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abijnk
Mar 5, 2008, 04:50 PM
CNN blog article (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/05/can-cindy-mccain-really-be-that-perfect/) about Cindy McCain. I think the most interesting parts are the comments at the end.


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.

They had three children and adopted a fourth child from Bangladesh. That adoption got attention during the 2000 primary in South Carolina, Sen. McCain’s first run to be president. There were claims Bridgett was actually McCain’s illegitimate black child. That’s not true – that’s dirty politics.

The McCains had another negative story to deal with during that campaign. 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.

So now the McCain’s are at it again. Cindy seems more relaxed this time around and seems to be having more fun, according to the blog that McCain’s daughter Meghan keeps from the campaign trail.

Still, she hasn’t forgotten what happened back in 2000. In fact, friends say she kept a “grudge list.”

I think the first ladies are in a whole new ball game now that Hillary Clinton is running for president. While it has seemingly been taboo to really go at them, if they are going to be able to run for president (or any other elected office) and cite their time as first lady as experience, I think its time we start taking a harder look at them.



marykay9507
Mar 5, 2008, 05:21 PM
Cindy McCain looks fake to me-- but that's just my opinion:D

stevegmu
Mar 5, 2008, 05:26 PM
CNN blog article (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/05/can-cindy-mccain-really-be-that-perfect/) about Cindy McCain. I think the most interesting parts are the comments at the end.



I think the first ladies are in a whole new ball game now that Hillary Clinton is running for president. While it has seemingly been taboo to really go at them, if they are going to be able to run for president (or any other elected office) and cite their time as first lady as experience, I think its time we start taking a harder look at them.


Not quite sure what Cindy McCain has to do with H. Clinton. She doesn't have any political aspirations.
I guess that won't stop some from attacking her, though.

jb60606
Mar 5, 2008, 05:43 PM
There will never be another click (http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/jackie%20kennedy.jpg)

abijnk
Mar 5, 2008, 05:45 PM
Not quite sure what Cindy McCain has to do with H. Clinton. She doesn't have any political aspirations.
I guess that won't stop some from attacking her, though.

I did not attack her, nor have I claimed she has political aspirations, but I do think the idea that first ladies can (are) use experience they gain by chance to acheive political aspirations (should they exist) is a legitimate topic worthy of discussion.

stevegmu
Mar 5, 2008, 05:51 PM
I did not attack her, nor have I claimed she has political aspirations, but I do think the idea that first ladies can (are) use experience they gain by chance to acheive political aspirations (should they exist) is a legitimate topic worthy of discussion.

I didn't say you attacked her. I said some will. Seems to be the purpose of this thread, though, since she is not running, nor has stated any interest in running for elected office.

abijnk
Mar 5, 2008, 06:22 PM
I didn't say you attacked her. I said some will. Seems to be the purpose of this thread, though, since she is not running, nor has stated any interest in running for elected office.

Hm, seems my point has been missed. At the risk of sounding redundant, I think this article (and, as I said, the comment that follow it on CNNs website) raise an issue that is worthy of discussion. That being said, I was hoping not to be percieved as encouraging smears or attacks, but rather as desiring to have a discussion with the PRSI readers on what they think of such issues and the fact that anyone, male or female, past, present or future can now use time they spent as the spouse of a powerful political figure as legitimate political experience. I think the implications are rather huge. I do not think that Hillary is relying on time spent as first lady as her only means of claiming experience, but she has in fact set a precedent. Any takers?

Ugg
Mar 5, 2008, 06:23 PM
I think the first ladies are in a whole new ball game now that Hillary Clinton is running for president. While it has seemingly been taboo to really go at them, if they are going to be able to run for president (or any other elected office) and cite their time as first lady as experience, I think its time we start taking a harder look at them.

I'm not really sure what your point is.

Are you saying that the First Lady is now the new "black" when the President's term is up?

solvs
Mar 6, 2008, 04:03 AM
Hm, seems my point has been missed.

He does that. He'll take any opportunity to play victim, that we're all evil liberal partisans who attack the GOP for no legitimate reason. Even if it's nothing like that. So if we're going to be accused of that anyway, I guess I'll take this opportunity to make a joke that based on how things went with his previous wife, who knows if Cindy will even be first lady if McCain is elected. :p

Lyle
Mar 6, 2008, 07:58 AM
I think the first ladies are in a whole new ball game now that Hillary Clinton is running for president. While it has seemingly been taboo to really go at them, if they are going to be able to run for president (or any other elected office) and cite their time as first lady as experience, I think its time we start taking a harder look at them.I do understand what you're getting at, but I disagree with part of what I think you're saying. ;)

When someone becomes a candidate for political office, then yes, I think that most anything in their past that constitutes part of their "experience" (whether they claim it as such or not) is fair game. Senator Clinton's thrown her hat in the ring, and she has furthermore cited her time as First Lady as part of her political experience, so I think it's fair for her opponents to "take a hard a look" at that experience.

Now, in contrast, Cindy McCain is not running for public office. Neither is Michelle Obama, for that matter. I don't buy the premise (which you seem to be hinting at) that because they might one day run for office and cite their time as First Lady as experience, we ought to start trashing them right now. We should leave the "first families" alone and focus on the candidates themselves.

iBlue
Mar 6, 2008, 08:08 AM
I do think that the First Ladies (and potential first ladies) will be in the spotlight a bit more than they were in the past. Hilary only being one part of the equation of why. With a good chunk of the world really drawn into reality TV and gossip more than ever before, I think the voyeurs in all of us tend to want to know more. Everyone loves a little bit of dirt.

MacFanBoyIIe
Mar 6, 2008, 11:04 AM
....I think the voyeurs in all of us tend to want to know more. Everyone loves a little bit of dirt.

I agree! (But does that make me a dirty fanboy?)