OntheWilderSide

From Kimberly:

You are going to think I have gone crazy. My husband (and co-editor) is going to get mad–first I post dozens of Kucinich posts, now I am up to…John McCain.

It is not that I think that Kucinich or McCain are acceptable candidates. They are both part of the duopoly, and I get that. Kucinich failed to take a stand against war at the last Democratic presidential convention, and McCain is not even against the war. But, I have this view that one thing needed in politics is for people to play fair. And, for good people to notice when people are not playing fair, and for good people to at least try to fix things.

I was appalled by stories of smear campaigns used against John McCain leading up to another presidential election. I also understand, that one of the signs of fascism is that those in power will use negative campaigns and vicious attacks in elections as just another way to make sure that the people never have a real dialogue or a good candidate. I have also run for office, and I understand that people don’t deserve to be lied about and personally attacked because they want to serve their community or country in office.

So, I think it is important for good people to take at least little stands for people like John McCain when they are unfairly attacked. Below is my contribution to fairness and justice in elections. I don’t like the nasty attacks past and present on John McCain. And, if people track down who did it, or which other campaign they came from, I will report on it and chastise that group here.

For now, have to admit, this story made me cry. And, I think it deserves to be told, even if I would never, ever vote for John McCain.

From: latimes.com Top of the Ticket

John McCain’s secret weapon against smears this time
by Maeve Reston

John McCain’s campaign has aggressively reacted against negative attacks this year with its “truth squad” of state leaders. But the truth is, their secret weapon may actually be the Arizona senator’s wife, Cindy. She’s using a softer approach to prevent a repeat of the smears on her family from the 2000 South Carolina primary.

In the last few days leading up to today’s voting, she told voters in Aiken and Columbia the story of how 15 years ago the couple adopted their daughter Bridget, who is now 16, from an orphanage in Bangladesh. Eight years ago, anonymous McCain foes used phone calls and fliers to insinuate the dark-skinned Bridget was really McCain’s illegitimate “black baby.” And McCain lost that election…

While working at Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh in the early 1990s, McCain said, “I stumbled upon the most beautiful little girl I’d ever seen. She had a terrible cleft palate. She had problems with her feet. She had problems with her hands. She had all kinds of problems.”

“As only Mother Teresa can do,” McCain continued, “she prevailed upon me to take this baby and another baby –- get them out of the country and take them to the United States for medical care.” On the flight from Bangkok to Los Angeles, McCain said she realized, “I couldn’t give this child up… she had chosen me, that’s just as simple as it was.”

“Well, the kick in this was I hadn’t told my husband,” Cindy said, as the Aiken crowd chuckled appreciatively. “So when I stepped off the plane in Arizona, I was holding her, and John met me at the airport, and, of course, there were a lot of cameras there…. And he whispered down to me and said, ‘Well, where’s she going to go?’

“I looked up at him and sort of thought ‘Well, our house – how about that?’ And that’s simply the way I introduced him to his new daughter. He has loved her the same way I have for 16 years,” Cindy McCain said… (full story and commentary here)

–Maeve Reston

Filed under: election, elections, kucinich, president, presidential race, progressive politics, US Politics Tagged: | John McCain, kucinich