Friday, February 29, 2008

How Cindy McCain was Outed for Drug Addiction

Most Black people have paid little or no attention to the life of John Sydney McCain, III and his family in the past, because there was absolutely no chance that most of us would ever consider voting for this Republican, particularly since he never before became the Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States. Now we find that we must quickly research and study this would-be president's life, in order to determine what it would mean for us if he ever were to become president.

Because we just took the unprecedented step of publishing here a diary with few citations about Cindy McCain that includes shocking details of her drug addiction and of John Sydney McCain, III, efforts to cover it up, so we are compelled to print the following excerpt from a Salon.Com story, which provides the background information necessary to evaluate all of the sordid details of Cindy McCain's drug addiction, unlawful obtaining and possession of drugs, and the McCain campaign's efforts to cover it up and keep her out of jail:

"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.

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. Salon.Com, October 19, 1999

When we read Cindy McCain story of drug addiction and illegally obtaining, possessing and using barbiturates (and who knows what all else), we cannot but think of the 2.3 million people in jail in the United States, record numbers that are the highest in the world, most of whose offenses were no more serious than the illegal drug-related acts of Cindy McCain, for which she was not punished at all.

We cannot help but feel a deep resentment when we learn that, even as Republicans like John Sydney McCain, III were voting for stiffer drug penalties for Black people, they were taking advantage of white privilege and their political power to assure that their own drug addicted family members would not be affected by those same draconian laws.

Read the entire Cindy McCain story, with all of the sordid and reprehensible details, at Salon.Com.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep,that's the meat of this issue.
Cindy McCain gets off scot free while thousands of Americans do hard time for possessing far less amounts of drugs.

And people wonder why the Hood has such low respect for the law.

Francis Holland said...

"And people wonder why the Hood has such low respect for the law."

This is a perfect example of where the law is there for US to follow, and to be punished if we fail to do so, while influential and famous whites know they will be punished less harshly if at all for violating the same laws and penalties.

This encourages white America to pass more draconian laws, knowing that for the most part these laws will never be applied to them.

synjones said...

i have read the above article its interesting.
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Synjones
Arizona Drug Addiction

Anonymous said...

Not to excuse the Mccains, but with recent cases such as OJs, perhaps it is the power of fame and money that is the biggest factor and not just race.

For a politician, the real story here is the cover-up attempt. It tells us something about John McCain's moral character, or lack of it. Conservatives make a big issue of moral character, even when if it doesn't involve illegal activity such as cheating on a spouse.

So once again we see the hypocrisy of the right-wing Republicans in their choice of a candidate for 2008.

Francis Holland said...

So true! It's the hypocrisy and the cover-up attempts as well as the stolen drugs that make McCain and his wife so untrustworthy.

Anonymous said...

Politician linked in drug issues are considered unworthy of the trust of the public. The fact that she (McCain's daughter) had a history of drug addiction created so much bad publicity causing him to decline number of polls last election. Drug issue ruined his campaign for presidency. Drugs can ruin man’s dreams.

Francis Holland said...

Now, Drug Treatment California, that certainly is one gem of a true statement you've got there: Drug addiction and addiction of all kinds can ruin a man's (and a woman's) dreams. And John McCain's case is proof that having scads of money won't necessarily protect a user (and his family and friends) from suffering the effects of addiction.

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