RE: [xmca] Fwd: A personal experience with John McCain

I checked with Snopes.com, and the status of this post is "undetermined."
David

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Carol Macdonald
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:17 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Fwd: A personal experience with John McCain

Olga
Golly, it would be good for all of us, if one of us could do the detective
work. Especially as it is so awful. How could we ascertain this? I think we
should put an embargo on the story until further notice.
Carol

2008/10/2 Olga Vasquez <ovasquez@weber.ucsd.edu>

> Wait!
> From what I hear Mary Kay Gamel did not write this letter and it may just
> be a figment
> of someone's twisted mind but do send your reiki energy to us all to make
> the right decision.
> Olga
>
>
> Good heavens--even worse than our politicians. I shall be sending all my
>> Reiki energy to Obama, from the other side of the world.
>>
>>
>> 2008/10/2 Shirley Franklin <s.franklin@dsl.pipex.com>
>>
>> Perhaps some of you may have read this disgusting true story?
>>> Shirley
>>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>> sage:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Forwarded Message ----
>>>>> From: "shermuse@sonic.net" <shermuse@sonic.net>
>>>>> To: shermuse@sonic.net
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, 1 October, 2008 7:30:27
>>>>> Subject: A personal experience with John McCain
>>>>>
>>>>> Subject: A Personal Experience of McCain
>>>>>
>>>>> Mary Kay Gamel is a literature and classics professor at UCSC. She
>>>>>> is
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> asking
>>>>>>> people to send the letter she wrote far and wide.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 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.
>>>>>>> He 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 2 5
>>>>>>> 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 m y 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 becam e 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.
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Mary-Kay Gamel
>>>>>>> Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
>>>>>>> Cowell College
>>>>>>> University of California, Santa Cruz
>>>>>>> Santa Cruz, California 95064
>>>>>>> 831-459-2381
>>>>>>> (office); 831-429-8803
>>>>>>> (home)&nbs p; mkgamel@ucsc.edu<mailto:mkgamel@ucsc.edu>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> >>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>>>> Find phone numbers fast with the New AOL Yellow Pages <http://
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> yellowpages.aol.com/?NCID=emlweusyelp00000001> !
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> xmca mailing list
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Visiting Researcher,
>> Wits School of Education
>> 6 Andover Road
>> Westdene
>> Johannesburg 2092
>> 011 673 9265 082 562 1050
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>
>
> --
>
> Olga A. Vásquez
> Associate Professor
> Department of Communication
> University of California, San Diego
> La Jolla, CA 92093-0503
>
> (858)-534-6284
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>

-- 
Visiting Researcher,
Wits School of Education
6 Andover Road
Westdene
Johannesburg 2092
011 673 9265  082 562 1050
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca