If Cindy is out attacking Michelle...start throwing rocks back at her glass house

[dajoki]

I don't even know if its right to post a story like this, after all many people have had many different issues in their past that are quite embarrasing. But when your husband wants to become the most powerful person in the world, you should not attack the wife of his opponent over a quote that was taken out of context, and if you do, you must expect the consequences, so, right or wrong, here it is.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Elliott's blog
As Long As We're Talking About Michelle Obama, Did You Know Cindy McCain Was A Drug Addict?
by Stephen Elliott | June 20, 2008 - 9:42am
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/15381

It's a psychedelic experience this week, watching Cindy McCain out on the campaign trail, attacking the opponent's wife http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/cindy-mccain-less-underst_n_107951.html. In rally after rally she says, "I've always been proud of my country," a not so subtle jab at Michelle Obama's gaffe earlier about really being proud of America for the first time.

But Cindy McCain http://www.236.com/news/2008/06/19/ol_blue_eyes_strikes_again_7220.php has one hell of a scandal in her past http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/index.html. In the mid-nineties she was addicted to prescription pain killers. Worse, she was stealing the drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a third world relief organization she founded. Like most ridiculously rich people, she didn't have to go to jail for her crimes and was allowed to enter a rehab program rather than face criminal charges. The charity was shut down.

So when Cindy McCain says, http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/06/19/no-slack-for-michelle-obama-from-cindy-mccain/ "All I know is that I've always been proud of my country," take it with a grain of salt. She spent at least three years stoned out of her mind. It's impossible to know what she thought during that time. Was she really proud, or was she just hallucinating?

Cindy's addiction has been virtually ignored this election season. As a thought experiment, try to imagine what the reaction would be if Michelle Obama had a history with drug addiction? If Michelle Obama had stolen drugs meant for third world countries to support her own addiction?

Of course, we want to leave spouses out of politics. But if Cindy is out attacking Michelle people are going to start throwing rocks back at her glass house. She'd have to be high to think otherwise.

--Stephen Elliott

Some stories about Cindy's drug addiction:
Salon.com http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/index.html
The London Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1577475/Cindy-McCain-pills%2C-beer-and-the-White-House.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. As much as I like retaliation, Barack & Michelle have to remain above it all.

He has promised to run a different kind of campaign, and attacking Cindy McCain would only invite calls of hypocrisy by the right. Obama has to walk an awfully tight line, but I'm hoping against hope that the American people will appreciate that he's trying to keep out of the gutter, unlike the McCains.

[dajoki]

2. But you know...

eventually he's going to have to get down and dirty, or at least the left will, in order to keep the playing field level. But the wives should do all they can to back their husbands without the unnecessary dirty tactics.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Cindy has the EMPERORESS SYNDROME...it is she who wants the White House

More than Sen McWimp does....

She helped build him up from Day 1 to become a Rep then a Sen....It is she who basks in the Limelight...John is too dumb to even know it.

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. I somewhat agree with you. She kinda reminds me of the ambitious wife

of Fred Thompson. Do anything, say anything to win. I'm just hoping that the American people are sick of the politics of personal destruction. We all know that John McCain won't need the help of the 527's, because the M$M will do everything in it's power to get him elected.

[opihimoimoi]

10. EXACTLY.....His ears are love handles.....

[AnnieBW]

13. She's Sherry Palmer from "24"

Except that she's white and scarier-looking.

[opihimoimoi]

22. TAP.....Typical American Princess....mega rich and DOMINATING

I suspect Johns ears are that way cause of them being LoveGrips

[Leopolds Ghost]

24. She's T-X from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Or was it Stepford Wives?

[malaise]

6. I agree but I don't have to remain above it

so did you know that dear Cindy, of all good family values, dated a married McSame and he dropped his injured wife for the beer rich queen of marital values.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. Yeah, I knew that, but I don't know how Barack or Michelle make an issue of it....

without coming off as the same old, same old. As much as I would like a bare knuckled brawl, I think using stuff like that in the o.p. would only invite sympathy for Cindy McCain. We all know that any negative statements by the Obamas will be played on an endless loop. I think the tone that Michelle took on The View works for her. The media is already trying to paint the Obamas as angry & militant.

If the primaries have shown us anything, it's that Barack is a very skilled politician.

[dajoki]

11. As usual in these stories...

its not the original crime but the attempted coverup and the influence of a powerful person.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Oct. 18, 1999 | PHOENIX
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs/index.html

<<snip>>

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....

[stillcool]

12. that story sure puts a different..

slant on things. Thanks!

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. All one person has to ask on Fox (best do it on Fox!) is what would the reaction be?

If Michelle instead of Cindy who had a history of drug addiction and stole drugs from third world orphans?

i'm sorry but this isn't playing rough; it's violating the double standard you guys set up
when you said Obama (like Kerry) has to remain above it all. Because if this stuff had come
out about Obama or Kerry's wife, everyone on DU would be ALL OVER it, going on about how
"our candidates have to be above this... it's not just Republicans... I feel betrayed."

[Gato Moteado]

4. C*nty McTrollop is trashing michelle again?

time to let her have it!

[Rick Myers]

5. Someone ask her about her drug problem!!!

[tabasco]

14. And her thieving from charities problem!

Repukes wanna play dirty?

LET 'EM HAVE IT!!

[Prefer]

7. "Cindy" is Cindy Sheehan, not Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain is a nobody.

[Gabi Hayes]

15. that Telegraph story is complete horseshit.....exactly like all the PR bull that came out

as the McCain's powerful PR apparatus forestalled ANY and ALL truthful approaches to the real story.... all except for Amy Silverman's original coverage in the Phoenix New Times

I would LOVE to find ONE SINGLE accurate story that doesn't rely on the orignal PNT account of the way things really happened, which boils down, very simply, to the reality of Tom Gosinski realizing that his boss, the woman who hired him, was STEALING scrips from their charity, and FORGING doctors' and patients' signatures in order to feed her drug habit

additionally, while she was ADDICTED to those drugs, she LIED her ass off to the agencies that allowed her to adopt a child. can you imagine the consequences if a regular shmuck covered up her drug addiction during the adoption process, and it was found that a DRUG ADDICT had been allowed to adopt a helpless baby?

as has been stated above, just imagine the ENDLESS, and I mean endless uproar that would have occurred had it been revealed that the drug fiend/thief/liar had been Michele Obama?

here's the original story, upon which the Salon piece, and every other story I've been able to find (sort of like the Russert/integrity story, with the benefit of verifiable sourcesj) reverts back to. amazing, isn't it, that NOBODY in the media dares to cover this story, other than with the framework of the brave woman stepping forward to tell the inspiring tale of redemption. only problem is they would NEVER have come forward. Never. the only reason they did is because theem records of her addiction/theft just coincidentally were to become PUBLIC the very day she came forward. Amazing, isn't it?


http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-08/news/opiate-for-the-mrs/

c'mon...get this to the Greatest

[Leopolds Ghost]

25. She would have been called a "typical thieving welfare cheat" among other things.

including by some hit-and-run posters on DU who would say "I feel betrayed, Obama is supposed to be above it all. That means they can attack him, but he can't respond, and anything they attack him for better not be true!"

[dajoki]

36. Its always the regular shmuck...

that takes the fall, while the rich, influential and powerful play by their own set of rules.

[Swamp Rat]

16. ok

[Gabi Hayes]

17. did you "r" this?

when, if ever, will this get any airing?

will it result in an overwhelming M$M backlash, as they rush to the poor little rich girl's defense?

that's my guess, and that's why everyone on the "left" has shied away from mentioning this very important story; important not because of her criminal actions, but because of the way the McCains manipulated the justice system and the liberal media

[Swamp Rat]

18. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. so...is this story, when it gets out, going to redound to the fascists' benefit, ala the Rather TANG

fiasco?

that's my guess

it's all about the media, and they know who their bosses are

[Leopolds Ghost]

28. Yep. Watch the swiftboaters invent a Michelle Obama fiasco to sow FUD about Cindy McCain

Perhaps the Swiftboat Vets will spread a forged memo about Cindy McCain's community service.

[dajoki]

30. It wouldn't be the first time n/t

[Vanje]

31. Rec'ed and now kicked nt

[Leopolds Ghost]

26. JINX!

See Post #24.

I have to buy you a coke. No arguing, jinx rules.

[Swamp Rat]

27. Make it a Chimay (Blue Label, litre)

'It's hard work.' :D :beer:

[Leopolds Ghost]

29. Done! Although I'm not in New Orleans so where I'm supposed to get it at 3 AM is a prob.

[L0oniX]

20. Uhm ...would that be their new house made from glass beer bottles?

I thought the house was made of beer cans.

[Gabi Hayes]

21. remember Don Bolles, the Arizona reporter who got BLOWN up because he got

too close to certain mobbed up figures in Arizona? can you guess where the trail very likely leads?

try googling Bolles McCain Hensley

here's a good starting point:

http://tiodt.blogspot.com/2006/12/married-to-mob.html

there are lots of links, but they all seem to have the same provenance, just as the Cindydrug stories all trace back to the seminal Phoenix New Times story

in other words, NOBODY else will touch this story

wonder why that could be?????

[starroute]

33. I've got a few more links

I don't think these articles all draw from the same source, because they seem to disagree on certain details. The third of the links below is the most detailed.

http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_219.html

http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/conspiracy/reststory/kempermarly.html

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

More on the Bolles murder can be found at http://web.archive.org/web/20001120112000/home.stlnet.com/~cdstelzer/bolles.html

Barry Goldwater was mixed up with this same set of people, and there's more on his connections at http://weeklywire.com/ww/06-22-98/tw_curr4.html

[dajoki]

34. I love the investigative work of DUers!! n/t

[Gabi Hayes]

37. thanks for those links, but the Phoenix NT site doesn't have anything, just

a reference to the first page.....

[dajoki]

39. Here's the link...

I think its the right one.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-08/news/opiate-for-the-mrs/

[Gabi Hayes]

40. that's the basis for every Cindy drug reference I've found, the Salon

piece, included

nobody seems to have covered it other than from the McCain POV. what a surprise

I'm going to check the Bolles/IRE connection and see if any of those reporters did anything with the drug story

[dajoki]

43. This is not only about Cindy McCain...

and her drug problem, but it is also about how her husband manipulated the system for their own benefit and hurt anyone who got in his way. IMO, this IS a campaign issue for these reasons. Can you imagine the attacks on Obama if it was him and his wife?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opiate For the Mrs.
When laws are broken, somebody's got to be punished. In the case of Cindy McCain, that somebody is Tom Gosinski
By Amy Silverman, Jeremy Voas
Published on September 08, 1994
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-08/news/opiate-for-the-mrs/1

<<snip>>

Here's what the senator does.
He calls in another big gun, political strategist Jay Smith, who conceives a rather remarkable plan.

On August 19--just three days before the records are to be made public--Smith parades your wife before a select group of journalist friends. She tells a tale of pain and triumph, and, incredibly, all the reporters agree to sit on the story until August 22. When Cindy McCain says her confession is intended to quell rumors and to inspire other druggies to turn their lives around, the journalists lap it up. They write about her "bravery." The first round of stories is one-sided. There is no mention of Tom Gosinski or Romley's extortion investigation.

<<snip>>

July 29, 1992: Jeri Johnson said that Jim and Smitty are going to confront Cindy about her drug problem. I don't know what the end result will be but I fear that it may be the end of AVMT and my job. Should AVMT be closed down, I trust Jim Hensley will take care of all of us until we are able to find other means of income. I hate to have nasty thoughts, but this family cannot afford to have any of us leave the organization with negative feelings. We all know too much about the way Cindy and John conduct their personal lives. Not a pretty picture.

<<snip>>

September 2, 1992: This past week at AVMT has certainly been a challenge. All of us that work for Cindy have been asked to put in extended hours at night and on the weekend and have not even received a thank you. Cindy is the most demanding and thankless person I have ever met.

<<snip>>

September 29, 1992: Regardless of what happens with Cindy McCain, it is time for me to get out of AVMT. I have so little respect for Cindy and her objectives--she has made AVMT a media event--that even under the best of circumstances I do not think this organization merits existence. . . .

October 2, 1992: Well, it is done. Last night Jim and Smitty confronted Cindy regarding her dependency to prescription drugs and she admitted to her addiction. I understand that she told the Hensleys her addiction was rooted in her unhappiness--her marriage--and that she took the pills to mask her depression. The Hensleys told Cindy they knew she had a problem because of her severe mood swings and her change in character. They also said her meanness towards others was not excusable and must stop. . . .

[starroute]

42. It comes up for me -- but try this link to the Print version

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/167059

[blonndee]

32. It worked to get my mom to quit ragging ignorantly about Michelle.

To me, anyway. Instead of getting mad, I just said, "Well, first of all, Michelle's comments were taken out of context, but even if she had said something like that, I think if we're going to judge Barack based on his wife, then the same goes for McCain. Did you know his wife..." and then I summarized her past. Then I said, "I'm sure that McCain and the republicans REALLY would rather not get in that kind of tit-for-tat when it comes to spouses, don't you agree?" It was actually a pretty pleasant exchange, with my mom finally saying, "Well, I still don't like her, but probably it's best to just focus on the issues. Politics is so dirty."

Won't change a thing when it comes to her and my dad's votes, but maybe they'll cut back on the ignorant smears. Hope springs eternal.

[dajoki]

35. I think you're right...

about the Repubs not wanting to get into a pissing contest over the spouses.

[beac]

38. It's not really the addiction which is the shameful thing...

It's the fact that she STOLE the drugs from a children's charity and then FIRED the guy who caught her that is the REAL scandal. Oh, and the charity was shut down. Sorry, poor third-world children, you had to pay for Madame McCain's sins.

Speaking of which, I do believe "pride" shows up on that list of the Seven Deadly Somethingorothers. Just sayin'

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

41. Do people really make up their minds based on a potential First Lady's past?

Laura Bush wasn't exactly squeaky clean, but I made up my mind based on her simian husband's policies, not her.

If American voters (independents that is, forgetting the right wing kooks) would vote for McCain because of a quote lifted from a Michelle Obama speech, this country is even more fucked-up than I thought.