snopes.com: John McCain on the Democratic Party
Grand Old Party
Claim: Senator John McCain once said that “the Democratic Party is a
fine party, and I have no problems with it.”
Status: True.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, January 2008]
I received the following quote, is it truly McCain’s:
“I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is
a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and
their philosophy.” — John McCain
Origins: Given that it often seems as if members and proponents of
either of the two major political parties in the U.S. never express
anything but criticism and disdain for the other party (particularly
during presidential campaigns), it’s a bit unusual to see a prominent
politician evince even modest acceptance or approval of a rival party’s
outlook — especially when that politician is one of the leading candidates
for a presidential nomination. But that’s the case with this quote from
John McCain, the four-term senator from Arizona who is one of the leading
contenders for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
A bit of context makes this statement a little less surprising, however.
Senator McCain has long been regarded as something of a political maverick
who travels the campaign trail in a bus called the “Straight Talk Express”
and has expressed sharp disagreement with Republican principles and Bush
administration policies on several occasions, and the quote reproduced
above was something he said back in 2004 during a legislative seminar
hosted by a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts at a time when
rumors were circulating that McCain might actually be tabbed for the
vice-presidential slot on a ticket with Democratic senator John Kerry
(also from Massachusetts).
Here’s how the Boston Herald reported his statement:
Sen. John McCain unleashed an attack on his own party, saying the GOP is
“astray” on key issues and criticizing President Bush on the war in Iraq.
“I
believe my party has gone astray,” McCain said, criticizing GOP stands on
environmental and minority issues.
“I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with
it, in their views and their philosophy,” he said. “But I also feel the
Republican Party can be brought back to the principles I articulated
before.”
The maverick senator made the remarks at a legislative seminar hosted by
U.S. Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Lowell) as he again ruled out running on a
ticket with Democrat John F. Kerry.
The Arizona Republican took on President Bush for failing to prepare
Americans for a long involvement in Iraq, saying, “You can’t fly in on an
aircraft carrier and declare victory and have the deaths continue. You
can’t do that.”
McCain said the U.S. should seek more U.N. involvement in Iraq. “Many
people in this room question, legitimately, whether we should have gone in
or not,” he said, adding that that debate “will be part of this
presidential campaign.”
When questioned about his statement during an appearance with host Chris
Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball a few days later, Senator McCain said he felt
that the Herald had presented his words out of context:
MATTHEWS: Senator McCain, here’s what you said about the Republican Party
in the Boston Herald: “I believe my party has gone astray. I think the
Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their
views and their philosophy.” Did the Herald get you right?
MCCAIN: No.
MATTHEWS: You didn’t say that?
MCCAIN: I said that, but let me put it in the proper context. I was
speaking to some constituents of Congressman Marty Meehan. The question
[was]: Why don’t you run as Senator Kerry’s running mate? I am a Teddy
Roosevelt Republican and [an] Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt
Republican. I will not leave my party.
Now I think that the Democratic Party is a fine party. I still think we
need a two-party system in this country. I don’t want to be a Democrat.
I’m proud of my party and its heritage. That article in the Boston Herald
was the most taken out of context, several quotes, some of which you’ll
probably give me …
MATTHEWS: No, I think we’ve had enough here.
MCCAIN: It was incredible. I mean, I said I don’t want to leave my party.
I love my party. I think it’s gone astray. Sure I think it’s gone astray
on climate change, pork barrel spending. Take a look at this highway bill
that they just [ran] through the House. They’re trying to attack the
energy bill, the pork barrel energy bill, on this problem of taxation of
corporation overseas. I mean, the deficit is now $7 trillion. I think that
that is a party gone astray.
Last updated: 1 February 2008
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/mccain.asp
Sources:
&nb
sp; Straub, Noelle. “Maverick McCain Blasts GOP, Bush.”
Boston Herald. 2 April 2004.
Hardball [MSNBC]. 5 April 2004.
snopes.com: John McCain’s Sons
My Three Sons
Claim: E-mail describes the military pedigrees of Senator John McCain’s
sons.
Status: True.
Examples:
[Collected on the Internet, April 2008]
One evening last July, Senator John McCain of Arizona arrived at the
New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan for sandwiches, chocolate-chip
cookies and heartfelt talk about Iraq. They had met at a
presidential debate, when she asked the candidates what they would
do to bring home American like her brother, who had been killed in
action a few months earlier.
Mr. McCain did not bring cameras or a retinue. Instead, he brought
his youngest son, James McCain, 19, then a private first class in
the Marine Corps about to leave for Iraq.
No one mentioned the obvious: in just days, Jimmy McCain could face
similar perils.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them as they were
coming to meet with a family that …” Ms. Flanagan recalled,
choking up. “We lost a dear one,” she finished.
Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his
candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to
Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son.
In his 71 years, Mr. McCain has confronted war as a pilot, a
prisoner and a United States senator, but never before as a father.
His son’s departure for Iraq brought him the same worry that every
military parent feels, friends say, while the young marine’s
experiences there have given him a sustained grunt’s-eye view of the
action and private confirmation for his argument that United States
strategy in Iraq is working.
Jimmy McCain enlisted at age 17, then told his parents by phone
afterward, said Lance Cpl. Casey Gardiner, a friend from boot camp.
Jimmy McCain returned from Iraq in February.
Mr. McCain has largely been silent about his son, now a lance
corporal, to protect him from becoming a prize target and avoid
exploiting his service for political gain, according to friends.
As Mr. McCain enters the general election, some say that his son’s
service will underscore the sincerity of his stance on the war. “He
has, to use a gambler’s term, skin in the game,” said Bob Kerrey,
the former Democratic senator and longtime friend of Mr. McCain.
“It’s among the most important things that people want to know about
John McCain in trying to decide whether or not to trust him.”
[Collected on the Internet, May 2008]
Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his
candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to
Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son,
who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his
father’s New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a
stuck military vehicle out of the mud.
Two of Jimmy’s three older brothers went into the military. Doug
McCain, 48, was a Navy pilot. Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from
the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if
elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower
with a son at war.
Origins: Keeping track of the children of
Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee for the
2008 presidential election, is a bit complicated, as his offspring (both
those he fathered and those he adopted) span two marriages and several
decades.
Senator McCain has two sons (Doug and Andy) whom his first wife (Carol)
brought to their marriage and whom he adopted when they were young. He and
Carol also had a daughter (Sidney) together. From his marriage to his
second wife (Cindy), Senator McCain has two more sons (Jimmy and Jack) and
another daughter (Meghan), and t
he couple also have an adoptive daughter
from Bangladesh (Bri
dget).
Doug McCain, 48, is John McCain’s oldest child. He is a former U.S. Navy
pilot (like his father) who currently works as a commercial pilot for
American Airlines.
Jack McCain, 21, currently attends the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Jimmy McCain, 19, is a member of the U.S. Marine Corps and has been
stationed in Iraq.
As the New York Times noted, Senator McCain generally avoids mention of
his sons’ military service on the campaign trail:
John McCain is loath to invoke their names when he defends his foreign
policy positions, even once when Jimmy was sitting in the audience before
deployment.
On a stop in South Carolina, as a mother who lost her son in Iraq began to
suggest that John McCain understood her plight because of Jimmy, the
senator gently motioned for her to stop.
However, Senator McCain did bring along his son Jimmy when he was invited
to dinner at the home of Erin Flanagan, a woman who had posed a question
about the Iraq war to the senator at a July 2007 Republican presidential
candidates’ debate in New Hampshire:
A key moment came at a Republican debate in New Hampshire when Erin
Flanagan told the candidates about her brother, 1st Lt. Michael Joseph
Cleary, who was killed in action in Iraq eight days before he was supposed
to come home. Flanagan pleadingly asked what McCain would do to bring the
parties together and “bring this conflict to a point in which we can
safely bring our troops home.”
McCain rose from his stool and walked forward. “This war was very badly
mismanaged for a long time,” he said gently. “And Americans have made
great sacrifices, some of which were unnecessary because of this
management of the war.
“I believe we have a fine general. I believe we have a strategy which can
succeed, so that the sacrifice of your brother would not be in vain, that
a whole 20 million or 30 million people would have a chance to live a free
life in an open society, and practice their religion, no matter what those
differences are,” he said. “And I believe that if we fail, it will become
a center of terrorism, and we will ask more young Americans to sacrifice,
as your brother did.”
Last updated: 12 June 2008
The URL for this page is
http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/mccainsons.asp
Sources:
Steinhauer, Jennifer. “McCain’s Children Avoid the Limelight.”
The Boston Globe. 27 December 2007.
Zuckman, Jill. “The Inside Story on McCain’s Comeback.”
Chicago Tribune. 4 February 2008.
Getting to Know John McCain
Claim: Article by Karl Rove provides background on Senator John McCain.
Status: Undetermined.
Example: [Rove, April 2008]
Getting to Know John McCain
It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that
Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day,
Congressional Medal of Honor
recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at
the Hanoi Hilton.
As we ate near the Days’ home in Florida recently, I heard things
about Sen. McCain that were deeply moving and politically troubling.
Moving because they told me things about him the American people
need to know. And troubling because it is clear that Mr. McCain is
one of the most private individuals to run for president in history.
When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to
know more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know
about character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain,
that means they will want to know more about him personally than he
has been willing to reveal.
Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It
involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese
prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor
broke his arm and said, “I told you I would make you a cripple.”
[Rest of article here.]
Origins: Research in progress.
Last updated: 25 June 2008
The URL for this page is
http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/gettingtoknow.asp
Sources:
Rove, Karl. “Getting to Know John McCain.”
The Wall Street Journal.&
nbsp; 30 April 2008 (p. A17).
Cindy McCain
&nb
sp; Claim: E-mail lists facts about Senator John McCain’s wife, Cindy
McCain.
Status: True.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, April 2008]
Getting to know Cindy McCain
First Lady
There was an article recently in the Wall Street Journal on Cindy
McCain, John’s wife. All I ever saw was this attractive woman
standing beside John. I was surprised how talented and involved with
world problems she is. This is a summary of the article. She
graduated from Southern Cal and was a special-needs teacher.
After her Dad died she became involved with his beer distributing
firm and is now the chairwoman. Sales have doubled since she has
taken over from her father.
They have a marriage prenuptial agreement, her assets remain
separate.
She is involved around the world clearing land mines – travels to
these countries on a detonation team and service on their board.
They have a 19 year old serving in Iraq, another son in the Naval
Academy, a daughter recently graduated from Columbia Univ., an
adopted daughter in high school, and a son who is the finance guy at
the beer firm.
Raised kids in Phoenix, Az rather than Washington DC. (better
atmosphere) He commuted.
In 1991, Mrs. McCain came across a girl in an orphanage in
Bangladesh. Mother Teresa implored Mrs. McCain to take the baby with
severe cleft palate. She did so without first telling her husband.
The couple adopted the girl who has had a dozen operations to repair
her cleft palate and other medical problems.
They have a Family Foundation for children’s causes.
She’s active with “Halo Trust” – to clear land mines, provide water
and food in war ravaged and developing countries.
She will join an overseas mission of “Operation Smile”, a charity
for corrective surgery on children’s faces. She has had two back
surgeries and became addicted to pain killers. She talks openly
about it which she says is part of the recovery process.
I’m surprised the media is so quiet about her attributes. They have
tired to discredit John MCCain because of his wife’s wealth — looks
as if she knows how to put money and time to use in many good
causes. What a novel thought to have such a fine person as “First
Spouse” She sounds more capable than Hillary or Obama. We would
really get two for the price of one. A person with business and
international experience. John did work for the firm for awhile when
he left the Navy. She, however, has the real business experience.
Very interesting.
Origins: Scrutiny of the character of the wives of political candidates
is nothing new — it has been an integral part of American politics for a
very long time. The April 2008 e-mail presented above is a summary of
information about Cindy Hensley McCain, wife of Senator John McCain, the
Republican Party’s 2008 Presidential nominee, as gleaned from a 17 April
2008 Wall Street Journal article.
Everything in the summary is accurate: Cindy McCain was the heiress to a
beer distributor’s fortune, she is now active in that distributorship, she
did make the Senator sign a pre-nup when he married her and has kept her
finances separate from his, she did adopt (at Mother Theresa’s behest) a
Bangladeshi girl in need of many surgeries to correct a cleft palate, she
has established a family charity that benefits primarily children’s
causes, and she is active both in mine-clearing and children’s dental
restoration causes. While John and Cindy McCain have four children
together (one adopted), the Senator also has another three children from
his first marriage (two of whom are children his first wife brought to
their marriage). The McCains have a commuter marriage in which he
stays in Washington, she stays in Phoenix, but they vacation together
twice a year. There is an 18-year age difference between them — they met
when she was 24 and he was 42.
In 1989, following two back surgeries, Cindy McCain became addicted to the
painkillers Vicodin and Percocet. To keep up with her daily need of 10 to
15 pills, she used other people’s names for prescriptions and stole drugs
from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a mobile surgical unit she’d
begun in 1988 to provide emergency medical services around the world. A
&
nbsp; 1993 DEA audit of the amount of painkillers her charity had obtained
quickly uncovered her thefts. She avoided prosecution for those crimes
through an agreement with the Justice Department in which she submitted to
drug testing, paid a fine, performed community service in a soup kitchen,
and joined Narcotics Anonymous. She also closed her medical charity.
Cindy McCain is Senator McCain’s second wife. His infidelities put strain
on his first marriage, and he was divorced from Carol McCain, his wife of
15 years, in 1980. (Carol McCain not only waited for five and a half years
for her husband to return from Vietnam, but she also endured a horrific
automobile accident during that period which broke both her legs and one
arm and ruptured her spleen. She nearly lost her left leg, and surgeries
left her four inches shorter than she was before her accident. The woman
John McCain returned to was far different in appearance from the beautiful
former model he’d left behind.)
Cindy Lou Hensley and John McCain began dating in 1979. While the Wall
Street Journal article used as the source for the e-mail’s information
states “At the time, Sen. McCain was separated from his first wife,”
numerous other sources assert he was still living with Carol McCain when
he began seeing his future wife, Cindy. John and Cindy wed in 1980, one
month after his divorce from Carol became final.
In 2004, Cindy McCain had a stroke as a result of failing to continue her
blood pressure medication. She made a full recovery, even running a
marathon 8 months after being stricken.
In the ramp-up towards the run for the Republican nomination, Senator
McCain said to his wife, “I think you could bring style, grace, and
elegance back to the White House.”
Last updated: 5 May 2008
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/cindy.asp
Sources:
Collins, Nancy. “Cindy McCain: Myth vs. Reality.”
Harper’s Bazaar. April 2008.
Grann, David. “The Hero Myth.”
The New Republic. 24 May 1999 (p. 24).
Langley, Monica. “Preference Aside, Cindy McCain Handles
Limelight.”
The Wall Street Journal. 17 April 2008 (p. A8).
McCain, Cindy. “Even My Husband Never Knew.”
Newsweek. 9 April 2001 (p. 52).
Associated Press. “Senator’s Wife Admits Prescription Drug
Addiction.”
22 August 1994.
St. Petersburg Times. “Senator’s Wife Had It All, Including
Addiction.”
25 August 1994 (p A6).
Politics Blog 