In the letter released by the McCain campaign, attorney John Dowd notes that Cindy McCain's battles with drugs and the management of her charitable life have been long reported and then he wonders why the paper has not plowed more new ground with Barack and Michelle Obama.
"It is worth noting that you have not employed your investigative assets looking into Michelle Obama. You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book, Dreams of My Father," Dowd wrote.
"Nor have you interviewed his poor relatives in Kenya and determined why Barack Obama has not rescued them. Thus, there is a terrific lack of balance here. Chicago Sun Times
Much has been said about Cindy McCain's prescription drug abuse, primarily because it happened during a period of time during which she was the adult spouse of a well known politician & put others at risk allegedly committing prescription drug fraud (obtaining prescriptions under the names of her charity's employees) - and it was rumored that her husband's connections enabled to to cut a deal to avoid facing felony charges. This makes her situation and any complicity of her husband a much more significant cause for concern than Obama's occasional recreational drug use during high school and college.
This being said, the rest of the report in the Sun Times indicates that an overly aggressive reporter, Jodi Kantor, went trolling for dirt on the McCain family using facebook to contact a friend of McCain's 16-year old daughter Bridget. McCain's spokesman described the final NYT profile as gutter journalism and Kantor's atempt to contact the teen as an attempt to
dupe the unsuspecting minor by soliciting 'advice' on how best to approach the story, as if a top-flight investigative reporter at the New York Times would need the assistance of an underage girl in writing a hit piece.While I do think it was a bit much to contact teenaged school mates of a candidate's child, I have to wonder if the McCain campaign would have gone public with the complaint if the same tactic was used to write a complimentary piece. The email from Kantor was not as nefarious as the campaign makes it out to be and, frankly, considering how long McCain has been in Congress and that this is his second go at the Presidency, I can't imagine that the family doesn't expect their friends, relatives, neighbors and enemies to be contacted for dirt.
Jodi KantorWhile I understand the McCain family's concerns about getting dirt via acquaintences of their minor children, the suggestion of hunting for Obama's "dealer" just sounds like it's deflecting in a way to make his drug use more sinister (in other word, more scary black people from the ghetto like). Since Cindy McCain is out there giving stump speeches and casting her own aspersions on Obama, she should be fully prepared to have to face down her own demons.Add as Friend
September 29 at 7:21pm
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I saw on facebook that you went to Xavier, and if you don't mind, I'd love to ask you some advice about a story. I'm a reporter at the New York Times, writing a profile of Cindy McCain, and we are trying to get a sense of what she is like as a mother. So I'm reaching out to fellow parents at her kids' schools. My understanding is that some of her older kids went to Brophy/Xavier, but I'm trying to figure out what school her 16 year old daughter Bridget attends-- and a few people said it was PCDS. Do you know if that's right? Again, we're not really reporting on the kids, just seeking some fellow parents who can talk about what Mrs. McCain is like.
Also, if you know anyone else who I should talk to-- basically anyone who has encountered Mrs. McCain and might be able to share impressions-- that would be great.
Thanks so much for any help you can give me.
Jodi Kantor
Political correspondent
New York Times
kantor@nytimes.com
212 556 4596
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