In another thread, we read about how qualified she is, and how Obama doesn't have even as much experience as does she.

The reality is, apparently, that she has struggled through some pretty significant demons. These included drug addiction, which led her to steal drugs from her charity.

Ultimately, her family did an intervention.

This is my problem. From everything that I have read, it was her immediate family that did the intervention, and McCain didn't know about her problem.

How is that possible? Why is that possible?

How is it that her immediate family could recognize a problem and stage an intervention without her husband even knowing that there was a problem?

Maybe I missed something. From everything that I have read, McCain didn't even know there was a problem.

How can someone be so oblivious to the addiction of a spouse? How does an intervention occur with what would think is the most important player in the subject's life, the spouse, not be a member?

Now, I'm not going to pretend to have followed this issue, and maybe what I'm reading between the lines is wrong. It is given that she was addicted to painkillers. It is also given that she has admitted to stealing them. It is also given that her family led an intervention.

The big question in my mind is where was John?

There is more than one way to betray a spouse. And being so distant from them that you don't even see that they have a problem, and you aren't even included in their family's intervention, is disturbing.

I don't suppose that I would care much about this if there wasn't the whole "Cindy is better than Obama" thread. But given that, and given that McCain is the Republican nominee, he doesn't seem to have served Cindy very well.

Gosh, if it's true that he didn't know for whatever reason how very sad. Stories I've read about the younger Senator McCain makes me think he was the bad boy many woman are attracked to. He was IMO quite good looking when he was younger and from what I've read quite self-involved so perhaps not surprising he wasn't as tuned in to her as he should have been. I do kind of like her, she seems "lonely" or maybe I'm assuming that because of things I've read. Then again, I heard today that she is very active behind the scenes in the campaign -- just a puzzle.

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Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

She moved back to Arizona in early 1984, and gave birth to her child, Meghan, later that year. She subsequently had John Sidney IV (known as "Jack") (born 1986) and James (known as "Jimmy") (born 1988). Their fourth child, Bridget, was adopted in 1991. Her parents lived across the street and helped her raise the children while her husband was frequently in Washington; she typically only saw him on weekends.
Cindy McCain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think things like that happen frequently with addictions. I'm sure when he was home she hid it well. Just like teens do, etc...

Sometimes spouses are the last to know that the other one has an addiction.
Some people are good at hiding the addition for a long time from their family and friends.

Anyway, I had forgotten that Cindy McCain had a stroke in 2004.

Independent Women's Forum - In the News: Cindy McCain, happy offstage

"Lingering back pain led Mrs. McCain to seek relief in prescription pain relievers that she admitted taking from her own medical charity, which provided care for children in war-torn and devastated areas abroad. A former employee alerted federal authorities, and Mrs. McCain, after a family intervention, admitted she was addicted but avoided prosecution.

Mr. McCain later said he did not realize she had become dependent on the medications, but he stood by her even as the headlines blared the family's personal trauma. Likewise, Mrs. McCain stood by her husband during the "Keating Five" scandal of the mid-1980s as he sought to clear his name in the wake of the savings-and-loan industry scandals.

As Mrs. McCain survived back surgery, high blood pressure and a resulting stroke that forced her to learn to walk and talk all over again, Mr. McCain survived recurrent bouts with skin cancer."

This is off her wikipedia page too:

She spent two months in late 1983 writing handwritten notes on over 4,000 Christmas cards to be sent to constituents and others. Not accepted by the Washington congressional social scene, she grew homesick for Arizona. She suffered several miscarriages.

Then I guess she went home to Arizona in 1984.

She apparently became addicted after taking them for back pain. It is sad. From what I've read, she otherwise seems like a good person.

I would assume that the fact that they were prescription drugs made a big difference in how easy it was for her to hide her addiction. I have to say - my husband is a wonderful husband, but were I in that situation he would be clueless. He's not particularly clued into medicine, other than the fact that he has chronic headaches himself and takes his fair share of Advil when the barometric pressure gets hokey. If I had back surgery and continued to have bottles of scripts around and told him the Dr. said it would take XXX amount of time for the pain to go away, or that I would have to accept some chronic pain that could be helped by a painkiller, he'd just say "Okay - what a bummer" and give me a sympathetic look.

He's an awesome dad, an awesome spouse, and he trusts me... so he wouldn't envision me as an addict, and if I told him my Dr. said I should take them, he wouldn't question it. And unless I'm missing something (and admittedly I'm not all that educated about these matters!) there aren't a lot of mind-altering things about the kind of painkillers one would take for pain. Her behaviour wouldn't have been like someone on cocaine, kwim?

It'd be especially easy to hide if he had a job that kept him out of town during the work week.

Your point is what? They were distant. He didn't see everything that her parents did? His Washington career was foremost in his mind?

I was assuming all that. Actually, that is exactly my problem.

He didn't know she was addicted. Her family did. They staged an intervention. They didn't include him.

I just don't understand how this can happen.

This isn't an issue that makes me decide for whom to vote. I only posted this because of the earlier thread about Cindy McCain's qualifications, and I wanted some clarification about some real problems that I saw in the history that I saw reported about how McCain, who is the candidate, dealt with her acknowledged problems.

He's the candidate. One would hope that he saw the problems of drug addiction in his wife and took action.

If he didn't, there really isn't a good answer to why not. One of the answers is that he had more important things to do than pay attention to his wife and to an addiction that her immediate family recognized and reacted to. The other answer is that he saw the problem but didn't care.

Neither is a good answer, for me.

I'm really reading between the lines here. If you have anything to say that I'm wrong, I'll leave the issue alone. I have more than enough problems with McCain on the issues to beat upon the drum of his marital infidelities and how he hasn't even been a particularly good husband to his current wife.

My point was that she typically only saw him on weekends.

I'll expand. . .

In 1989, Cindy McCain became addicted to Percocet and Vicodin, opioid painkillers,[37] which she initially took to alleviate pain following two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs,[38][39] and to ease emotional stress during the Keating Five affair.[37] The addiction progressed to where she was taking upwards of twenty pills a day,[14] and she resorted to having an AVMT physician write illegal prescriptions.[40] In 1992, her parents staged an intervention to force her to get help;[21] she told her husband about her problem, attended a drug treatment facility, began outpatient sessions, and ended her three years of addiction.[37] Surgery in 1993 resolved her back pain.

Unless he was counting her pills on the weekends, I can see how it might not have slipped under his radar. Her parents have known her all her life, lived across the street and were actively helping her raise her children.

He saw her intermittently--that's problem number one. And when he did see her--she was probably on her best behaviour (so to speak). Problem number two--when you love someone, you will often overlook the obvious signs of a problem. Problem number three--Denial ain't just a river in Egypt! This goes hand in hand with Number two. He may have noticed odd things here and there--but wrote them off as coincidence. She's a little cranky? You could write it off as PMS, being tired, stressed about XXXX. She's tired/lethargic? She's stressed about something, busy week w/the kids, maybe she's coming down with something. She's a little distant? hmmm...maybe she's mad at me for XXXXX.

I don't know if any or all of these apply. But, I can certainly see how a husband who wasn't around all the time could miss it or be in denial about it. Besides all that--of course her parents knew. Have you ever been able to lie to or hide something from your Momma????

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

OK, I'm going to take all of this as a given.

But I do find it very sad. This was a marriage. He maybe wasn't there for her, but he should have been. And this wasn't just PMS. It was something so significant that her family staged an intervention, apparently without him.

Now, does this mean he wouldn't be a good president? No, not necessarily.

I don't think that a good leader necessariy equates with a good husband.

On the same basis, though, let's not convey on someone attributes that they don't have.

From all evidence, John McCain has sucked in the family values area. If this really means a lot to you, it is something to consider.

The only basis on which it matters to me is that I feel bad for Cindy McCain, because I think that she is very fragile (and I'm quoting my mother with this descriptive term), and I dislike the fact that her successes are paraded out without any concurrent description of the fact that she suffered while her husband went on his merry way.

In other words, I think this is all relevant because it shows that McCain places McCain above anything else, including his wife and her mental health.

I'm sure McCain was very helpful in helping Cindy avoid time in federal prison for stealing drugs. That was just wonderful of him. After all, your average street junkie stealing drugs or forging prescriptions probably would have done time in jail, not rehab.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Your average street junkie is probably not on prescription drugs. And according to someone I know and who has done it and gotten caught, forging prescriptions is quite easy in most states, and this person did not do time. And even though I don't like McCain, I don't think putting her in jail serves any purpose. Rehab is what she should have had, and that is true for most addicts. Unfortunately our justice system does not agree with me.

The fact is, that McCain is probably a bad father and a bad husband. The most telling thing is that the family did not inform him of the intervention and this says a lot about what they think of him. And they know him better than any of us do.

Damn didn't I just agree with you on something else? This has got to stop.

I've always said that I hope my husband is not the only person around if I get deathly ill, because he might not notice. He sounds a lot like yours, except getting him to take pills for almost anything is difficult. I bet he has not a clue that I take pills, even though they are sitting on the bathroom counter in plain sight. And even if he has noticed the pills, he has not a clue what they are and what they are for. He is a sweetie pie but mostly clueless. He runs and fetches when I tell him I'm sick, but unless I vomit on his shirt, he would never notice on his own. And even then I might have to vomit more than once because he would try to tell me that vomiting once is nothing to be alarmed about, pat me on the back and wander off to do whatever it was that was on his mind at the time.

I could be totally addicted to something other than Dove Chocolate and as long as my behavior didn't seem a lot different, it would go unnoticed.

I'm not sure how conversant any of us are with your average street junkie, but Noelle Bush was on prescription drugs, so there's one street junkie we all know with that habit.

With all due respect for your friend the criminal, the fact that s/he didn't do time doesn't mean much at all. Every instance is a felony and Cindy did it multiple times. That it's easy is irrelevant. It's easy to drive under the influence and kill someone too, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get time for it.

Putting most criminals in jail doesn't serve any purpose except punishment, which is what Cindy should have gotten. Lucky for her she had money and a husband with connections.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Your idea of "street junkie" and mine are different. My idea is of a person who looks for dealers on corners or alleys. Not someone who has a prescription for a legal drug and goes into Walgreens.

Cindy needed help, not jail, and she obviously got it. The jails are too crowded with addicts that could be leading productive lives if they were treated for the addiction. Also if she had killed someone while under the influence, that indeed would be worthy of jail time, but she didn't. At least not that I've heard. I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong. Basically she only harmed herself.

And my friend went through hell to get off drugs, has straightened out and is a productive member of society, which probably would not have been the case had there been a jail sentence. Jail is simply not the answer for everything.

Well, if it doesn't bother you that she stole from a charity, then I guess you're right, she only harmed herself. Jail might not be the answer to anything, but its where society puts its criminals. Being an addict might not be a crime -- forging prescriptions and obtaining narcotics illegally is.

Cindy did NOT have a prescription for a legal drug. She had an illegal prescription, stolen and forged, for narcotics.

Obviously we're not going to agree on this.

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Reading is Fundamental.

I guess then Obama was just lucky not getting caught with illegal drugs in his possession years ago.

He certainly was, since he didn't have a powerful spouse to save him.

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Reading is Fundamental.

So, a well-heeled criminal prescription-stolen junkie is more acceptable than a street junkie (many of whom, by the way, have mental health issues who use drug to self-medicate) and deserving of compassion and since they have the money and can be rehabilitated it is all okay. Yet the homeless "street junkie" without the benefit of being able to steal a prescription drug pad and clean up enough to walk into a drug store and pass off that stolen scrip doesn't deserve our compassion and is somehow judged more harshly.

Sad double-standard

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

Just so it is clear, what Cindy McCain admittedly did constitute felonies. She forged prescriptions and stole from a charity. The drug use by Obama were misdemeanors. Stupid perhaps, but I bet a lot more people on this board and in the general population have smoked pot than have forged prescriptions and stole from a charity.

Also, furthering my sympathy for Cindy McCain and my belief that John McCain has a hair trigger temper and doesn't live up to his family value image, we have this report:

The Raw Story | Book: McCain temper boiled over in '92 tirade, called wife a '****'

The blacked out word, by the way, is "c***"

Is it true? I don't know. What is true is that McCain's short temper is so legendary as to make it impossible to dismiss it out of hand.

Obama did more than marijuana. He used cocaine. (In his book "Dreams From My Father"). Which in most states carry a hasher sentence than a misdeamor.

Obama has never fully answered how/when he quit using cocaine. ("The Obama Nation," a new book by Jerome Corsi). Some people need help getting off that drug. It is a hard drug to break away from.

Anyway, yes I agree McCain has been known in the past for his quick temper.

Maybe he asked W for advice on how to quit riding the white pony? Seems that he did alright after he got off the drug....afterall, there was no problem with him serving in office for 8 years. Right?

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I'm the kind of woman when my feet hit the floor in each morning, the devil says "Oh crap, she's up."

Yes, and Mrs. McCain, no matter how much you want to skirt the issue, still stole money from charities, stole prescription pads, forged prescriptions and had many instances of illegally obtained drugs---making her no different than the "street corner" addicts and dealers, EXCEPT for the fact that she had the $$$$ and political connections to escape the same punishment of those "streetcorner" addicts. Definitely not a fair situation and not something she should be lauded for.

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

Just a little FYI. . .here in Peirce County, people who are arrested on prescription forgery go to drug court if it's there first offense. That means that they don't do time, they go to rehab. How I know this is that my brother is a deputy prosecuctor. He worked in narcotics for 15yrs. He's in DV and sexual assault now.

I don't know if who she was had anything to do with her not serving time. I don't know if that's the standard sentencing in Arizona. All I'm saying is that that is the norm here in Pierce county. What she got would be the norm here.

Now the stealing from the charity may be a whole different charge. I'm not really sure on that one.

And she's NOT running for office

You guys were the ones comparing her rock solid qualifications to Mr Obama.......and she was not running for office then either.

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

Ok, I found it.

Format Document

13-3406. Possession, use, administration, acquisition, sale, manufacture or transportation of prescription-only drugs; classification

A. A person shall not knowingly:

1. Possess or use a prescription-only drug unless the person obtains the prescription-only drug pursuant to a valid prescription of a prescriber who is licensed pursuant to title 32, chapter 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 25 or 29 or is similarly licensed in another state.

2. Unless the person holds a license or a permit issued pursuant to title 32, chapter 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 25 or 29, possess a prescription-only drug for sale.

3. Unless the person holds a license or a permit issued pursuant to title 32, chapter 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 25 or 29, possess equipment and chemicals for the purpose of manufacturing a prescription-only drug.

4. Unless the person holds a license or a permit issued pursuant to title 32, chapter 18, manufacture a prescription-only drug.

5. Administer a prescription-only drug to another person whose possession or use of the prescription-only drug violates any provision of this section.

6. Obtain or procure the administration of a prescription-only drug by fraud, deceit, misrepresentation or subterfuge.

7. Unless the person is authorized, transport for sale, import into this state or offer to transport for sale or import into this state, sell, transfer or offer to sell or transfer a prescription-only drug.

B. A person who violates:

1. Subsection A, paragraph 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6 is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

2. Subsection A, paragraph 2 or 7 is guilty of a class 6 felony.

C. In addition to any other penalty prescribed by this title, the court shall order a person who is convicted of a violation of any provision of this section to pay a fine of one thousand dollars. A judge shall not suspend any part or all of the imposition of any fine required by this subsection.

D. A person who is convicted of a felony violation of a provision of this section for which probation or release before the expiration of the sentence imposed by the court is authorized is prohibited from using any marijuana, dangerous drug, narcotic drug or prescription-only drug except as lawfully administered by a practitioner and as a condition of any probation or release shall be required to submit to drug testing administered under the supervision of the probation department of the county or the state department of corrections, as appropriate, during the duration of the term of probation or before the expiration of the sentence imposed.

E. If a person who is convicted of a violation of a provision of subsection A, paragraph 2 or 7 is granted probation, the court shall order that as a condition of probation the person perform not less than two hundred forty hours of community restitution with an agency or organization providing counseling, rehabilitation or treatment for alcohol or drug abuse, an agency or organization that provides medical treatment to persons who abuse controlled substances, an agency or organization that serves persons who are victims of crime or any other appropriate agency or organization.

So what she did would be considered a class 1 misdemeanor in the state of Arizona. Not that I think any of this matters much because she is NOT a candidate. However to imply that McCain pulled strings to get her off and that others who commit the same crime with no priors would have received a harsher sentence is simply not true.

Well, the reason for your positions is clear if you're willing to cite Corsi as a reference.

Link

Sounds like a full answer to me. Obama was 20 or under when he did drugs. Cindy McCain, just for comparison, was doing her drugs between the ages of 35 and 38 and was the mother of three very young children at the start and, during the time she was doing those drugs, she thought it was a good idea to adopt Bridget as well.

The notion that Cindy just committed some petty misdemeanors is wrong. This is a fascinating article, written back when the story was fresh, that provided details into what she did, how she got away with it, and what kind of character Cindy and John McCain have.

Opiate for the Mrs.

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Reading is Fundamental.