Cindy McCain: pills, beer and the White House

London Telegraph ^ | February 3, 2008 | Tim Shipman

[Turnabout]

Cindy McCain: pills, beer and the White House

By Tim Shipman in Chicago

Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 03/02/2008

Like her husband, Cindy McCain has fought adversity and come out the other side as an asset to his presidential campaign - and a campaigner in her own right.

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  The Budweiser beer heiress has battled prescription drug addiction and illness, and watched as the dirty tricks that derailed her husband's bid for the White House eight years ago engulfed the daughter she adopted from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh.

  Unlike that campaign, when she seemed a tentative figure in the political arena, she has now emerged as a passionate and articulate speaker, often introducing her husband at his rallies.

  Mr McCain's closest aide, Mark Salter, told The Sunday Telegraph: "She's a very effective campaigner. She is absolutely great. When she's around, she can keep him on an even keel."

  But her graceful demeanour, reminiscent of the cheerleader she once was, masks a woman who has experienced the extremes that go with a life in the spotlight. In 1994 she admitted that for three years she became addicted to painkillers.

  Mrs McCain, 53, blamed her dependency on two back operations and the stress of her peripheral involvement in the so-called Keating Five scandal, in which her husband was accused of receiving donations and lobbying on behalf of a collapsed saving company's disgraced chief.

  To make matters worse, it emerged that she had stolen pills from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a third world relief organisation that she had founded. Mrs McCain entered a rehab programme rather than face criminal charges. She later told an interviewer: "The best thing I've ever done is go into recovery and stay drug-free."

  Meanwhile, he said the experience had strengthened their marriage, which began a year after the two met in 1979 when Mr McCain's first marriage was in decline. She later braved two miscarriages before doctors realised she had a rare deformation of the uterus. This was not the last of her medical dramas: she suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2004 and recently took time out from the campaign to undergo knee surgery.

  A businesswoman in her own right, she became chairman of her father's $300 million Budweiser distribution company in 2000. She is also on the boards of the anti-landmine Halo Trust and of Operation Smile, a charity that helps children with cleft palates.

  It was on a trip to Bangladesh in 1991 that she adopted Bridget. On Friday she recounted to voters in Missouri and Illinois how Mother Teresa persuaded her to return home with the child.

  "I just could not let her go. The only thing was, I had not told my husband. When I got back, he asked me 'Where will she go?' and I said: 'I thought she could come to our house.' For the next 16 years he has loved her as much as I have." The couple have three other children; daughter Meghan is working on her father's campaign and son James is fighting in Iraq.

  Adopting Bridget was not without its traumas. Mrs McCain said that she was "disgusted" in 2000 when allies of George W. Bush used her presence in the family to claim that Sen McCain fathered a black child out of wedlock - an explosive charge in South Carolina, where Republican primary voters sank his challenge to Mr Bush.

  Aides say that, as First Lady, Cindy would campaign on third world children's issues, but would adopt a more traditional role than activist spouses such as Hillary Clinton. Recently she said: "I think the American people truly still want a traditional family in the White House."

[Turnabout]

This British newspaper piece mentions both sympathetic and negative aspects of Mrs. McCain. We don't see anything like this from a U.S. MSM source, and won't, until a month or two from now when the MSM sets about to destroy McCain for the benefit of the Dem, and Mrs. McCain will then be fair game.

If Ann Romney had been some addiction problem, the U.S. MSM would have let us know all about it by now.

[JennysCool]

the dirty tricks that derailed her husband's bid for the White House eight years ago

Yeah. Sure.

[the invisib1e hand]

hmm. they waited a while before invoking the spouse. wonder if that’s the secret weapon.

[mtbopfuyn]

When she's around, she can keep him on an even keel.

So, what's going to happen when she's hauled away to rehab again? Back away from the red phone, sir!

[TornadoAlley3]

When she’s around, she can keep him on an even keel.”

[linn37]

This was already reported in 2000. To me its a non issue. Also Bush never said those things about their child. So they need to stop repeating it like its true

[Saundra Duffy]

I have a lot of respect for her. She’s been through a lot.

[claudiustg]

-—The Budweiser beer heiress has battled prescription drug addiction and illness, and watched as the dirty tricks that derailed her husband’s bid for the White House eight years ago engulfed the daughter she adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh.-—

She better hold on to her Big Book, because there is a tidal wave coming her way.

[Turnabout]

hmm. they waited a while before invoking the spouse. wonder if that’s the secret weapon.

It isn't the MSM they, it is a UK paper. You can always tell when the MSM bias is running amok, because the UK coverage diverges sharply from the US coverage. It is a harbinger of what is to come, when the US MSM turns on McCain for the general.

[ncalburt]

Have you noticed how the Dems and Clinton’s start there smears in Britain and then move it to the USA.

[Doogle]

..."me smells clinton"

[org.whodat]

You did not know this about Mc-insanes wife??

[Fred]

I guess you prefer this person for first lady instead

[digger48]

After 16 years of the documented felonies commmitted by the Clintons, we’re going to fret about a former substance abuse problem by a possible First Lady?

I’ve got enough reasons to hate McCain without this.

FWIW I’ve always thought Cindy to be quite attractive. Something about the eyes.

Laura Bush has the same effect.

[South40]

To make matters worse, it emerged that she had stolen pills from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a third world relief organisation that she had founded.

Stolen drugs?

What a gal!

[bray]

Go InSain!

[elizabetty]

Cindy McCain said the only person her husband can trust is her?

Do we REALLY want a man who has made so many enemies there is nobody he can trust in the WHITE HOUSE?

[the invisib1e hand]

I wasn’t speaking of the msm. it’s a press release. the campaign issued the OK to start using the spouse.

[elizabetty]

FWIW I’ve always thought Cindy to be quite attractive. Something about the eyes.

Maybe that is why John McCain started an affair with her while he was still married to his first wife.

[RDTF]

lol!