Cindy McCain story - WaPo direct link

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103928.html

Edit:
sorry! Should have said - this is of course lonestarnot's story (thanks lonestarnot!!)

I like how people play up being the 'reformed' victim after leaving countless ruined lives in their wake.

On Edit: And when I read it, I definitely knew this is what Lonestarnot was posting about.

"Once the county report was released, along with Gosinski's journal, a few reporters challenged McCain's account. Only New Times published excerpts from Gosinski's diary. Within a few weeks, the story died in Arizona, without receiving national exposure. Gosinski ultimately ran out of money and let his lawsuit against McCain die.

Gosinski, who has moved to Nebraska, was initially reluctant to tell his story when contacted by The Post in May. He is still viewed with enmity by some in the drug investigation, including the Johnsons, who hold him responsible for the doctor's troubles.

He eventually gave several lengthy interviews and provided The Post with a copy of his journal. He subsequently cut off contact and asked that his name not be printed, saying he became frightened by the prospect of facing the McCain campaign on his own.

On Wednesday, he said he had changed his mind. He appeared at a news briefing in Arlington set up by a Democratic Party consultant. Gosinski, a registered Republican, said that he sought help orchestrating a single media event because so many reporters wanted his story, but that he has had no contact with the Obama campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

He also signed an agreement with the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based watchdog group, which will provide legal representation for him in the event of a lawsuit.

Controversy Fades"

"McCain's drug use became national news during her husband's first presidential campaign in 2000. Newsweek published a first-person account of her struggle, but it included some errors.

It began with Vicodan . In 1989, I had ruptured a couple of disks carrying my 1-year-old, Bridget, in a pack on my back," she wrote.

But Bridget was not born until 1991. In other accounts, McCain said she hurt her back while picking up her son Jimmy, who was a toddler at the time of her injuries.

As the McCains traveled in the Straight Talk Express bus in 2000, interest in Cindy McCain's story faded when it became clear that she and her husband weren't headed for the White House.

This year, as the McCains campaigned again, Cindy McCain granted interviews about her past problems to "Access Hollywood" and Jay Leno. She called her addiction a life-changing crisis."

"Your life experiences make you," she told "Access Hollywood," "and hopefully you learn from them."

Research editor Alice Crites and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report. "

another excerpt:

"Dowd negotiated a deal with the U.S. attorney's office allowing McCain, as a first-time offender, to avoid charges and enter a diversion program that required community service, drug treatment and reimbursement to the DEA for investigative costs. Johnson agreed to surrender his medical license and retire.

With final negotiations between federal prosecutors and Dowd still underway, Gosinski sued McCain for wrongful termination. "

another excerpt:

"On Feb. 4, 1994, Gosinski's attorney, Stanley Lubin, wrote to McCain, saying his client had omitted certain details in his lawsuit "due to their sensitive nature." He said that for $250,000, Gosinski would drop the action. Lubin said in an interview that he met with Dowd, who said the lawsuit was without merit. "He told me if I thought the senator was going to cave into this extortion, I was going to learn a very serious lesson," Lubin recalled.

On April 28, 1994, Dowd wrote to Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley, a Republican, asking that Gosinski be investigated for attempted extortion."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103928.html?sid=ST2008091103947&s_pos=

"A Tangled Story of Addiction"

when it should have been "John McCain's Abuse of Power"

on edit: maybe they should just call it: "Cindy McCain Drugged the Kids" (or did they cut that part out?)

Ya can't say they used the "Friday News Dump" ... instead, they fed the weekend punditry.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijft829VUmbbK44otYOPoenoMF2gD934NJJ84

Cindy McCain also discussed her addiction to painkillers. In the late 1980s, she underwent back surgeries and became addicted to painkillers that she was stealing from a medical charity she had founded.

"The era I was raising my children was the era when you had to be Super Mom," she said. "I was putting too much pressure on myself."

Cindy McCain has said she quit cold turkey in 1992 after her parents confronted her. She told the magazine she hid her dependency from her husband "because I didn't want to let him down."


I wouldn't count on weekend pundits focusing on the abuse of power angle unless it gets bigger play elsewhere.