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I've been to busy today to keep up with the world, so I bring you another McCain Myth-buster from DailyKos.
The McMyth
by smintheus Sat Jul 12, 2008
John McCain is just a shameless liar, as I can attest from personal experience. But the traditional media in the US remains so wedded to the McMyth he's constructed for them of a 'straight talker', that they generally ignore any evidence that would shatter it. Revelations that would destroy another politician's career routinely are cloaked in silence to preserve the McMyth. Reporters have settled on their narrative for McCain, and they're damned now if they'll admit that they were just blowing smoke at the public.
Take the revelation yesterday that McCain has lied and continues to lie about his marital infidelity and divorce. Richard Serrano and Ralph Vartabedian of the LA Times uncovered documents to show that McCain's memoir falsified the facts.
In his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Hensley.
"I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow," McCain wrote. "I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980."
An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.
Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.
The Times neglects to mention that adultery is considered "conduct unbecoming an officer" and can be prosecuted under the UCMJ. The report does however show that despite his later version of events, McCain concealed his extramarital affair from fellow officers and friends as well as his wife, Carol, for the better part of a year. McCain's false chronology obviously is meant to conceal how calculated his behavior was throughout. That's hard to deny given that he got a marriage license while he was married.
So, we have the presumptive Republican presidential nominee caught lying in his memoir about his sordid behavior and past dishonesty. Predictably, the rest of the US media have turned a blind eye to the LA Times' revelations (though they're considered newsworthy abroad).
Because voters don't need to know about evidence regarding McCain's integrity. Reporters have already presented the McMyth. What more could the public want?
