by Jill Zuckman
Cindy McCain is not backing down.
In an interview with Kate Snow from Vietnam this morning on ABC's Good Morning America, the wife of Sen. John McCain did not back away from her implicit criticism of Michelle Obama earlier this year.
"I don't know why she said what she said," Cindy McCain said from Vietnam, where she is traveling with Operation Smile, a group that repairs children's facial deformities. "Everyone has their own experience. I don't know why she said what she said. All I know is that I have always been proud of my country."
It was on the campaign trail in Wisconsin when Michelle Obama said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."
Reacting to the implication that Obama had never been proud of her country before, McCain stood up to introduce her husband and said something that caught the media's attention: "I am proud of my country. I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier, I am very proud of my country."
The words sparked a firestorm of attention for both women,
"You have to remember, I have a son" in Iraq, she said in an earlier interview with the Tribune from Kosovo. "It just spilled out of my mouth, and then I got back on the bus and I thought, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' I thought, 'Oh, I should never have opened my mouth. How did that happen? I'll put duct tape over it.'"
On Wednesday, Michelle Obama appeared on ABC's The View saying she never meant to say she wasn't proud of her country, but rather that she was talking about her pride in the political process.
"I wear my heart on my sleeve, just ike all of you guys," she said. "At some level, when you put your heart out there...it's a risk that you take."
Obama said she was proud of the nation before her campaign, but that, in the controversial comment, she was talking about pride in the political process. She also said she was touched by Laura Bush's public defense of her and she wrote her a thank you note.
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Comments
I am not a fan of George Bush's presidency, as regular bloggers know. But I do respect the office and, particularly, his wife. Mistress McCain could use a lesson from formal school teacher Laura Bush. The first lady has more class and dignity than Cindy McCain will ever know.
Posted by: David J | June 19, 2008 7:15 AM
I'm not a seer, but I guessing that the flaming of Mrs. McCain will begin soon. The liberals never let up do they? Oh well, here we go again.
Posted by: Green | June 19, 2008 7:29 AM
I think Cindy McCain is way classier than racist Michelle Obama.
And she may be wealthy, as is the Obamas, but I don't see Mrs Obama traveling around the world with charities the way Cindy McCain quietly does.
Look up Cindy McCain on Snopes and you'll get a good idea of how this lady is.
WAY classier than Mrs. Obama could ever dream to be and not a racist either.
Posted by: Nick | June 19, 2008 9:01 AM
I'm not a seer, but I guessing that the flaming of Mrs. McCain will begin soon. The liberals never let up do they? Oh well, here we go again.
Posted by: Green | June 19, 2008 7:29 AM
Like you have "let go" of Michelle? Please!
Posted by: bill r. | June 19, 2008 9:08 AM
It is easy to be proud of America, but not proud of individual acts of America or Americans or the people who represent America at home or overseas. I felt what Michelle Obama felt when she made her infamous remark. Pride is a stock condition that comes with the territory, but there are occasions when one is "really" proud for the first time. But since this is a political year everything anyone in a campaign says is wordsmithed to death and to such an extent that you wind up saying "to hell with it, I'm not proud, ok?" End of story.
Posted by: GW | June 19, 2008 9:12 AM
Laura Bush and Michelle Obama are excellent role models for our young daughters. Poised, gracious, supportive and understanding..
Cindy McCain is snarky - remember the "Mean Girls" movie? She apparently enjoys being the center of attention with her "oh my - did I really say that?!" routine. Twice.
Posted by: Tom J | June 19, 2008 10:20 AM
Is Cindy McCain proud of Jim Crow laws? They happened in America. Is the Republican Party proud of Jim Crow Laws?? They happened in America and Americans allowed it. I'm not proud of that America. I will never be proud of that America. Sue me.
Posted by: jo | June 19, 2008 11:18 AM
Cindy McCane may not be the CLASSY BIT** that M Obama is, but she has always been proud of the USA. M Obama could take a lesson from Cindy in honesty; instead of CHANGING her image to try to be more like what she thinks will impress the voter. We don't need a fake First Lady in the Whitehouse any more than we need a fake for president in the whitehouse.
Posted by: RFB-IL | June 19, 2008 11:19 AM
M Obama could take a lesson from Cindy in honesty;
Posted by: RFB-IL | June 19, 2008 11:19 AM
Would that be like honestly stealing drugs for her addiction?
Posted by: bill r. | June 19, 2008 11:41 AM
In 1989, Cindy McCain became addicted to opioid painkillers such as Percocet and Vicodin, which she initially took to alleviate pain following two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs and to ease emotional stress during the Keating Five scandal, which involved her as a bookkeeper who had difficulty finding receipts. The addiction progressed to where she resorted to stealing drugs from her own AVMT.
Posted by: bill r. | June 19, 2008 11:43 AM
To preface my remarks I first will state I am a life-long Republican, have never voted for a
Democrat in a Presidential Election - until this time around. My husband was a POW in Vietnam
going on 7 years. He has said McCain was one of the good-guys over there and he will vote for
McCain in Nov.
I am totally disenchanted by everything McCain is doing to get elected, down-to-and-including
siccing his wife on Michelle Obama. In this he has gone too far and it is so transparent.
There is not a reasonably intelligent individual that did not understand what Michelle was trying
to say. Now we have those that for whatever their personal agendas may be trying to convince
the public she meant something else - how sad it has become to stoop so low.
The fact is these people never intended to vote for Obama under any circumstance and are using
a non-story to support their reasoning. The same with trying to convince us Obama is a Muslim.
If this is the best they can do then we have to assume Obama’s background is so unblemished
that they can only attack those around him - and we have heard enough of those attacks.
I don’t agree with either Candidate and their positions on many of the issues - quite frankly there
is little difference between them. Only the semantics they use to explain where they are coming
from. It is time to get off the vilifying of the spouses. Cindy McCain’s background is much
worse that Michelle’s will ever be. In playing the tawdry politics the McCain campaign is
displaying he is opening the door to having his wife hurt more than Obama’s will be.
Posted by: Kathy | June 19, 2008 12:40 PM
It is 'all about me' when Michelle only feels proud about the campaign process when her husband is in the race.
Posted by: vote4thebest | June 19, 2008 12:48 PM
Can you be first lady with this in your past? This is a significantly more serious problem than some hidden/non-existent videotape where someone called white people white!
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-08/news/opiate-for-the-mrs/
Posted by: chris | June 19, 2008 12:54 PM
Here's what she realy said:
"for the first time I am proud of my country"
After Barack's handlers found out about it, they made her rephrase it later that day:
She only said "for the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country"
Everyone who quotes the second speech without mentioning the first is a liar. That means Barack is a liar, Michelle is a liar, everyone on this board is a liar and the author is a liar.
Do you all honestly believe the McCain people will only play YOUR version of the speech in their campaign commercials?
The delegates at the convention will not be so stupid. Hillary will be the nominee.
Posted by: francis | June 19, 2008 1:49 PM
Its easy for a Caucasian lady privileged and elite to say she's always been proud of her country, she wasn't dragged to this country against her will from Africa, or overtaken by brutal forces on one's own land and put on reservations. Ask Mrs. McCain if she is proud of these atrocities endured by both Native Americans and African Americans alike and if she is, she's got bigger problems than she thinks and so does anyone else that votes for McCain. Sticking your head in the sand to America's sins does not make you a proud American or a patriot it makes you stupid. You would serve this country better by electing officials who will eventually undue these wrongs and truly make America the great country that it could be. Why shouldn't everyone who is a citizen be proud, not just the Caucasian select few?
Posted by: Lindy Mountain | June 19, 2008 3:30 PM
I understand that in AZ, Cindy "What's wrong with Michelle Obama" was caught stealing drugs meant for a non-profit charitable organization. Why hasn't anyone addressed that?
Posted by: Mom of 3 | June 19, 2008 3:52 PM
Whoops!! Johnny didn'tiused to love America.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/19/watch-mccain-didnt-love-a_n_108191.html
Posted by: Vicki Iseman | June 20, 2008 3:34 PM