MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN
It was just before John McCain's last
run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I
vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their
children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close
quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a
small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all
vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other
intimately.
McCain arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a
pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of
them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was "if he
likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?" I soon
realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a
volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a regular part
of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially
protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's
buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.
Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime
entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women
had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't
meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should
stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few
comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from
Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.
McCain's appreciation of the beauty of
Asian women was so great that David the American economist had to move
his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept
aggressively flirting with and touching her.
Needless to say I was irritated at his
large ego and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but
decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a
handicapped child from Bangladesh . I asked him about this one day, and
his response was shocking: "Oh, that was Cindy's idea - I didn't have
anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without
even asking me. You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this
ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona . No, it wasn't
my idea at all."
I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he
engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of
the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said,
"If I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson". Given
McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war, I had expected a
more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of
the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII -- but no, he was not to b e
dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have
dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan . I rapidly extricated myself
from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being
tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective, but
rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful towards the world.
My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving
Turtle Island . Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain
arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she
needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I
felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and
told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards
me, and said, "Don't you know who I am." I looked him in the face and
said, "Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met" and headed back
to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at
lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood
up to McCain's bullying.
Although I have shared my McCain story
informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public.
I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the
Republican nomination, but it soon became apparent that George Bush was
the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there
is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next
president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this
story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this
abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in
intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to
be. I f his attitudes toward women and his treatment of his own family
are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to
think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our
President.
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California , Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz , California 95064
Phone numbers omitted by truthorfiction.com
