An article in today’s Los Angeles Times about John McCain’s adultery and subsequent divorce chose to focus on how his actions affected his relationship with Ron and Nancy Reagan. But as sad as it is to learn that Nancy treated McCain with "cool correctness" after he left his disabled wife and three children for a 24 year old heiress, why don’t we just stay with this aspect of the story; the part where John McCain either forgot that he had carried on an affair for nine months or he lied about it in interviews and in his memoir, Worth Fighting For.
In his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Hensley.
"I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow," McCain wrote. "I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980."
An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.
It seems that Senator Straight Talk’s pants were on fire in more ways than one.
When asked for a comment, a McCain spokesman said:
Of course we will not comment on the breakup of the senator's first marriage, other than to note that the senator has always taken responsibility for it.
Yes, he has. McCain has blamed his actions on his "immaturity" (he was 42), but he still hasn’t explained if he’s been lying about having had an affair with his current wife, or if it’s just one more thing that he’s confused about.