My Holiday with McCain

Note: This is an email I received last week from my mom. Demi works with my mother at a psychotherapy institute.  I realize this story cannot be fact-checked (except perhaps mccain's visit to this vacation spot, or the testimony of the other vacationers there), but I thought it a likely enough story to share with you all.  Please note the emphases are mine.  

This story comes from Anasuya Dubey, an American citizen, daugher of a previous Indian Consul General of San Francisco, and a clinical psychologist in California.

It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).

It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.

He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was "if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?"  I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.

Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.

McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David, the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.

Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego, and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day and his response was shocking:

"Oh, that was Cindy's idea – I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me. You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona. No, it wasn't my idea at all."

I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the US bombing of Iraq... I was shocked when he said "if I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson." Given McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war I had expected a more balanced point of view.

I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII – but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful towards the world.

My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said "Don't you know who I am?" and I looked him in the face and said "Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met," and headed back to my cabin.

I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.

Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. 

However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women, and his treatment of his own family, are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our President.

*the preface to this email read:

Hi all,

My friend Ana accidently found herself on vacation with John McCain and his wife a few years ago, and she has this to say about her experience with him during his 'off time.'  She is a VERY trustworthy source, someone I know from my training at the Wright Institute, her father was a diplomat, she has lived all over the world, and she is one of my favorite people I've met during my psychology training.  I think this description corroborates many other descriptions of McCain's character and is important for people to know about... feel free to send it on if anyone you know would be swayed by this...

Love to all,

Demi

mccain calls wife trollop, cunt

"hey, it's just been a long day"

John McCain's temper is well documented. He's called opponents and colleagues "shitheads," "assholes" and in at least one case "a fucking jerk."...

...At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded:

"At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt."


McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day.

If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

link via huffington post

keep it up guys, sexism just makes us stronger

Sexist coverage of Hillary brings women to her corner

"Take a look at the pictures news outlets run (above). Typically, Hillary looks like a crazy person, her mouth agape, her eyes as bug-eyed as the runaway bride’s. Meanwhile, Barack Obama typically looks cool, calm, collected - or, better yet, pensive and reflective.

"Then there’s comparisons between Hillary and the “nagging housewife” or "everybody’s first wife.” There are the constant adjectives: angry, shrill, divisive, polarizing. They’re really just “code words for bitch,” said Hillary supporter Andrea Cabral, the sheriff of Suffolk County.

"It’s analogous to the reaction among blacks when Bill Clinton was running around South Carolina making racist remarks. Thousands reacted by voting for Obama. Women’s reaction to sexist slurs is just as visceral. And they’re voting in record numbers for Hillary.

"Meanwhile, the unspoken rules say you can still publicly trash women in a way you can’t publicly trash African-Americans. “Imagine if somebody said Barack Obama was pimping out his wife,” says Andrea Cabral. “What would never be said about race is the sport of kings when it comes to gender.”

link