McCain's Past Infidelities Come Back To Haunt Him With His Supporters
Let me say for the record that I am not particularly enamored of this line of questioning, because I fail to see how it materially affects one's job performance as POTUS. There are several of our finest presidents who would not have held up to that scrutiny. However, since the Republicans crossed this threshold during the Clinton administration, making it an issue worth millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate and prosecute, it is only fair to hold them to the same standards.
Cliff Schecter:
(F)rom a town hall meeting in Nashville, Tennessee Monday, mixed in with platitudes about gay marriage, we get a nice little comment from this questioner on the sanctity of marriage in McCain's life--or more to the point, sanctimony. Here is a rough transcript of her question to The Morally Righteous One, which comes at the beginning of the video (it includes McCain's answer to this question and a previous on on Hillary Clinton):
My second and final question, you talk a lot about the character issue...and...like you, um, I was opposed to gay marriage, I was in always in favor of civil unions but the basic definition of marriage....but, then I get to thinking, that is based on what we consider to be the sanctity of marriage. There is nothing....you see long-term couples splitting up, it's, it's just crazy...I know that you, your own situation, you're going to have to address that in the campaign. Infidelity is just a terrible cancer on this country....and I think if we're going to talk about...gay marriage, it has to be in the context of the preservation of marriage...which I just don't see it, I think we need to make it more difficult for people to get married, or whatever we need to do..if that's...if we're going to be consistent.
McCain ignored that part of the question, of course.
ha! Busted.
[Deleted, and you know why. Site Monitor.]
Marital infidelity is John McSame's Middle name! He cheated on his first wife when he found his botox millionairess Cindy and now he's been caught cheating with Vicky Iseman who was flying around with him in his private plane and suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.
but
told me to lay with the strippers, and the danang hookers, and the rio de janerio tramps, and the subic bay sluts,
and the beer heiress!!
I have no doubt that McCain's "people", at this very moment, are scouring the land for dirt they can throw at Obama. It's going to be no holds barred, for sure. Obama cannot make the same mistakes the Kerry made (well..he *can*, but hopefully he won't!)
Grandpa should be questioned about everything.
P.S. Miss Vicky Iseman (google her) is one of McSame's "lobbyist buddies"...oops, 'friends'......my friend!
McCain was against the sanctity of marriage before he was for it.
I, too, believe marriage should be a sacred union between one man and one woman's money.
theWalrus @ 5:
The unfortunate but true thing about questioning grandpappy McSame is that he can legitimately claim to have "no recollection" due to his senile dementia.
Will McCain's adultery while in uniform be an issue this fall......not Fox News
A man who lies to his wife is a man who will lie to the voters. ow can you not understand that? If your willing to lie and cheat on the person that is supposed to matter the most to you in the whole world, why wouldn't you lie to the voters? Why wouldn't you cheat the voters.
I think those that say infidelity doesn't matter need to pull their heads out of their asses.
Bill Clinton gave us NAFTA and sent Defense jobs that used to go to Americans off to China. Bill Clinton was a pretty big monster in his own right, but the economy did well because of the internet so "So Called Democrats" overlook that.
While I wouldn't impeach Clinton for adultery, it shows how far he is willing to satisfy his own desires no matter who it hurts.
Adultery matters, pull your head out of your ass already.
John do that when him McHulk. People make John mad!
"Infidelity?? There's nothing wrong with my radio, young lady!"
JC @ 11:
The blame Bill Clinton well has run dry "My Friend"
So McCain supports the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. But he didn't say which of his two marriages he supports the sanctity of, did he? Or are they both sanctitious? Sanctimonious. Sactrosanct? Whats the word I'm look for here?
A McCain election strategy emerges... play old and beaten in the first round and then pumped full of amphetamines in the third round reborn as the patriotic warrior of his youth. That is the reason why he's looking defeated before he even begins... isn't it?
esther @ 15:
Sack o shit.
This is not right. Your comment:
However, since the Republicans crossed this threshold during the Clinton administration, making it an issue worth millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate and prosecute, it is only fair to hold them to the same standards.
is just the path to lower and lower standards in campaigns. I don't want hear this crap.
There is no reason to try to destroy McCain personally. If you take Obama's claim to a new type of politics seriously, act in a way that shows some self respect.
We can win without this.
A marriage is between a man and a woman. A tryst is between a Senator and a Lobbyist.
However, since the Republicans crossed this threshold during the Clinton administration, making it an issue worth millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate and prosecute, it is only fair to hold them to the same standards.
**************************************************
Exactly. I said more or less the same thing when Giuliani first started running and it seemed as though nobody in the media was calling him on his serial infidelities even though they were already ruminating on the impact which Clinton's marriage might have on her candidacy. I felt then and feel now that if the quality of a candidate's marital relationship is going to be used as a test of character and his (or her) ability to lead this country, then fairness demands that the Republican candidates be subjected to exactly the same level of scrutiny as Democratic ones. If infidelity is a sign of poor character and lack of trustworthiness in a Democrat, then it is equally bad if not worse in a Republican...especially since Republicans are always touting themselves as being the party of "family values" and traditional morals.
OT Breaking news:
Hillary suspends campaign and will endorse Obama on Friday.
The preservation of marriage has to do solely with the two people who are involved in that marriage and their committment to make it work. Yes, adultery does matter to the parties involved and their immediate familiy members, not the entire country.
JC..based on your post, no married man is worthy of being president. You might as well add woment to your statement as well. I am not saying all married men cheat but they do lie about things. I know you are talking about men who lie to their wives about infidelity, but are you then willing to start categorizing lies as to the severity. Would a husband that lied to his wife and told her he still loved her just for the sake of the kids be worthy of being president? After all, he is cheating her out of the love she deserves.
Frightening that people applaud him on several levels.
Let me say for the record that I am not particularly enamored of this line of questioning, because I fail to see how it materially affects one’s job performance as POTUS.
What about as POTHEAD?
11 JC Says:
Adultery matters, pull your head out of your ass already.
Wouldn't that be masturbation?
I'm for any opportunity to call out the GOP on their Moral Majority crap.
I agree. We can't leave the opposition research up to the Barack Obama campaign. We can handle that. If we look into John McCain's background and hold him to the standards he puts on others, we'll be fine. The blogs can play a role in publicizing these contradictions because we know how the main stream corporate media treats warmongers.
JOHN McCAIN ~ THE MOST FLAWED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HISTORY
I believe in pro-choice. A man should have the right to choose a new wife until he finds a woman who owns a few beer trucks, and doesn't mind being called a c**t.
Well, obviously, heterosexual infidelity does nothing to destroy the sacred union of one man and however many women he likes. Honestly, straight people can't do anything wrong on that score. The fundamentalist fakes will pay lip service to the idea that "we're all sinners", but the fact still remains that they wouldn't dream of even suggesting that someone face the merest hint of criticism or punishment for heterosexual transgressions. You know they can say "we're all equal in the eyes of God" as much as they please, but they think they're too good to be judged themselves.
Sometimes I hate all these people and their hypocrisy. I need to go to bed.
ysbaddaden @ 24:
You talkin to me? ... i just woke up
mcLAIR is a fascist elitist hypocrit bigoted adulterer.
he is totally unAMERICAN.
I personally don't give a shake what other's do inside (or outside) of their marriage. If you choose to cheat on your spouse, well that sucks for your spouse and your family. It doesn't affect me one little bit. It also doesn't affect me one little bit if the person you marry is the same sex as you. How does that possibly have an affect on my life?
The BS of this "sanctity of marriage" stuff is that it implies that heterosexual couples have higher moral standards than same sex marriages. People are people. Some heteros have great marriages, so do some gay people. Some heteros have horrible, adulterous marriages, so do some gay people. What is so hard to understand about that. Same road, same rules, same rights.
John McCain Flip Flops on Gay Marriage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeBw28tX5Nw
MarinatedInSmog @ 28:
werd
"Tony" Rezko was found guilty today of fraud, attempted bribery and money laundering. Watch the Right jump on this. It will be just one of the many "scandals" that the Rightwing (and their Media enablers) will create around Obama.
Infidelity is just a terrible cancer on this country.
No, our unhealthy preoccupation with the sex lives of others, not to mention our self-loathing demonization of our very sexual nature, is a cancer on this country.
Perhaps if we could shed our holdover Puritanical values, partners of all sorts could more freely communicate their needs and desires, infidelity or "cheating" would not be so widespread, and politicians could stop wasting time worrying about being held accountable for being human.
hypocrite=politician
JC @ 11:
Because private behavior and public behavior are not necessarily the same thing. People behave very differently around their families than they do with their friends, and differently with their friends than they do on their jobs. People behave very differently when deciding issues of war and peace than they do about deciding whether to give into sexual temptation. Your logic is the simplistic sort I would expect from an elementary school student.
I think people who say that infidelity is a public issue need to pull their heads out of everyone else's asses.
If adultery necessarily leads to screwing people over, why wouldn't you impeach him for it? Sounds inconsistent to me.
Redundancy and repetition **wink** can be didactic. Or in your case, just crude and annoying.
Fanon @ 32:
ideally your correct we feel the same way.....but as you know this issue is used as great divider strategy it stirs up the hate even though cheney's daughter is gay who cares the simpletons care.....the haters
karl @ 37:
No
hypocrite=republican
Or you could hold yourself to a higher standard.
I still have the same question.
What business does the government have to protect the 'sanctity' of anything. Sanctity is the domain of religion.
I believe McSame has a mountain of dirt hiding somewhere. Although against his nature, Obama will need to find that dirt and throw it all at that senile fossil.
That's the way this game needs to be played. John Kerry got killed by rumors and falsehoods and simply took it all. Honestly, I don't see Obama standing by when the GOP attack machine is at work. He's too smart for that.
He might be one of the few Dems who will actually bring his own knife to a political knife fight.
Karen @ 38:
no offense but does clinton need to come everytime on this issue.....not an excuse some humans have and will make this mistake...some people have bad wiring.it's terrible and causes a lot of pain...oh don't forget NAFTA was in the works for sometime and the house was republician majority.......corporations really pushed hard for NAFTA
Karen @ 36:
I totally agree. If we could be more like the Europeans this country would be much more livable.
casper46 @ 40:
my bad i stand corrected........especially neocons
JC @ 11:
karl @ 44:
Pun intended? ;)
And nevertheless irrelevant to political discourse. You can pin a scarlet A on someone's chest in his community, I suppose, but it doesn't mean he won't or can't be a noble public servant.
The Truth Hurts @ 43:
i agree kerry thought ignoring the smear tatics would be a good strategy i'll ignore them because there not true.......527's killed him because people believed that nonsense..instead they voted for a drunk cowboy from conn. with a inferiority complex
I, John McCain, believe in the sanctity of second marriage!
mcAncient is so weak. And his audience such hypocrites. You can get them to stand, cheer and applaud "...the sanctity of marriage is between one man and one...blah, blah, blah..." Idiots. This is their platform. Get out the white hoods and gowns, and march in the streets for the unborn and to push the gays back into the closets so we don't all go to hell with them.
Complete, and weak, moronic issues that have no place in politics. No place in anywhere...but certainly not in our government policies.
This old fart is purely "weak" with substance, and the brain dead American pulbic are going to get some exposure on just how pathetic he is and this neocon fascist party is.
Obama managed to win the Democratic nomination against the odds and without using personal attacks, so I hope this is a lesson we can learn and not drag this presidential campaign into the gutter as usual. Obama doesn't need to trash McCain personally because he can wipe the floor with him on the issues, and from what I've seen of Obama he would be loathe that others are doing it. He's shown us that he can be a winner without the politics-as-usual poo-flinging, and shown he has the kind of character this country so vitally needs to pull us into a position of honor instead of the skullduggery of Bush. So, while I think McCain is an ass for what he did to his first wife and a hypocrite for touting family values with his sordid past, I don't think it's productive to what Obama is trying to accomplish in regards to change if we stay with same old tired political attacks. The change in this country must happen on a personal level as well as National.
Just pointing out that Republicans can put the energy to better use worrying about the sanctity of their own marriages.
too bad the question was fumbly. it would have been better to directly ask "How can you tell loving same-sex couples they're defiling marriage by wanting to same legal rights as hetero couples -- when you yourself have enjoyed the benefits of legal adultery and divorce?"
gwen @ 54:
she tried to talk to him on his level........easy with intellect stuff
The religious right have continued to have their priorities screwed up as usual. I say get your own life right before judging your neighbor. People are dying in a war brought about by lies and greed and they are concerned about homosexuals marrying. Odds are they don't even know any people that are gay and want to marry. It is the old scapegoat bull shit. And it stinks increasingly every time one of those idiots sit on their rotten asses judging unknown people. They watch some old film of Gay Pride parade and off they go to the bigot races.
Oh Baby, now lets get DOWN TO IT ,now that things are settled, on the vetting of MChipocrate/ MCbush!
Hardball, Baby.
Starting with the "Great War Hero myth...Keating,the "religious" saint,
who dumped his wife after she was disfigured in an accident,who raised his 4 or 5 kids ,whatever, while he was a POW, singing like a canary.. get my drift? Yes, lets vet THAT in it's entirety. And, like the classic gigilo,then marries a multimillionaire.blonde bimbo Stepford Wife.
Time to FIGHT BACK,using thier own patented style/rules. They set the bar.Time to take off the gloves... This is the Most important election of our lifetime as a nation.
Ok, Johnny, are you and the Christofasctist neocon slime ready to rumble?
WE are,including your sanctity of Marriage hypocritical neocon bullshit.
Be careful what you wish for,Sidney................
Dnurse
I'm willing to let a politician's private life be private if he's willing to let mine be private too. As soon as he brings my marriage into question, I think it's only fair to bring his into question as well.
Would you make the same argument if his tax returns showed that he hadn't paid taxes in the past five years? Because, his ability to pay his own taxes doesn't infringe on his ability to lead a country, right?
How can the American Public trust some one who cheats on his WIFE?
It shows a complete disregard for honesty and trustworthiness and transcends anything in one's personal life. He is a LIAR!
John is going down - in flames.
The issue is not whether John McCain cheated on his first wife and then married his mistress. The issue is that in the 90's, the Republicans wanted to nail Bill Clinton on something, ANYTHING, and they were able to do it on adultery. So now it's time for turnabout - the Republicans need to realize they are going to be scrutinized for the same issue and in the same way for their candidate, McCain. If they really didn't want an adulterer in the White House, they should have supported Huckabee. Again, the Republicans can dish it out, but they sure hate being judged in the same way and by the same rules.
Regarding discussion as to whether or not Obama should start attacking McCain about his hypocrisy, the issue is a delicate one. Does he show a sign of strength by calling shenanigans and exposing his opponent, thereby risking violating his code of ethics and message of being "above the mudslinging?" Or should he ignore the rightwing disinformation machine and risk repeating Kerry's loss?
As far as I'm concerned, anything that McCain's campaign brings to the table should be considered fair game. I just hope that Obama knows where to draw the line.
they want to control
your reproduction
your health
your medical options
your mind
your kids' minds
...
fuck 'em
November's coming
good riddance to
repugs
DLC
DSCC
DCCC
BLUE AMERICA ALL THE WAY!
tina @ 59:
he betrays the closest person in the world to him and it's none of my business? too late. he was already an untrustworthy piece of crap since he's repug. keating five and the "c---" wife remark tell me he that "John McCain is a wee skeevy slug fucker."
Who the hell says "POTUS"?
Jerry @ 23:
Were they applauding his answer or that he skipped over the adultery part?
I'm the son of a thrice-married father, a twice married mother, and who was partially raised by a thrice married stepmother. I also have a younger sister who is a lesbian who can't marry her long-term committed girlfriend.
I also have a long-term live-in girlfriend. We've talked about getting married, but neither of us are up for dealing with the personal, extended-family, and societal hype that surrounds marriage -- we've got lives to live, jobs to start, degrees to earn, and maybe even children to have. The nature of our relationship is obvious to our family/families and friends.
My sister's gay relationship is much healthier than my parent's relationship ever was. It's odd, even queer. It's unusual. They are a minority. They know this, and don't need to be told. But so what? It's stable, they take care of each other, they treat each other well, and they intend to keep this up for life. All they need from us is recognition of these facts.
Every time I hear some politician blow hot air about marriage, I wish someone would ask the question that the lady in the video asked. If "conservatives" are so concerned about marriage, they should start by helping the troubled couples within their own community, rather than blowing smoke about gays. But if they did that, they'd be so busy dealing with the challenges of real life that they wouldn't have time to be blowing smoke as politicians. Relationships are tricky business, even if they are one of the fundamental things that make life worth living. Reckless marriages are disasters waiting to happen. Solid relationships between fundamentally compatible people are a wonderful thing, and marriage is a great way to recognize this -- but come on, people, you can't just put a man and a woman together and expect it to work for more than about 6 minutes!
Anyway, politicians who claim to have the answers to such a deep issue by merely bashing gays are just morons. The only way to address these issues is to live as part of a community and to care for every member of that community in a personal way. Either that or just avoid the issue in public.
Gays should form a church, and have themselves married in it. Then, they should petition the government on the grounds of religious discrimination -- recognizing marriages of one religious group, and not another.
I haven't taken the time to read all the other comments, so perhaps this notion has been already stated. Anyway, there is a "connect-the-dots" thing here. Note that today McCain asked for several townhall meetings with Obama. Then note that we know now that Karl Rove is advising McCain. So, let's say that it isn't inconceivable that someone might have been planted in the audience to ask a softball question, about a topic that may prove troublesome. Now, what you might expect in the future, if the question is raised again, is that McCain's answer would be "That question has been asked and answered." Think about it. This will happen again, on other topics. Just pay attention. Now, I'm not an insider, or anything. Just sayin'. Just food for thought.
It also seems to have been overlooked that he never actually responded to the question--he just ambled through a lengthy soliloquy about Hillary Clinton until the actual question was forgotten or obscured. Then he made a statement, or a sound bite, about his perception of marriage to which everyone applauded. The final impression we're left with is the sense that he has taken a "strong" stance on something and people are applauding...meanwhile, he's made a substantive issue irrelevant by simply avoiding it and distracting his audience. It is frustrating to think that there are so little avenues for us to hold people accountable for their deceptions, but I am deeply saddened that many of us have lost our ability to see them.
So McCain *believes* in the sanctity of marriage, he just doesn't *uphold* it in his own personal life.
How about we ban sham marriages that are simply for the convergence of billion dollar fortunes.
.
PRESERVE MARRIAGE...
OUTLAW DIVORCE!
.
The hurdle to overcome, is to realize that rovian cleverness can be rather easily detected. It doesn't take a blind eye to miss it, but a blink, though. That is the genius, unfortunately. And I think America is waking up. I hope America is waking up.
Why infidelity matters (it's not about the sex):
When one commits adultery not only do they break a personal promise to the one they claim to love and honor, they break church law (assuming they got married in a church) and they break a binding contract licensed by the state. Three strikes and you're out!
So what good would it be if they swore to defend the constitution? Their word is worthless, their vow is worthless and their legal signature is worthless.
For the record, committing adultery in Arizona is still against the law.
Who can blame McCain for this? After all, his first wife was disfigured in an automobile accident (she had been a model), and was no longer up to Wet Start Johnny's high standards. Along came a younger, prettier woman with the cash to buy him a seat in Congress - well, what's a man to do?
And to his credit, McCain has stuck with Cindy despite the fact that she's a thief, a drug addict, and a "creative" bookkeeper. I'm sure the pre-nup had nothing to do with it either.
It's luv.
I join others here in disagreeing with the author. There are serious issues that should be discussed regarding McCain, while this gossip on his personal life is taking up valuable space and reader time. We should be working to raise the bar again in political discussions, not taking advantage of those who lowered it.
I join others here in disagreeing with the author. There are serious issues that should be discussed regarding McCain, while this gossip on his personal life is taking up valuable space and reader time. We should be working to raise the bar again in political discussions, not taking advantage of those who lowered it.
The issue is not whether John McCain cheated on his first wife and then married his mistress. The issue is that in the 90’s, the Republicans wanted to nail Bill Clinton on something, ANYTHING, and they were able to do it on adultery. So now it’s time for turnabout - the Republicans need to realize they are going to be scrutinized for the same issue and in the same way for their candidate, McCain. If they really didn’t want an adulterer in the White House, they should have supported Huckabee. Again, the Republicans can dish it out, but they sure hate being judged in the same way and by the same rules.
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That's why I said what I did above about subjecting *all* the candidates to the same level of scrutiny -- fairness demands no less. Personally, even though I can understand why some people perceive it as a sign of questionable character when he or she cheats on a spouse, I also recognize that it's a little unreasonable to expect perfection from our presidential candidates -- especially in this age of 24-7 news.
That's also why it was so unbelievably wrong on so many counts when Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican Party nomination last year -- and probably why he was roundly criticized for it. Considering how vehemently opposed Robertson and other members of the Religious Right are to abortion and gay marriage and how fervently they claim to believe in "family values", it was the height of hypocrisy for him to endorse a twice-divorced serial adulterer who's known for being both LGBT-friendly and pro-choice.
It won't hurt McShitstain at all. We all know that moral, ethical and integrity failures count only when they involve democrats. Being a Republican, or being complicit with Republicans, means you can be any kind of scumbag you want and never be held accountable.
I believe in the sanctity of one man being able to cheat on one woman and eventually divorcinger her and marring a much richer woman. I'm sorry but that's what I believe and will fight for.
Embittered-Max-Hussein-1,
Maybe let's not outlaw divorce right away. But instead, let's take a gradualist approach. How about we change laws to reduce financial rewards -- things like income-tax deduction benefits, and surviving-spouse Social Security and pension benefits -- that ALL married people get right now, no matter how many times they've been married?
Think of it as incentivizing the oath. So if you're on your umpteenth marriage, then you wouldn't be rewarded the same as someone on their first marriage. For your second marriage, you have to take a 10% reduction in benefits; third marriage, a 20% reduction in benefits, etc. Of course there is a widows' and widowers' exemption. This solution might even help reduce the so-called Social Security crisis.
Why should cheating be sanctified?
I'm not against divorce, if you want to screw around then get divorced. I'm against lying, cheating and breaking the law. It's about character. Do we really want a lying, cheating, criminal as president? Oh wait...
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