Friday, September 26, 2008

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - Liberal Version

From a viral letter that's going around:
MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN

It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.
He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was "if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?" I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.
More follows, but you can go find it yourselves, 'cause I'm not going to post the rest of this rancid piece of filth. Because it's probably not true.

For one thing - it has two different authors connected to it. My wife, who found it first in the comments at TAPPED has Mary-Kay Gamel a Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts at Cowell College, UC-Santa Cruz.

But, according to Counterpunch (Google cached), and many other left-leaning websites, the author is Anasuya Dubey, she is a clinical psychologist in California.

No one can seem to get Ms. Dubey or Ms. Gamel on the record.
The current McCain story in question originated with a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist named Anasuya Dubey, who is alleged to be the daughter of a former Indian Consul in San Francisco. I've tried to reach Dubey to no avail (she is said to be "private") but an e-mail chain has revealed a few things.
Unfortunately, Jeff Wells, whom I quote here, later slimes the 'author' with a mildly racist accusation himself. Dipshit - he doesn't believe the story, but then takes the authorship at face value? The supposed authors are being smeared as much as John McCain is.

Folks, this has the greasy, oily fingerprints of social engineering, particularly as a viral story. The only thing its missing is animated GIFs of angels & promises that you'll have good luck after you mail it to 10 more people. John McCain may have sold out his straight talk and maverick independence, and has certainly shown poor judgment in this camapign, but we don't do ourselves any favors peddling this kind of bullshit that we regularly accuse the GOP and its minions of.

8 comments:

Seven of Six said...

And here I thought it was that piece that Carl Bernstein wrote the other day.

I've been reading alot lately how the McFuckupawetdream Campaign gets people to write letters to Op-Ed's. I wonder if Obama's campaign does as well

Anjha said...

Jeebus, after reading your commentary I thought that it was completely slanderous.

I didn't think it was that bad.

In fact, my personal opinion of Johnny Mac is that this is mild and fiction only because it does not go far enough in exposing him.

I have read an awful lot over the last many months, many from personal acquaintances of McCain, many of these people have described him as racist and womanizing and violent.

Though I agree that we cannot win this way, I don't condemn it.

I wish more people would come out and speak the truth about him.

Anonymous said...

"probably" not true?

indeed. even an ardent mccain suporter can only say 'probably'. even those words, you will eat, as this will soon be verified.

believe me, even us obama supporters are not happy to see this. i wish it weren't true, as this man still has a snowballs' chance of getting elected.

idiosynchronic said...

And I think, even though I think John McCain is certainly a poor candidate, his actual personality is nothing we're ever going to know or be able to legitimately form an opinion of. None of use will have a personal experience with out candidates for office without several million dollars lying around.

I strongly condemn this letter - it's unverifiable, the writer plainly seems to be obfuscated deliberately, and anyone who thinks this is an accurate reflection should seriously contemplate their own willingness to look the other way when it's the "other guy" getting fucked. The splinter in my brother's eye and the log in my own, and all that.

The letter is libelous. period.

Seven of Six said...

Besides I thought McShitbird liked to vacation in the Caribbean. At least that was where he was going during the Keating Five Scandal.

iamcoyote said...

I say boo~ we don't need astroturf. Don't like. don't want.

Anjha said...

Wait a minute. I went back and read it at the Google cache (was this the whole thing?) to see if I missed something.

What did it say about Johnny Mac? He is a womanizer, treats women like trophies and is racist at his core? How many other things have I read who have said the exact same thing?

The worst thing in the letter was the quote supposedly said about his daughter. This is what confirms for me that it is fiction - or greatly exaggerated - because I cannot believe that anyone would say such a thing. Not anyone.

As for not condemning it - whatever. I did not say I would I treat it like "news" or link to it and I certainly would not ever forward something like that and would take great issue with it if it were forwarded to me, but my inclination is to ignore it, not condemn it because "I am better than that."

As for never knowing them - you are right, I would never know any of them personally. However, in watching how he interacts with his current wife and knowing how he treated his former wife, I have a pretty strong opinion of him. In hearing the "jokes" he has told in the past, it gives me a pretty good idea.

So, yeah, I have a strong, visceral reaction to him. I think that he is an arrogant, racist, womanizing, violent man with a whole lot of "small man" issues. Also, probably some pretty strong PTSD and some big need to re-play out the Vietnam war - which he said last night and no one has yet called him on it.

I am extremely proud of you that you react so strongly to the stupid letter, that you are so much better at renouncing wrongs than I am. But I do not like the guy, and I don't feel a need to apologize for it.

I would be more apt to stand up for such a 'wrong' against someone who I knew nothing about, a complete stranger, than someone who I have watched for some decade and do not in the least bit care for.

OTH, I would never stand by and allow him or any person to be beaten in front of me. That is a wrong that I would not ignore. I would step in and stop such violence. I just don't see this rumor-rag on the same level.

Dan Wilson said...

For the record, the name most commonly attributed to this (Mary-Kay Gemel) has disavowed writing it, and the most likely author (Anasuya Dubey) refuses to comment on it.