McCain, 72, would be the oldest president to begin a first term.
There’s a fair chance he would die in Office. This woman would be the most powerful politician on Earth.
The more I hear about Sarah Palin, the more convinced I become she would be the most dangerous world leader in history.
Not sure if this story is true. (There is evidence that the McCains holidayed at Turtle Island in 1999.)
UPDATE: A comment on this post from Gregg Smith states that the supposed author of this post does not really exist. I can’t find the author via Google. Seems it is a smear campaign. But I’ll leave up the post as an example of a “dirty trick” dreamed up by an anti-McCain zealot.
OOPS. Another comment substantiates that ANASUYA DUBEY is a real person.
Perhaps the story is true, after all.
But it’s the single post I’ve read that makes me most wish that John McCain fades gracelessly into the sunset after losing the election.
My Holiday with McCain
By ANASUYA DUBEY
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-Chinese 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 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.
Anasuya Dubey is a clinical psychologist in California.
Thanks Dana.
The image of McCain was posted by a fellow P.O.W. named Phillip Butler who calls John McCain a “HotHead”& NeoCon Who Shouldn’t Be Prez” and a “Racist Bush”.
Though McCain held his own in the debate with Obama, it looks to me like his campaign is taking a nose dive.
He’s made some very bad decisions over the past week.
McCain cancels Letterman. Letterman rips McCain – Christian Science Monitor
But his weird and brave choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate is what will ultimately sink the McCain battleship.
When Palin was asked whether the $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial sector is a good idea, her answer was gibberish:
That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans and trade—we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today—we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. …
Sarah Palin – still not ready for prime time – Christian Science Monitor
What questions is Palin prepping for while hiding from the media, if not that one?
Newsweek is a little more succinct: Palin Is Ready? Please.
This election is over.
… Of course that’s what I thought in 2004. I was traveling in South America at the time. Everyone was certain that George W Bush would lose.
John McCain is the only man who can impulsively overreact to something 10 days old.
One of the best Daily Show shows I’ve seen all year was the September 25th episode. Especially the bit titled John McCain goes to Washington.
Brian pointed out in a comment that Bill Clinton is more responsible than anyone else for the U.S. economic disaster. On his 1992 legislation:
… Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers … Operating under that requirement, Fannie Mae, in particular, was more aggressive and creative in stimulating minority gains. It aimed extensive advertising campaigns at minorities that explain how to buy a home and opened three dozen local offices to encourage lenders to serve these markets. Most importantly, Fannie Mae agreed to buy more loans with very low down payments–or with mortgage payments that represent an unusually high percentage of a buyer’s income. That made banks willing to lend to lower-income families they once might have rejected. …
It does sound like do-gooder Democrats messed with the free market and started this trend:
But did George Bush fix the Clinton mess when he got into office?
… But it was under Bush when the practice began to threaten the economy in a very real way and it was allowed to continue and even encouraged. It was also a mistake to expand the program after 2000 and that is all on Bush’s HUD crew. …
Was Clinton responsible for the Financial Crisis? – Blog for Democracy
These people (the U.S. government) need to be stopped. Every time we get ourselves into an economic mess, there’s usually some milestone idiocy we can point back to as the government action that made the meltdown inevitable.
Take the current housing crisis that has now spread to the financial markets in general. The cause was too-easy credit that fueled a massive increase in housing prices as people bought houses they couldn’t afford with mortgages they weren’t able to pay off. …
How The U.S. Government Engineered The Current Economic Crisis – TechCrunch
Stifling my effort at demonizing McCain and Bush …
Brian points out:
… the fact is, President Bush in 2003 tried desperately to stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from metastasizing into the problem they have since become.
Here’s the lead of a New York Times story on Sept. 11, 2003: “The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.”
Bush tried to act. Who stopped him? Congress, especially Democrats with their deep financial and patronage ties to the two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie and Freddie.
“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Rep. Barney Frank, then ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
It’s pretty clear who was on the right side of that debate.
As for presidential contender John McCain, just two years after Bush’s plan, McCain also called for badly needed reforms to prevent a crisis like the one we’re now in.
“If Congress does not act,” McCain said in 2005, “American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole.”
Sounds like McCain was spot on.
But his warnings, too, were ignored by Congress. …
Two links he had me check out:
Still, the current under-regulation of GREED in the USA started in earnest with Reagan. Continued under Democrat Jimmy Carter. Slowed somewhat under Clinton. And, most to blame, are the two Bush administrations.
… Who’s most likely to fix it now?
McCain?
I think not.
The largest American feminist organization (500,000+) backed Hilary Clinton originally. But on September 16th they threw their … votes behind Obama.
NOW PAC Endorses Barack Obama – official website
Sorry Sarah Palin.
Google just launched a page summarizing news sites read by the party leaders and political journalists.
At a glance you can confirm the “race” is still dull.
Power Readers in Politics: Canada
The one article that caught my eye: PM pledges stiff fines for polluters
Political posturing? Or is he serious?
… Obama rebuffed the proposal, though there was no immediate reaction to the more detailed plan for swapping debates. “It’s my belief that this is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible with dealing with this mess,” he told reporters in Florida, where he has been prepping for Friday’s event. “What I think is important is that we don’t suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics,” he said.
He also took a real shot at McCain: “Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time,” Obama said. “It’s not necessary for us to think that we can do only one thing, and suspend everything else.” …
McCain suspends campaign; debate pending – Politico
Actually, I’m sure McCain can hold his own in a debate with Obama.
The real reason for McCain’s cold feet, I think, is to delay or avoid completely the VP Debate. Sarah Palin will be crushed by Joe Biden, I expect. It’s inevitable.
image source – Bors Blog
Rick McCharles 