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This is what I call good journalism. honest and with out being afriad of telling the truth:

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How Cindy McCain was outed for drug addiction

When an attempt to get tough with a whistleblower backfired in 1994, the McCain spin machine went into overdrive, and the candidate's wife confessed to problems the media was already poised to reveal.

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By Amy Silverman

GOP presidential candidate John McCain's wife Cindy took to the airwaves last week, recounting for Jane Pauley (on "Dateline") and Diane Sawyer (on "Good Morning America") the tale of her onetime addiction to Percocet and Vicodin, and the fact that she stole the drugs from her own nonprofit medical relief organization.

It was a brave and obviously painful thing to do.

It was also vintage McCain media manipulation.


I had d?j? vu watching Cindy McCain on television, perky in a purple suit with tinted pearls to match. It was so reminiscent of the summer day in 1994 when suddenly, years after she'd claimed to have kicked her habit, McCain decided to come clean to the world about her addiction to prescription painkillers.

I believe she wore red that day. She granted semi-exclusive interviews to one TV station and three daily newspaper reporters in Arizona, tearfully recalling her addiction, which came about after painful back and knee problems and was exacerbated by the stress of the Keating Five banking scandal that had ensnared her husband. To make matters worse, McCain admitted, she had stolen the drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, her own charity, and had been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The local press cooed over her hard-luck story. One of the four journalists spoon-fed the story -- Doug McEachern, then a reporter for Tribune Newspapers, now a columnist with the Arizona Republic (and, it must be added, normally much more acerbic) -- wrote this rather typical lead:

"She was blonde and beautiful. A rich man's daughter who became a politically powerful man's wife. She had it all, including an insidious addiction to drugs that sapped the beauty from her life like a spider on a butterfly."

What McEachern and the others didn't know was that, far from being a simple, honest admission designed to clear her conscience and help other addicts, Cindy McCain's storytelling had been orchestrated by Jay Smith, then John McCain's Washington campaign media advisor. And it was intended to divert attention from a different story, a story that was getting quite messy.

I know, because I had been working on that story for months at Phoenix New Times. I had finally tracked down the public records that confirmed Cindy McCain's addiction and much more, and the McCains knew I was about to get them. Cindy's tale was released on the day the records were made public.

But the story I was pursuing was not so much about Cindy McCain's unfortunate addiction. It was much more about her efforts to keep that story from coming to light, and the possible manipulation of the criminal justice system by her husband and his cohorts. The irony is that Cindy's secret would have stayed secret if John McCain's heavy-hitting lawyer, John Dowd (of D.C.'s Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; his most recent claim to fame was serving as co-counsel for fellow partner Vernon Jordan during impeachment) hadn't heavy-handedly pulled out all the stops to protect the McCain family.

Dowd tried to get back at the man on Cindy McCain's staff, Tom Gosinski, who had blown the whistle on her drug pilfering to the DEA. But in the course of trying to get local law enforcement officials to investigate Gosinski -- Dowd and the McCains considered him an extortionist; others might call him a whistleblower -- Dowd set in motion a process that would eventually bring the whole sordid story to light. When that maneuver backfired, the McCain media machine went into overdrive to spin the story.

countinues...

part two......

It's a story of unintended consequences. It's also a story of power politics and media manipulation that's very un-McCain-like -- if you believe his national media hagiography.

But both of Cindy McCain's staged, teary drug-addiction confessions have been vintage John McCain. His MO is this: Get the story out -- even if it's a negative story. Get it out first, with the spin you want, with the details you want and without the details you don't want.

McCain did it with the Keating Five, and with the story of the failure of his first marriage (Cindy is his second wife). So what you recall after the humble, honest interview, is not that McCain did favors for savings and loan failure Charlie Keating, or that he cheated on his wife, but instead what an upfront, righteous guy he is.

Candor is the McCain trademark, but what the journalists who slobber over the senator fail to realize is that the candor is premeditated and polished. John McCain shoots from the hip -- but only after carefully rehearsing the battle plan, to be sure he won't get shot himself.

This is the story of a time that strategy backfired, and yet the McCain machine still managed to contain the damage.

In the early 1990s, Tom Gosinski was the director of government and international affairs for the American Voluntary Medical Team, which did relief and medical volunteer work in third world countries.

Hired by Cindy McCain in 1991, Gosinski enjoyed his job, but he began to notice McCain's erratic behavior in the summer of 1992. In his journal, he wrote that he and others suspected the boss was addicted to painkillers and might have been stealing them from the organization.

From Gosinski's journal, July 27, 1992:


I have always wondered why John McCain has done nothing to fix the problem. He must either not see that a problem exists or ... not choose to do anything about it. It would seem that it would be in everyone's best interest to come to terms with the situation. And do whatever is necessary to fix it. There is so much at risk: The welfare of the children; John's political career; the integrity of Hensley & Company [Cindy's parents' business]; the welfare of Jim and Smitty Hensley [Cindy's parents]; and the health and happiness of Cindy McCain.

The aforementioned matters are of great concern to those directly involved but my main concern is the ability of AVMT to survive a major shake-up. If the DEA were to ever conduct an audit of AVMT's inventory, I am afraid of what the results might be ... It is because of [Cindy McCain's] willingness to jeopardize the credibility of those who work for her that I truly worry.

During my short tenure at AVMT I have been surrounded by what on the surface appears to be the ultimate all-American family. In reality, I am working for a very sad, lonely woman whose marriage of convenience to a U.S. Senator has driven her to: distance herself from friends; cover feelings of despair with drugs; and replace lonely moments with self-indulgences.


countinues..........

part three..........

In his journal-writing over the next few months, Gosinski would alternately complain about Cindy McCain and express concern for her well-being.

In January 1993, McCain fired Gosinski. She told him that AVMT was having financial problems and couldn't afford him.

Gosinski had already come to suspect that Cindy McCain had gotten volunteer doctors with AVMT to sign prescriptions for her, and had used employees' names to fill them. Worried his own name had been used (he would eventually learn that it had), Gosinski approached DEA agents in the spring of 1993 to report McCain's suspicious behavior. The DEA launched an investigation.

Almost a year later, with the statute of limitations about to run out, Gosinski hired a labor attorney and sued Cindy McCain for wrongful termination. He intended to claim that she fired him because she suspected he knew about her addiction, but the lawsuit never got that far. Instead, Gosinski's attorney wrote to the McCains, asking for a settlement of $250,000.

Rumors about the untold details of the lawsuit hit the cocktail-party circuit that spring, but the story was locked up tight. As a federal criminal investigation, the DEA probe was completely secret; none of it was public record.

The entire story would likely have gone unreported if attorney John Dowd hadn't entered the picture. He wrote to Maricopa County attorney Richard Romley, a political ally of McCain, and asked him to investigate Gosinski for extortion.

"We believe that Mr. Gosinski is aware that in the past Cindy had an addiction to prescription painkillers ... Given Cindy's public position, exposure of this sensitive matter would harm her reputation, career, the operation of AVMT, and subject her to contempt and ridicule," Dowd wrote on April 28, 1994.

Thus began the inadvertent outing of Cindy McCain. Although the federal investigative materials were not public, the county investigative materials were. Romley launched an investigation, and one of the first things his people did, naturally, was ask the feds to turn over their investigative materials.

New Times finally got hold of the county investigative materials and we did our own story. So did the Arizona Republic, which was uncharacteristically aggressive, perhaps because the McCain machine had left the paper out of the loop on the story of Cindy's addiction.

Among the questions asked: Did Cindy McCain get preferential treatment by the feds? True, Cindy was a first-time offender, which partially explains the fact that she did no prison time; instead, she entered a diversion program. But at the time, defense lawyers told New Times that if Cindy McCain had been a poor minority and not married to a U.S. senator, she likely would have been locked up.

Did Gosinski intend to blackmail Cindy McCain? He told New Times he didn't. Other AVMT employees told county investigators that he did. But the time line makes extortion hard to believe, since Gosinski had already gone to the DEA before he brought his lawsuit against the McCains.

In any case, Tom Gosinski didn't out Cindy McCain. John Dowd did, and then Jay Smith was called in for the clean-up.

A few postscripts: Tom Gosinski left town shortly after Cindy McCain's story broke. By that time, his lawsuit had died, ignored. The county did not pursue the extortion investigation against him.

John Max Johnson, the doctor who had written the prescriptions for Cindy McCain, surrendered his medical license.

Cindy McCain still does relief work and raises the McCains' four children.

John McCain, of course, is running for president.

And only a handful of people remember the details of Cindy McCain's 1994 "outing" for drug addiction and drug pilfering, and the work of the McCain machine to protect her.
salon.com | Oct. 18, 1999

This is what I call good journalism. honest and with out being afriad of telling the truth:

____________________________

How Cindy McCain was outed for drug addiction

When an attempt to get tough with a whistleblower backfired in 1994, the McCain spin machine went into overdrive, and the candidate's wife confessed to problems the media was already poised to reveal.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Amy Silverman

GOP presidential candidate John McCain's wife Cindy took to the airwaves last week, recounting for Jane Pauley (on "Dateline") and Diane Sawyer (on "Good Morning America") the tale of her onetime addiction to Percocet and Vicodin, and the fact that she stole the drugs from her own nonprofit medical relief organization.

It was a brave and obviously painful thing to do.

It was also vintage McCain media manipulation.quote]

Yes, sounds so similar to Obama's admition to doing drugs in his earlier life. Good things she's not running for President or this would have swayed me. If I were sitting on the political fence I'm sure this would have caused me to swing over to the Obama camp...

NO "CUNT"RY for McFart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I270syK9_zw

No "CUNT"RY for McMacacca!

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"One of McCain's "Conservative Credentials""


Specifically a Mr. Richard Quinn of South Carolina. He is/was officially an *cough*unpaid*cough* adviser to McCain in South Carolina.

Of course, McCain has paid nearly $200K to two companies registered to Quinn for survey research, GoTV consulting, and rent. He's also paid over $90K to "Mail Marketing Strategies," which is run by Quinn's son Rick. Disbursement link.

So?

Richard Quinn (the elder) is/was also Executive Editor-in-Chief for Southern Partisan magazine. That connection drew the attention of Ralph Neas at People for the American Way when McCain was associating with Quinn during his 2000 Presidential Run. Neas wrote a letter to McCain back then, spelling out his concern:

As recently as 1996, a Southern Partisan reviewer wrote of a book on slavery, "The greatest contribution of this work is that it exonerates slave owners by stating that they did not have a practice of breaking up slave families. If anything, they encouraged strong slave families to further the slaves' peace and happiness in order to promote efficient work."

In 1983, in a column arguing against the recognition of Martin Luther King Day, Mr. Quinn wrote:

-"King Day should have been rejected because its purpose is vitriolic and profane."
-"The black leaders who lobbied so furiously for King Day confirmed another unpleasant reality. By celebrating King as the incarnation of all they admire, they have chosen to glorify the histrionic rather than the heroic and by inference they spurned the brightest and the best among their own race."
-"Ignoring the real heroes in our nation's life, the blacks have chosen a man who represents not their emancipation, not their sacrifices and bravery in service to their country; rather, they have chosen a man whose role in history was to lead his people into a perpetual dependence on the welfare state, a terrible bondage of body and soul."

In 1990, the world hailed Nelson Mandela as a hero, but Mr. Quinn went on the attack. He wrote:

-"After all, Mr. Mandela was put in jail 27 years ago – not because of his humanitarian philosophy – but because he was a terrorist who openly advocated (and personally committed) violence against the government."
-"How many people out there across the face of America are well aware that Mandela is a bad egg, maybe even say so in the comfort and security of their homes, but are afraid to express their real opinions publicly?"

The year before he attacked Mandela in print, Mr. Quinn wrote an article about former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's bid for public office. Although he made a point of claiming that his article should not be construed as a defense of Duke, his own words supporting those who voted for Duke don't square with that disclaimer. He wrote:

countinues.........

part two..........

-"What better way to reject politics as usual than to elect a maverick like David Duke? What better way to tweak the nose of the establishment?"

Even more jarring than Quinn's soft words for David Duke is the harsh attitude conveyed toward another Republican: Abraham Lincoln. The Southern Partisan's merchandising operation, the "Southern Partisan General Store" includes a T-shirt bearing Lincoln's likeness and the legend "Sic Semper Tyrannis," the phrase shouted by John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. Among the materials attached to this letter is a December 1995 form letter on Southern Partisan letterhead, listing Quinn as Editor-in-Chief, apologizing that the "anti-Lincoln T-shirt" has sold out in all but odd sizes. The letter offers, "If the enclosed shirt will not suffice, we will be glad to refund your money or immediately ship you another equally militant shirt from our catalog."
But as you can see, that didn't stop Ye Olde Straightte Talker from associating with Quinn for this go-round.

In 2000, Quinn (then McCain's state field manager) dressed McCain volunteers in Confederate Army uniforms and had them passing out fliers assuring people that McCain supported the Confederate flag.

If that's not Republican enough for the Limbaugh and Coulter fans, an employee of Quinn and Associates is under investigation for breaking election laws in a non-McCain-related incident. Really, I don't see why the right-wing hatemongers OR their wingnut followers have a problem with McCain. Sounds like he hangs with their kind of people.

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Macacca men surely endorsing McCain

If George W Bush has done One single thing in his entie life........

It was help revealing Joh McCain for the rest of us not too many years ago.......

I am hot_single_dude........ and I certainly Endorse the content of this link with all I have got

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits/1


Never say...... "I DID NOT KNOW! OTHER WISE I WOULD NEVER VOTE MCCAIN"!!!!!!!!!

Read the god damn stuff which is Easy to find and Learn some thing for god sake!

He wasn't even a warm thought when people were fighting for civil rights...


...hey...don't forget ACORN

If George W Bush has done One single thing in his entie life........

It was help revealing Joh McCain for the rest of us not too many years ago.......

I am hot_single_dude........ and I certainly Endorse the content of this link with all I have got

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits/1Never say...... "I DID NOT KNOW! OTHER WISE I WOULD NEVER VOTE MCCAIN"!!!!!!!!!

Read the god damn stuff which is Easy to find and Learn some thing for god sake![/quote]


A C O R N.....

I have pasted these Facts about mcCain before but they are just too fabulous not to post again:

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10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0-yes, zero-from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10


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Really the kind of Cute, Father Figur all american swill be able to feel "honoured" about being their president

OBAMA 08

I'll help ya cuz Biden is difficult to spell.



OBUMMER ACORN OBIDEN

I think his IQ is a bit higher than 08 but perhaps I misunderstood your post...

you would love it if ACORN endorsed your guy McCain but guess what...... they Certainly Did not and they will never do such a thing:

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Yesterday, ACORN's political action committee endorsed Barack Obama for President. This is an important nod from a group that understands the urgent needs of Americans most hurt by this economy and how to organize for social and economic justice.

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, with over 350,000 member families, organized into 800 neighborhood chapters, in 104 cities nationwide. The endorsement reflects a belief that Obama – who worked as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago – understands that change must come from the ground-up, as part of a working coalition, rather than from position papers.

As Maude Hurd, ACORN's National President, put it, "What it came down to was that Senator Obama is the candidate who best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about like stopping foreclosures, enacting fair and comprehensive immigration reform, and building stronger and safer communities across America."

In last night's debate, Obama spoke as a candidate --and a former community organizer--when he said: "The reason that this campaign has done so well is because people understand that it is not just a matter of putting forward policy positions…. If we can't inspire the American people to get involved in their government… then we will continue to see the kind of gridlock and nonperformance in Washington that is resulting in families suffering in very real ways…. I'm running for president to start doing something about that suffering, and so are the people who are behind my campaign…. It is my strong belief that the changes are only going to come about if we're able to form a working coalition for change…. The problem we have is that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die."

When it comes to rebuilding New Orleans, the foreclosure crisis, poverty, and an economy where growth doesn't just benefit the wealthy , change is going to come through ongoing organization and mobilization at the grassroots. Obama gets that fundamental political argument. That's one of the reasons The Nation endorsed him. That's why his campaign has been so successful against a powerful, top-down, Clinton machine. And that's why yesterday he won ACORN's important endorsement.

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Repubes suffering big time form ass burning syndrom but still Better being a good looser than a terrible looser who "can not GET IT"!

Naaaaa, Repubicans wouldn't set up the poor to fail in housing they couldn't afford....like ACORN does.

And if Republicans were going to use fraud they wouldn't be stupid enough to sign the same guy up to vote 43 times. ACORN's just a commie front organization that gets money from Dems. (govt)

You know you're not allowed to bring up IQ on an Obama thread.

Anyone against the Pelosi/Frank bail out...you can go to LouDobbs.com and contact your congressman.

The Congressional email system crashed due to heavy anti-bail out responses.