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

Carol said:

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
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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