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 be 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. If 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.
http://ewingtalker.com/2008/09/29/john-mccain-exposed_mary-kay-gamel-mccain/

some people just love the sound of their own voice ...

this guy must be insane

The story is a fake. Mary-Kay Gamel was contacted and denied ever writing this letter.

can you give a link to that please

http://www.tellingthoughts.com/us-politics/my-holiday-with-mccain

http://theorphanageandyou.blogspot.com/2008/09/veracity-of-mccain-vacation-account.html

sorry but these links do not say it is a hoax

http://theorphanageandyou.blogspot.com/2008/09/veracity-of-mccain-vacation-account.html

Little did I think when I forwarded this account to four or five friends on 16 September that I would be identified as the author or receive so many questions. Some of you have clearly received the email without the preface attached. Most simply ask whether this really happened, some praise "my" courage, some angrily accuse me of distortion and lies.
I'm sorry that I did not check the story more carefully before forwarding it. I am paying for my mistake by sending this clarification to every person who contacts me. Here's as much of the truth as I know:
First of all, I did not write the account. Here is the preface as I received and forwarded it:

In sum, the story may be true, but we'll never know unless Ms. Dubey sees fit to come forward at some point. I hope she will. I also hope that all of you know the unquestionably true story of McCain's shameful abandonment of his first wife, which is far more revealing than this anecdote.
http://theorphanageandyou.blogspot.com/2008/09/veracity-of-mccain-vacation-account.html

http://www.tellingthoughts.com/us-politics/my-holiday-with-mccain

Dear John,



Thank you so much for your email re the McCain story. I really appreciate your following up.I did not write the original email or story but forwarded it from a friend who knows Ana, the woman who had this experience. Since that is the case, kindly remove my name and work address from your blog immediately. I understand she (Ana) has contacted the New York Times and the Washington Post as well as the people who were on Turtle Island with her.I am trying to reach her to ask if I can give out her name. I regret my email was mistakenly sent from my work email whereas it should have been sent via my personal email.

The story was not written by the supposed author but forwarded from someone she "knows" who supposedly had this encounter, which almost sounds beyond ridiculous. I'm not a supporter of McCain BUT This is an obvious smear campaign. The only way to verify the story is for the original author to step up to the plate and for others who were present at these incidents to verify or corroborate this story.

I agree that McCain has major character flaws but I would say Barrack Obama is on the same political scum boat with most politicians….. but what do I know I’m just a typical white person ;)

I have searched snopes for this article and a bunch of other websites, it seems the only denial I can find is from an obscure website and that denial isnt real solid. I believe it, after all this is the same guy who called his wife a c***