Somebody Got To Cindy

[babylonsister]

So for all those publicly lauding cindy, this is the face of a rethug; hypocrisy.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_11/026626.php


SOMEBODY GOT TO CINDY.... Cindy McCain, perhaps best known as Sen. John McCain's (R) second/current wife, did something pretty brave this week. While her husband positions himself as one of Congress' leading anti-gay lawmakers, Cindy McCain appeared in a NOH8 activist video in support of gay rights.

In the television ad, she tells viewers, "Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future.... They can't serve our country openly." She added that the government "treats the LGBT community like second class citizens."

It was a striking move, given that her husband is leading the charge to ensure gay servicemen and women "can't serve our country openly" and that the LGBT community is treated "like second class citizens."

But in an even more striking move, Cindy McCain is now saying she no longer believes what she said in the commercial.

Cindy McCain announced that she is against the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" one day after she appeared in a video where she lends her support to end the ban on gays openly serving in the military. <...>

"I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband's stance on DADT," she tweeted.

Look, I really don't care what the spouses or children of policymakers have to say about current events. Cindy McCain's views on discrimination, or any other issue, are her business.

Until, that is, she decides she wants to play a more active, high-profile role in the larger public debate. In this case, on Thursday, Cindy McCain wanted to use her role as public figure to tell Americans how wrong it is that gay servicemen and women "can't serve our country openly" and that the LGBT community is treated "like second class citizens." And on Friday, Cindy McCain wanted to use her role as public figure to tell Americans that gay servicemen and women shouldn't "serve our country openly" and that the LGBT community deserves to be treated "like second class citizens."

I'm not sure which is more troubling -- the fact that Cindy McCain is willing to publicly contradict herself so blatantly, or that her embarrassed husband probably pressured her to say something that's at odds with her own beliefs.

—Steve Benen

[madmax]

1. Guess some women still consider themselves

chattel.


Must O-B-E-Y.

[tanyev]

2. Cindy, that man got where he is because of you and your money.

You don't need to take any crap from him.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Why the rush to assume it was her McNasty husband who pressured her?

It's plausible that pressure was brought to bear from an entity more capable of making an offer she couldn't refuse.

[CoffeeCat]

6. But it's so painfully obvious...

...that her "change of heart" was forced.

No one says one thing--with conviction and in an ad, then turns around 24 hours later to say that
she no longer means that.

So really--her new views have no power or meaning. All we see is the 180 she's done, and it's
crystal clear that she is being forced to say this--and that her initial words are her true feelings.

I don't think it's just her husband. A wife can tell her husband do kiss off, and of course she knew
how he'd feel about her doing the first ad. Of course he knew that she was going to do the ad. They
live together and most likely had many discussions about it. I'm sure he was unhappy, but they disagreed
and she did it anyway.

Then the shit hits the fan. This is coming from powerful outside forces, most likely in the Pentagon
and in the upper neocon echelons of the military. They came down hard on her.

This is really sick, if you think about it. She's forced to humiliate herself and utter words that she
clearly doesn't mean. And these bastards have the gall to criticize Middle Eastern countries for the way
they treat women?

[Cirque du So-What]

7. Oh, I agree that it was forced

but I believe she's had enough of McAnus to start becoming her own person once again. IMO it's more likely that the pressure came from other quarters.

[madmax]

17. CoffeeCat I think you're an awesome alpha-female

We need more like you and the women of DU. Lot's of alpha's here :toast:

[CoffeeCat]

26. Awesome!

Thank you for those wonderful, empowering words.

I like that...alpha-female. :)

Thanks madmax, you made my day!

[Control-Z]

21. I almost wrote pretty much the same yesterday.

With people calling her a liar and a whore, all I could think was that she was forced and John didn't act alone. I'm afraid to think about the kind of pressure (threats) used against her. I hope she finds a healthy way of dealing with these people. I wouldn't put anything past them.

She did a brave thing speaking out for the GLBT community, against her husband and her party. I wish her well.

[postulater]

15. Like what entity would that be?

[Cirque du So-What]

16. Oh, I dunno...

perhaps some religioso wingnuts or movers & shakers in the military-industrial complex. As I'm not privy to such info, I don't fucking know; I can only speculate, and I speculate that it was someone other than her husband.

[PSzymeczek]

22. I'm convinced

he threatened her. It's in his nature.

[political_Dem]

4. She's a flip-flopper.

It's about time one of the longest running taunts by the GOP towards the Democrats finally comes home to roost.

[terrya]

5. You can't "fully support NOH8" and support discrimination at the same time.

When you support bigotry and discrimination, as DADT is (and screw the "unit cohesion" and "combat effectiveness" crap), then your stated committment against hate and bullying is automatically called into question. Putting discrimination into place...like not allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military, or not allowing them to marry, or not allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt, or not allowing gay men to donate blood, or discrimination in employment and housing...that's fostering hate. That's giving ammunition to the bullies. That's telling bullies: "yes, there are things that are sick and abnormal". And having a society like that causes GLBT kids to commit suicide.

Maybe someone pressured her to say something against her beliefs. But she just lost her a credible voice against hate and against bullying, in my opinion. And trust me, reading about this on Facebook and the reactions, for instance, I'm not alone. I think the footage of her in the recent NOH8 video should be removed. Even if she was pressured or forced to make that statement about standing with her husband in support of bigotry, we don't need people who are half hearted in their attitudes about combating hate, discrimination and bullying.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. In total agreement.

Back in the Seventies when Martha Mitchell was calling The Post after midnight about what Nixon and her husband were up to, the remedy was an attempt to put her in a mental institution to neutralize her.

[zulchzulu]

9. Imagine if this twit was First Lady

Walk away from the pillbox, Cindy. Slowly.... walk away.

[stray cat]

10. Maybe what she said first didn't reflect any real belief

[Karenina]

11. I don't get your reasoning. What do you imagine

her motive to be? Have you seen their daughter's interview on Rachel where she discusses the Family Feud?

[nevergiveup]

12. Living with that old geezer all these years

has taken it's toll. In an odd way I feel sorry for her.

[madmax]

18. She should dump that chump. Long ago. nt

[Pisces]

13. She has been mentally abused by that sadomasochist.

[Mira]

14. McCain is an abusive husband as well as a generally nasty cuss. And she is drugged.

These are things I remember from the campaign and learning about this sad couple.

[vaberella]

19. People she wasn't mentally abused. She's being herself---a fake.

She always was...but people were quick to love her for all some of her opinions. Now that she seems to have flopped, it's brainwashing. Please. Money and attention makes people say a lot of things.

She'll get far more attention now than she did before.

[AspenRose]

20. I think they got to her too.

I think Meaghan encouraged her to speak her mind, and her husband and TPTB slapped her back down. McCain is a prideful bastard and can't stand having anyone making him look bad.

I hope she can find the courage somehow, somewhere to leave that moron.

[and-justice-for-all]

23. She had to condradict herself because that troll of a husband

of hers probably made her do so.

[Vinca]

24. I actually feel sorry for her. She acts like a battered woman.

It seems she actually has a mind of her own and may actually be a decent person, but stays with a verbally abusive spouse even though she has the means to go it alone.

[JBoy]

25. She's trying to agree with and support both her daughter and husband.

Probably has felt caught between the two of them for years.

Unfortunately that comes out now as talking out of both sides of her mouth.

[LynneSin]

27. Hey dingbat Cindy - you cannot support the one without supporting the other

This isn't ala carte support here.

[Phx_Dem]

28. Cindy is so subservient she isn't allowed to have an opinion.

Why is she so afraid of that asshole she's married to?