I just got forwarded an article this morning titled "The Wife John McCain Callously Left Behind" and it sure didn't look anything like the 'history tour' McCain was touting a short few months ago...
Were we Republicans and was Obama a lesser man, this area would be ripe for swiftboating the picking - alas we are not, and he is not...
[GTPinNJ rightfully noted in the comments that "it would be wrong to call it swiftboating to point out how dishonest McCain is."]
More below the fold on yet another big chink in the "honorable McCain" meme...
McCain married his first wife, Carol in 1965. She was a famous swimwear model and of course, beautiful. They had three children together. She was a self made woman that had come from poor household to make a name for herself as a model.
She was the woman at home, waiting and praying for McCains safe return while he was a POW. So what happened? Where did things go wrong?
But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.
O o, problem in McCain paradise. McCain who evidently always liked the finer things in life now had a disfigured wife. In such a scenario, what is the honorable thing to do?
Well at first, he was kind, saying "I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine.". He had just returned from a prison camp so obviously he wasn't looking too good himself. That was of course fleeting as he was widely received as a war hero and was quite popular. But really...
But already the McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg. McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details.
[...]
In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.
Carol and her children were devastated. ‘It was a complete surprise,’ says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide.
Despite this, Carol has nothing bad to say about McCain. She still thinks he's "a good man". I suppose it's easy for her to see it that way since he's promised to pay all her medical expenses for the rest of her life. I'm sure that would disappear if she were to turn against him.
But other old acquaintances that are more independent are not so forgiving...
Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.
We've seen it time and again, McCain has no honor. He will flip and flop. He will pivot and pretend. He will dump anyone and anything to get ahead personally.
Can we really afford to have such a selfish man as the leader of our country and our commander in chief?
I think not.
[edit: Thanks to Slick2009 for a better title :) ]
CORRECTION: I can't edit the poll but per phatcat cane:
McCain did not enlist. You do not enlist to be an officer you are commissioned. John McCain wouldn't know an enlisted person if he gave birth to one.