Something Nice About the McCains

Regular readers of this blog know I’m not John McCain’s biggest fan, but I found out something I had not known about Senator McCain and his wife Cindy. They have an adopted daughter. Senator McCain did an interview about being a Father with Dad magazine, and they asked about the adoption:

Dadmag: Your youngest daughter Bridget is adopted. Why did you decide to adopt Bridget?

McCain: Well it was primarily my wife’s Cindy’s idea. She was in Bangladesh and she and some of the medical personnel visited Mother Theresa’s orphanage to try and help the children there. There were two little baby girls there. One had a heart problem the other a severe cleft palate. Cindy was very concerned about their ability to survive and their need for medical treatment, so she decided to bring them here for medical treatment. She fell in love with both of them. We decided to adopt Bridget. Two close friends of ours, adopted Mickey, the other child.

Dadmag: You knew about your wife’s decision before hand?

McCain: (laughs) No. She arrived and said “Say hello to your new little daughter.”

Dadmag: A bit of a shock?

McCain: Yes indeed.

Dadmag: And how has it worked out? Are you happy with the decision to adopt Bridget?

McCain: Oh yes! She has enriched our lives. She’s a wonderful child, a complete part of our family and we love her.

Dadmag: Your other children accepted her well?

McCain: Oh yeah sure. She’s the toughest of the four. The youngest always has to be the toughest.

I guess it says quite a bit about Mrs. McCain’s character and heart. It also says something about Senator McCain that this hasn’t been trumpeted. In nine years of reading about Senator McCain, the first time I heard about Bridget was this morning. With some politicians, there’d be books,  stories, maybe a made-for-TV movie about Cindy and John McCain’s inter-racial adoption. There are many ways this could be politically exploited, McCain has chosen not to. Good for him.

This does put a different spin on the Independent calls made in South Carolina against Senator McCain in 2000:

Dadmag: During your campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination Bridget became something of an issue in South Carolina didn’t she?

McCain: Yeah. There were some pretty vile and hurtful things said during the South Carolina primary. It’s a really nasty side of politics. We tried to ignore it and I think we shielded her from it. It’s just unfortunate that that sort of thing still exists As you know she’s Bengali, and very dark skinned. A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin. Thousands and thousands of calls from people to voters saying “You know the McCains have a black baby” I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those.

Indeed, unfortunately, this protection couldn’t last forever as Newsweek is set to report according to Politico:

Cindy McCain, in a lovely pink suit, is on the cover of the Newsweek issue that closes today. “Behind That Smile: Understanding Cindy McCain,” by Holly Bailey tells about the time the McCains’ adopted daughter, Bridget, Googles herself, learns about the South Carolina smears from 2000, and comes to Cindy to ask: “Why does President Bush hate me?”

While I don’t think Bush was involved or ordered the smears, people who wanted him elected did do this. And I guess this explains part of why McCain took so long to endorse Bush in 2000.

Of course, throughout this campaign, I’ll continue to analyze and criticize the Senator on his policy and strategy, but I think the way he and his wife have handled this adoption and the related issues has been classy, and readers should know that as well.