Editor's Note..............
I have't been able to verify the truth of this with www.snopes.com But It sounds True what do you think?
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.
McCain 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
volunt eer 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 active US
bombing of Iraq at that time. 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 horr ors 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, an d said, "Don't you know who I
am." 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 r eally 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.
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
831-459-2381 (office); 831-429-8803 (home)
mkgamel@ucsc.edu
Peace, Shirley
Georgia adds here: Just read on www.truthout.com that McCain has ties to
gambling interests Check it out on the link here.
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
Albert Einstein
We become what we think about all day long.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Blessings and Love to ALL Creation,
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