Well, if charity doesn’t start right at home, it at least starts at the elite, private, preparatory schools the McCains just happen to send their kids to.
What prompted me to quickly post this hopefully informative rebuttal is a Comment in one of today’s Recommended Diaries
Somehow the Comments transitioned from discussing McCain’s temper during a Town Hall meeting when he was trying to deal with a vet who was asking McCain why he so frequently voted against our troops, to a discussion on his wife, Cindy. And hat’s when this comment popped up:
You're not being fair (6+ / 0-)
Let me say up front that I am a die hard Obama supporter and I pray that Michelle is our next first lady. As for Cindy, my views toward her were shaped by what I've "heard" about her. I recently read Newsweek's article on her. She actually has done some good things for the charities that she works for. So having a little more information about her helped me realize that she's probably not as bad a person as you make her out to be. [Emphasis Added] I don't think knocking her as a Stepford wife and a druggie that steals, furthers the debate.
can we all...just get...along-Rodney King
by nspguy on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 02:24:06 PM PDT
First of all, I’d agree with nspguy about being cautious when dealing with political spouses. And to be fair, it appears the McCains have been generous with Cindy’s $100 million inheritance. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details - and there’s plenty of deviltry in these details!
For tax reasons, the McCains direct their charitable contributions by funneling their own donations to their very own John and Cindy McCain Foundation – of which they are sole donors (other than a single $100 anonymous donation). And as luck would have it, Cindy McCain just happens to be both the Foundation’s Chair and its President. (Go figure)
Would it tarnish Cindy’s image as an heiress/philanthropist just a wee bit in knowing that the major beneficiary of her largesse has been - not as Newsweek selectively chose to only mention in that article - neither Operation Smile (which funds corrective facial surgery) nor the Halo Trust (which is involved with clearing land mines) ... but instead elite, private, preparatory schools that their very own children just happened to have attended? (Go figure)
Courtesy of Harper’s Magazine let’s pullout the old abacus, put on our green visors and really crunch the actual numbers [NOTE: this link is the Mother Lode] to see just how they’ve chosen to donate their huge tax deduction write - offs charitable contributions to schools their kids attend.
John and Cindy McCain have three biological children and one child they adopted. And according to their Foundation’s tax returns, between 2001 and 2006 it doled out about $1.6 million. (I did say they were generous.)
Meghan McCain, their oldest child, attended Xavier College Preparatory school – which was the beneficiary of about $50,000 from the McCain Foundation while she attended. Now that’s a fortunate school. But after Meghan graduated? Not so much. The McCain Foundation decided Xavier was only worth a $250 check in 2006.
The McCain’s two sons, Jim and Jack, attended Brophy College Prep. During their years of attendance, that elite institution in Phoenix was the beneficiary of at least $267,000 from the McCain Foundation.
Both Bridget, their adopted daughter, and Jim attended Christ Lutheran School, another private institution that the McCain Foundation decided was worthy of $128,000 in donations. And not to be left out, Meghan and Jack’s Phoenix Country Day School (why the name alone just epitomizes an elite prep school) was the beneficiary of almost $42,000 from the McCain Foundation.
Not wanting to leave the Naval Academy in Annapolis out of the picture when Jack was there, the McCain Foundation decided to mete out a total of $420,000 to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation.
So of the roughly $1.6 million that the John and Cindy McCain Foundation wrote off as tax deductions between 2001 and 2006, more than HALF (~ $907,000) went to schools that their kids just happened to have attended. And almost one-third (~ $487,000) went to private, elite institutions.
Lucky kids ... lucky schools ... lucky tax write-offs! (Go figure)