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Can you imagine that a modern democracy might sink so low as to nominate for its highest office a man who jokes about apes raping women? Who publicly mocks the teenage daughter of a rival about her appearance? Who calls his spouse a "cunt"?
Welcome to John McCain's America, circa 2008.
If there's one character issue that's gone entirely uncovered by our otherwise scandal-starved media, it's the long and distressing record of misogyny displayed by the candidate who earned the nickname McNasty in high school.
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To get a full sense of how McCain has behaved toward women during his life, we'll need to travel back to his college years, when McCain (by his own admission) did a lot of carousing. As Tim Dickinson notes in his recent Rolling Stone profile of McCain, he hit on two young women the summer after his sophomore year — and showed his true colors when rejected: "He cursed them so vilely that he was hauled into court on a profanity charge."
Fifteen years later, in 1973, McCain made his heroic return from Vietnam, where he was a prisoner for five years. There is no disputing the courage and nobility he exhibited as a POW. Those years have become virtually the centerpiece of his campaign. His subsequent treatment of his first wife is hardly ever mentioned.
A little refresher course. During the time her husband was a prisoner, Carol McCain suffered a near-fatal car accident. In addition to caring for three children, the former model underwent numerous reconstructive surgeries. When her husband returned from Vietnam in 1973, she was overweight, on crutches and four inches shorter than when he left. What happened next?
McCain started having affairs — lots of them. Nobody knows how many, and neither McCain nor his ex will go into details. Her sole comment on the break up: "John was turning forty and wanting to be twenty-five again." And, apparently, Mormon.
I'm exaggerating for effect, right? Not really.
McCain started having affairs — lots of them.
In 1979, McCain met Cindy Hensley. He was forty-two at the time. Hensley, a beer heiress, was twenty-four. (Fun fact: upon meeting, the happy couple both lied about their ages! Totally adorable.) In his autobiography, McCain insisted that he divorced Carol months before marrying Cindy. Not true. He married Cindy five weeks after the divorce. He even applied for a marriage license before his divorce had been finalized. Oh, he also "cohabitated" with Carol for the first nine months of his relationship with Cindy.
McCain's pals in the press virtually never mention the fact that he's an adulterer. If you want to see McCain's own response, check out this interview with CNN's John King. Is it me, or does McCain look like a guy with an awful lot to hide?
The most succinct summary of the divorce came from Ross Perot, of all people. "He threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona and the rest is history," observed Perot, a POW advocate who helped pay Carol McCain's medical bills during the war.
Lots of men cheat on their wives and leave their families for younger women, of course. It's not a crime. But McCain's treatment of his new wife has hardly been inspiring. Cliff Schecter, author of the book The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't, offered this unsettling tidbit from the 1992 campaign trail. Cindy McCain had the temerity to make a comment about McCain's thinning hair. Rejoined hubby: "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." Pretty rough language for the gal who pays your mortgages.
But then, McCain's profane streak is no secret to those who work with him. Nor is his tendency to indulge in jokes that might otherwise qualify as hate crimes. Here's one he allegedly told in 1986, to a group in our nation's capitol:
Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, "Where is that marvelous ape?"
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