News from a Christian Nation

Senator John Sidney McCain III would have us believe that he would never betray America's trust to do anything like "that" (in reference to the New York Times (login required) and Washington Post allegations that he cheated on his wife with Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman). To paraphrase another philanderer, that all depends on what your definition of "that" is.

If by "that" John McCain means "to cheat" on his wife, McCain has already admitted to doing "that." He not only cheated on his first wife, Carol Shepp McCain, he cheated on her promiscuously over a period of at least six years (1974-1980). It was during those years that he began his relationship with the heiress Cindy Lou Hensley (in 1978), who would eventually become the second Mrs. McCain. (Yes, that makes both the potential future Republican President and his most likely First Lady of the United States of America guilty of adultery.) This is a matter of public record and is mostly likely also covered in the sealed court recordings from John and Carol's April 1980 divorce proceeding. (John and Cindy Hensley were married only a month later in May 1980.)

One has to give John McCain some credit though, unlike Republican Newt Gingrich, who reputedly served divorce papers on his wife while she was still in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer, McCain didn't divorce his once beautiful wife until she had had a few years to recover from the automobile accident that had reduced her from a statuesque former model to a somewhat shorter (she lost four inches in height), heavier, and scarred-up version of her earlier self. What a man. There is loyalty for you.

If, however, by "that" McCain means to "betray America's trust," one can't help but point out that Carol McCain is an American, and that John betrayed her trust when he broke his vow of "till death do us part." Now we hear that he has likely broken his vow to another American, Cindy Hensley McCain. And, where is the surprise? There shouldn't be any. Leopards rarely change their spots.

Did the New York Times play politics with their timing in the release of the story? Most probably. But where is the news in that? The media has been playing politics all year long with Ron Paul, and there has been nary a word of objection from neither the Left nor the Right. It is a little late to be expecting objective, political disassociation from journalistic institutions.

The New York Time's political motivations are entirely irrelevant to the validity of the assertions against John McCain. After that red herring has been moved aside, it is hardly a stretch to believe that that the leopard was cheating on his second wife, since we know for certain that he was cheating, repeatedly on his first one. What may be a stretch, is to believe that it hasn't been occurring repeatedly this time also.