’s infidelity is irrelevant. One could also argue that McCain’s adulterous relationship with the woman who ultimately became his second wife is none of the voters’ business. But if CNN is going to do a report on this, while touting Ms. McCain’s “perfection,” the network should at least give the public the whole story.
The CNN report also briefly broached another awkward subject.
During that 2000 primary, she was painted as a drug addict. It wasn’t pretty.
Here’s the back-story: In 1989, Cindy had a bad car accident and started taking prescription pain killers for her back injury. Four years later, she was still addicted to pain killers. Friends say her mother confronted her and she admitted her addiction, then immediately stopped taking the pills.
To be sure, I really don’t much care about Cindy McCain’s difficulties with pain-killer addition. It’s a problem that many people go through, and I’m glad things turned out for the best for her and her family.
But, again, if CNN is going to do a report about Ms. McCain’s “perfection,” and highlight various chapters of her adult life, it shouldn’t just brush past relevant details that may cast her in a negative light. Here’s a report the LA Times ran during the 2000 campaign.
Much has been made of allegations of possible youthful use of illegal drugs by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Meanwhile, his chief GOP opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has admitted that his wife not only illegally used drugs but walked away from criminal charges. The McCains have worked to make Cindy McCain’s addiction into a political asset–despite the fact that she stole the drugs from a charity she directed and used them while mothering four young children.
In 1994, Mrs. McCain admitted that she had solicited prescriptions for painkillers from physicians who worked for an international charity that she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. She then filled the prescriptions in the names of her staff.
There are two ways to react to this behavior. According to the Betty Ford model, people can sympathetically respond to the oppressed and ignored wife of a busy politician who has bravely come forward to admit her overpowering addiction. Mrs. McCain took this posture when she first tearfully confessed her addiction. She and her husband repeated this performance in October on the NBC program “Dateline.”
The other possible public reaction is one of anger. Americans are prosecuted every day for such drug use. While most drug abusers purchase their drugs from street dealers, Mrs. McCain used her status as a charity director and senator’s wife to cajole the drugs she wanted.
In fact, Mrs. McCain was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency was approached by a former staff member of her charity. The investigation resulted in no charges or prison time for her, and she entered a diversion program.
The CNN report on Ms. McCain being “perfect” pretends that this part of her past simply doesn’t exist.
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This kind of shit is why I have permanently redirected www.cnn.com to 127.0.0.1 in my hosts file. They're not news.
They're whores.
what? No mention about how she's a reformed drug addict??
Doesn't it almost seem like they go out of their way to paint McCain and now those around him with the most rosy colors possible? Can you imagine they would be this nice towards say, Barack Obama or John Edwards if they had done something like McCain did to his first wife?
Cindy McCain IS perfect - she's the perfect adulterer and the perfect home-wrecker.
And she married the perfect asshole.
Full disclosure: my middle name.
And before he met Cindy, from what I've read, he was pretty much a serial adulterer after he returned from Viet Nam. Nothing like a stint as a POW to get the old juices pumping.
gene214 @ 2:
Oh, there it is! Never mind!
The investigation resulted in no charges or prison time for her, and she entered a diversion program.
What, they didn't think laundering orange jumpsuits would be enough of a diversion?
Cindy is the perfect stepford wife.
Maybe she has a hidden past like Laura Bush whose car ran into high school boyfriend and killed him.
Better yet, Anderson Cooper and the rest of the hacks ought to stick to reporting the news rather than their opinions.
dale18 @ 9:
Now, Now - you know how the MSM would present that story: That guy deliberately stepped in front of Lauras car so that he would get killed and make the future First Lady look bad. It's all an evil Liberal conspiracy - you can look it up.
I guess the definition of "perfect" now includes behavior like stealing prescription drugs from your charity for your own addiction? Huh?
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/
Yes, she's perfectly white and wealthy. Had she been a poor minority, instead of rehab, she'd have gotten the book thrown at her.
her eyes kind of freak me out, like she's a big time s&m queen.
that's what i intuitively imagine.
what i know from reality, they made money their money from booze.
BIG TIME!!!!!
how hard do you have to work to be a distributorship?
you 've got the license and the territory.
it's the number one drug of choice(not really).
it's a fixed GAME.
she's "on the board" of an alcohol distribution empire.
you see, people "on the board" are supposed to he greatly respected and highly admired.
all i see is a fist class C__T. who is so full of her self as to look at the rest of us like
we should anoint her or something.
FOR WHAT!!!!!!!
FOR PRIVILEGE!!!!
WOW SHE'S PERFECT!
Seems like one of the requirements of being a good little neo-con is to cheat on your wife and hook up with someone who has perkier boobs. Newt, McPain, etc.
BTW, you'll notice I'm sportin' a new handle...
Full disclosure is MY middle name too!
To paraphrase Colbert....
Cindy McCain: Perfect wife or the perfectist wife?
I'll say one thing about their "chemistry", keep them both away from your medicine cabinets.
Ya know, I have lived in AZ for 25 years and I seem to remember Ms. Cindy having a bit of a drug addiction problem... Hmmm. And often being described as a real bitch
Well I made a comment on the AC360 blog that pointed out the drug abuse linked to the charities, as well as the DEA investigation.
Wouldn't you know they scrubbed my comment. Go figure.
... Or we could just concentrate on actual substantive issues. But maybe this is too much to ask.
Wait, they didn't mention anything about her Satan eyes? Jebus, those peepers are right out of "Hellraiser".
Perhaps what this country needs is a First Lady that can burn caustic holes through the souls of our enemies merely by looking at them.
Heh, according to the Corporate Media, Hillary is flawed because she kept her family together after her husband got caught cheating on her, while Cindy the home wrecker is perfect because she inherited a fortune from her father's bootlegging. That's Republican/corporate family values for you.
Is it me, or is it the fact that I almost always see her in leather (and that too-tight hairdo along w/ those snake-eyes) that makes me think "Dominatrix"?
X @ 21:
substantial issues like that past two stolen elections?
is it time to get substantial is it????
hmmmm let's belittle everyone and get substantial...
yes it's about time to get substantial.
big brain X is about to get substantial everyone... give him some room!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vicodina McCain can taste colors, man.
X @ 21:
The Corporate Media's constant shilling for the Republican party is a substantive issue.
Hmmm...whose actions are most reprehensible? John McCain's, Cindy Mc'Cain's or Anderson Cooper's?
i guess i'm asking too much
cindy dresses like an expensive escort.
a stepford whore wife.
Of course Cindy is perfect. Why else would a loving, caring husband and father leave a crippled wife and their kids?
"Now, one can certainly argue that McCain’s infidelity is irrelevant"
Tell that to Clinton hater's on the right.
I love the media double-standard in its political reporting. Just today:
1. CNN's Anderson Cooper: Mrs. McCain is perfect
2. Tweety: Clinton fostering doubt about Obama's religion [she hasn't, but Tweety is in her name]
3. Imus: Clinton's election to Senate due to "her fat, stupid hustand...getting BJs...in the Oval Office"
4. CNN: Obama got property "at a very discounted price" [Obama didn't]
5. Joe Klein falsely suggests Obama's focus on patriotism is new
Plus, the networks repeatedly fail to accurately report McCain's positions on Iraq, immigration, tax cuts, etc.
This portrait of Cindy McCodeine is part of a calculated PR strategy to portray the Republican nominee as unassailable. It weaves into the false construction of McCain as the straight talking moderate maverick non-Republican Republican that the Corporate Media is forcing down the public throat.
Cindy has a sweet look but nothing like Obama
Chris Mathews and his political analysis of Obama. Pimp-o-cracy ? With Fred
Astaire eloquence ? This is good his commentary on MSNBC hardballs. It needs to be talked about. Chris Mathews just stepped on his self. That feeling he gets that shivers up his leg when he listens to Obama ? Obama is a rock star ? Obama is so good when he gives a speech. Oh, Obama gives me a chill and goose bumps when he talks to the crowd. Obama is so inspiring he moves the Democrats and attracts the Republican crowd.
What did Chris Mathews mean by Pimp-o-cracy ? He should be called on it. Or maybe he is begging the question. Pimp-o-cracy, one should notice David Shuster that reporter is appearing more and more and MSNBC. Looks like the suspension for using the word Pimp is diminished. Actually is sound worse than calling Hillary a Monster. Shuster reminds me of a Gay guy like Truman Capote with the wide brim hat and dark sun glasses. Shuster reminds me of closet cases that have a hard on for Clinton.
[Deleted. zorro, if you haven't noticed, it takes a long time for your comments to appear. That's because I worked it out so that we site monitors must actively approve your comments. I did so because you have made enough cracks like the one I've deleted here that I can't trust you to keep something to yourself. If I see any more of this, just once, not only will I not approve your comments, I will permanently ban you from commenting. I'm giving you this last chance because you actually do make many acceptable comments. Thank you. Site Monitor]
Yikes no wonder Obama likes rap and blow.
And.... Cindy has said that she will not put any of HER money in McSame's campaign. Why isn't she willing to put HER money, where McSame's mouth is? Something stinks in the state of Denmark!
You can find a link to the 1994 Phoenix New Times article here.
hey cindy, get me a beer. all that money and she marries a hooker.
barkleyg @ 36:
Republicans aren't dumb enough to throw their money down a hole. On the other hand, their more than willing to throw ours down one. Especially if it benefits Big Oil and the Military Industrial Complex.
medialib @ 20:
I tried to post a comment on that story as well, taking the author to task for her fluff piece. I must have hurt her poor widdle feelings, because she wouldn't allow my post.
Leslie Hussein @ 34:
You gotta love Joe Klein, he never fails to tarnish any and every Democratic politician or Liberal position. Remember, he's the one who wrote 'Primary Colors' anonymously posing as a Clinton campaign insider to tarnish Bill Clinton. He's the perfect example of the Corporate Media's propaganda technique of managing consensus by deploying fake "Liberals" to muddy the waters and disparage Liberal and Progressive opinion. Joe Klein, along with Richard Cohen at the WaPo exist only to patrol the borders of what the Washington elite consensus determines is "legitimate" dissent.
the word on the street is they're changing the name to McCNN.
Nothing wrong with these people...absolutely perfect!
http://www.bushdoctrine.net/images/bush-door-china.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/v/MwBg4Pil.jpg
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?547e8b3e0d.jpg
As (ERWMSM) EXTREME RIGHT WING MAIN STREAM MEDIA they are using Reagans 11th commandment. This is just more proof there is no left wing media.
CindyBot!
“Can Cindy McCain really be that perfect?”
Given the fact that she's a pill head and a thief, then I guess the answer is no.
Acting Patriotic @ 46:
How bad can your link be. It said forbidden.
Try again: Stepford CindyBot ~ http://thumbsnap.com/vf/BbdDH6t7.jpg
seems the original is now deleted? Google still has the cached entry
Sounds like she should get a job at CNN. Perfect hair and nice clothes. What more is there to existence?
SmallAxe @ 12:
Isn't is now couched in terms of, "She was addicted to prescription medications" ?Isn't that the cleaned-up version used by all celebrity types when they get caught with drugs? So she had to steal them off some charity she worked with. They were prescription, weren't they? Doesn't that clear the entire sordid mess right up?
She has to ride in the Staight Cock Express and she knows her husband is a pandering philandering piece of shit. So she NEEDS those drugs.
why are there alcohol distributors anyways?
isn't a special way to manipulate money and power?
The drugs I'm talking about in my last post aren't the ones she was hooked on a few years back and had to steal from her charity. I am talking about the neuroleptics they feed her now to keep her more or less catatonic.
X @ 21:
The only part of this that I would venture to say is important is that if they possessed any such information on the opposition candidate, it would be screaming at you from every TV screen in the country. The republicans do not wish to engage in substantive issues...that would put the leadership of the past 7 years in a very bad light.
X@21 says we should concentrate on substantive issues.
We are. The illegal substances.
Cindy McMorphine
Everyone makes mistakes in their lives and most of them don't deserve being thrown under a bus because of them. But this thing about Cougar Cindy shows more about her than just falling into an opiate addiction.
*She stole drugs from a charity she set up to bring health care to underprivelaged people. Though it can be said that the charity was more about getting her attention than anything else. Of everything this is the most dispicable part of the whole scenario and the one that truly shows what a loathesome individual she is.
*She had Doctors write her bogus prescriptions in the names of her employees and when that didn't work she got the Doctors DEA ID Numbers to get bogus scripts filled.
*She lied about going to the diversion in an effort to keep her offense at a Federal misdeamoner level instead of a State felony level.
*She used her husbands stature to stay out of any serious problems concerning her addiction.
I know this will get a pass and perhaps it should though that thing with the charity really galls me no end. Afterall Bush got away with his past by simply telling the press to Cheney themselves and the press allowed themselves to be played.
How the press can write anything such as she's perfect just boggles my mind. I know that looks are subjective but I just don't see where she's that nice to look at regardless of her age. I bet she's hoping that if McGrumpy gets elected that she'll have the same access to the Doctors who's kept Pickles drugged up for the last 8 years.
Personally, I think she looks like she's had way too much work done on her face. She's got a perfectly too tight face lift.
I am deeply and profoundly tainted by Original Sin and have many failings and yield easily to temptation.
But I don't find her in the slightest bit hot.
Snowball @ 28:
For the record, I do not care for the Hey-you-kids-get-off-my-lawn-candidacy of John McCain. Nor do I plan to vote for him. I just don't see how someone complementing his wife somehow equates with the political equivalent of a sensual massage.
After all, you probably wouldn't be complaining about this if he were talking about Michelle Obama or, uh, Bill Clinton...
I can see what you guys are saying about her eyes. It seems like she's about to take a bite out of your throat. Or she's about to watch someone she hates die horribly. It might not be fair to say that about her, considering I don't know her, but wow, she is really creepy looking.
And how is she perfect with her history and Michelle Obama is an evil, America-hating bitch because of an edited comment taken out of context?
Does anybody else ever get the impression that CindyLou McCain is Anne Coulter after she has had a good shave?
Fanon @ 60:
She looks that way because she is a "Stepford Wife", there only in body! I am referencing the Katherine Ross movie from the 80's.
Forget the narcotics theft - if that woman has one more face lift she'll have a beard!
dale18 @ 9:
Sorry that I stole(double entendre) your quote dale 18
For the edification of all.
www.awfulplasticsurgery.com
Now, one can certainly argue that McCain’s infidelity is irrelevant.
****************************************************
Why? When Bill Clinton's infidelity made national news, the Republicans certainly didn't think it was irrelevant -- they claimed that it demonstrated a lack of character which made him unfit for he presidency. If infidelity is a sign of poor character, then surely it ought to be an even stronger sign in a Republican because they're the ones who claim to be the party of family values.
Ba'al @ 68:
Why? Why did you have to go there? Now I need a drink.
I hope there comes a time when we can just leave spouses, and families out of what has become a very dirty process. Maybe I should be looking for a time when political campaigns are not a that dirty process? Regardless, she is not the person running for office. Let it go. She is not going to be the first lady. McCain is going to get absolutely stomped in the general election. Of all the candidates on the republican side, the reason McCain is moving on is, he was the least repulsive of the lot. He was the only one who did not self-destruct. Hillary and Barack are still in a heated battle. But, when the winner does stand forth, and turns their attention on McCain, he will only draw heavily from the hardcores.
Now, one can certainly argue that McCain’s infidelity is irrelevant.
McCain voted to convict Clinton at his impeachment hearing. So Fuck Him!!!
Let's not forget the Perfect Wife's drug addiction (painkillers) and her conviction for stealing said drugs from a charity she was working with. Sounds all-too-human to me.
cindy mccain...perfect?...does...not...compute
does...not...compute...!@#$!$&@...MY...CIR... CUITS...ARE...!@$$%%!...DE-STROY!...dE-STROY!...CAN...NOT...COM...PUTE!!!##$@.
No, it does matter.
I want the people around me besodden with taboos,not free from them.
Yesterday I posted a comment on the CNN article on Cindy M. [to CNN] that was critical of Cindy and L'il Mac, which I felt was not provocative but which basically said that the WHOLE story would eventually come out by aggressive reporting by the press. CNN "modified" my post ie. didn't allow it at all, as it turned out. I complained and they did, at least, get back to me with a stock policy statement--perhaps "too many posts" to get my post in before it closed. I was OK with that until this C/L update. Is the MSM really trying to shape America's future?
I think that the topic of McCain's infidelity is one that we really should leave off the board considering the impeachment of Clinton and how we defended Clinton. We all know that impeachment was bullshit, they claim they impeached him for lying to Congress, but it is very clear they impeached him for sexual inproprieties. Frankly, I was all for impeaching Clinton for other things, but the Republicans could not very well impeach Clinton for committing crimes they approved such as the way Clinton repeatedly trampled the Constitution, Bill of Rights, misused our military, etc. (just like his successor, Bush).
The hypocrisy on both sides becomes more and more apparent and more disgusting. The Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin though admittedly the Republican side is uglier, more corroded, scared, and badly mishappen. Time we form a real second party, one to really represent us and not the powerful, elite, wealthy and corporations.
listen, i agree with others, don't be stupid republicans in your partsianship. this woman is hot. why attack her? she stands there as a wife. what is there to say? my God why are we attacking every stupid possible thing? is it only because we need to attack from every little angle? is this really our fate? to have at least one moron bring up every moronic thing? she's fine. he's fine. his policies may suck, but he is a nice guy beyond what Bush could ever be. i mean, try to be objective. just try. stand above the partisan crap, or submit to the criticism republicans will have of you. be better than them. you're just being stupid trying to attack Mccain's wife, stupid. look in a mirror and challenge yourself. my god the dems can win this election without this crap. as a matter of fact, they are more likely to win without this crap.
Vicki @ 77:
sorry, but remember the gary hart incident???
if a candidate claims to be squeaky clean, then he is asking for it
we let the chimp off the hook for his drugging and whoring....wont get fooled again
we aint talking youthful indescresions here, the man was in his 40s
and i dont care that he cant get it up now
as shown with the daliances with the lobbyest, once a whore monger, always a whore monger
Cind yMcCain has always struck me as a bit "Stepford Wife-ish."
Oh wait, in the second Stepford Wife movie, Revenge of the Stepford Wives, the women weren't killed, they were drugged
hmmmmmm
fred jones @ 78:
nice guy?????
a nice guy wouldnt say that we could be in iraq for 100 years
a nice guy wouldnt search out and obtain the support of hagee
a nice guy wouldnt flip flop on his principles just to become president
but thanks for trying....now back to redstate with you
My wife and I think that she looks like a really dolled up cryptkeeper.
Shiner @ 82:
My husband and I call the pair of them McNosferatu.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 79:
Yes, Joe! One more time we try to be civil and fair and "unlike them" and lose in the long run. Whenever the urge to be "fair" hits you, just envision their faces laughing at you as a liberal loser!
MacDaKnife @ 71:
Look, when the Repigs hammered Clinton because of his infidelity (even though it didn't affect his policies) they opened the floodgates for inspection of ANY candidate's personal life. While I couldn't care less if McCain screws around on his wife, I DO care if he proclaimis himself to be some sort of pious, moral person.
We should be asking this of him at every public function: how can we trust you, when once you got home from Vietnam and found your wife - who remained faithful to you and raised your kids - to have been scarred in an accident, you began cheating on her and eventually divorced her? And you had the GALL to vote to impeach Clinton for the very thing you did to your wife? You thought him unworthy of the office, yet you did even worse and ask us to ignore that? What kind of hypocrite does this?
fred jones @ 78:
I'm sorry... Do you not see the fucking blatant hypocrisy?
A McCain presidency would actively pursue minimum sentences for first-time drug offenders. Speaking personally, as a former prescription narcotics addict, I would love to spit in Cindy McCain's face given the opportunity. She needs to own up to her mistakes, not glide through and then sit complacently as first lady while thousands of people go to jail for the same offense she's apparently too perfect to be prosecuted for.
Why should she go free - AND THEN BE PRAISED AS NEAR-PERFECT IN THE NEWS - When I have been arrested, ostracized, and had my reputation destroyed by similar behavior?
Yeah she's perfect alright...perfectly phony and fake.
usafail @ 86:
Absolutely the best response to this question I have ever heard. USAFAIL, I honor and admire your comments.
Matt Hussein in Texas @ 88:
Thanks Matt Hussein. Ain't nuthin but some troll slayin
uncle joe mccarthy @ 79: