I'm an longtime Arizonafag who remembers the days of the Savings and Loan scandal and the "Keating Five" including Senator John McCain. I recently found an old article from that time from the great Tom Fitzpatrick writing for the Phoenix New Times. The article can be found here https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/the-selling-of-john-mccains-soul-6412215 but there are a lot of annoying ads so I am copying it here in its entirety.
The Selling of John McCain's Soul
Tom Fitzpatrick/Phoenix New Times
October 10, 1990
A writer of fiction most certainly would enjoy a rare literary feast in sitting down to write a novel based on the rise and fall of Senator John McCain.
McCain's life story has all the elements required for the creation of a complex, even memorable, fictional character. His life is one that has been packed with the critical turns required to keep a novel reader flipping the pages.
There have been so many twists of fortune in McCain's career. Certainly, he has been up and down more than most of the successfully fictionalized political characters of the past.
Think back on some of the most renowned works of fiction dealing with political subjects.
There was Richard Condon's frightening story of a returned prisoner of war in Korea that became The Manchurian Candidate. There was also Condon's Winter Kills, about the assassination of a man much like John F. Kennedy.
Tom Wicker's Facing the Lions is a dead-center depiction of a battle between a journalist and a senator who wants to become president. There is also Oakley Hall's story of a political figure who sells his soul to gain office in the almost forgotten The Corpus of Joe Bailey.
Most recently there has been Ward Just's vivid creation of the world of backbiting politics in Jake Gance.
Having cited all these, I must admit to a belief that McCain's life provides a more complex literary model than all of the others. As a political presence, McCain has been like an iceberg. Nine-tenths of his actions and motives have always been held beneath the surface, concealed from public view.
As a result, even though McCain has been in the headlines for almost a decade, we still haven't gotten to know the real John McCain. Is he a hero? Or has he always been caught up in his own self-advancement? Has he been totally corrupted by this association with Charles Keating? Or was it the insidious McCain who corrupted Keating?
On the surface, he's seems so readily approachable and open to journalists, television people and radio talk show hosts. And yet, after his statements are weighed, it always becomes clear McCain has never actually revealed much about himself.
Any novel about McCain would begin during his days as an undergraduate at Annapolis. Clearly, the fact that his father and grandfather were navy admirals played a big part in his being accepted at that military institution. But how do you account for the fact that his grades were so abysmal?
What kind of life did McCain lead as a student? Who were his friends? Where are they now? And, once again, why did McCain finish at the bottom of his class?
What about his first marriage? A novelist would want to know what caused that to break up, and what happened to the children.
A large chunk of the McCain story would take place in the North Vietnam prison camp where he was held for years. That section would end with the climactic scene in which Mc Cain limped off the plane and into the view of national television after finally being released by his captors.
There would be an early Washington section following his release in which McCain's role as naval liaison to Congress would be closely examined.
There could be some real surprises here. For example, what was the foundation for his close friendship with Senator John Tower of Texas, even then known as a heavy drinker and womanizer?
The reader would learn about the inside of Washington politics as McCain and the politically powerful Tower studied states where congressional openings were coming up. Why did McCain finally decide to move to Arizona rather than Florida?
There is the potential for some great scenes here.
First of all, there would be an account of the meeting with incumbent Congressman John Rhodes, whose resignation would provide McCain with the necessary opening. How would Rhodes take it when he was told that he must allow McCain to succeed him rather than his own son?
Later, there would be still another important meeting with Barry Goldwater, the old Republican war-horse. Despite the fact that Goldwater was the laziest member of the Senate, he had the power to put a stop to McCain anytime he wished.
There were so many things that had to come together to make it possible for an outsider like McCain to run for political office in Arizona.
Certainly, there was always more to McCain's courtship of the pretty young brewery heiress, Cindy Hensley, than love at first sight.
And what about his friendship with Duke Tully, the Arizona Republic publisher? Tully's backing finally made it possible for McCain to win his first election.
The last section of this roman à clef would tell the full story of McCain's relationship with Charles Keating. There are so many facets to this partnership that might be explored.
The biggest problem for a novel writer at this point would be to prevent the dynamic Keating character from taking over the entire novel.
It isn't difficult to imagine McCain's excitement when he realizes that the wealthy Keating has decided to back McCain with all the money he needs.
With Keating solidly behind him, McCain imagines he might even become president of the United States.
It is at this point that things begin to spin out of hand. Keating is so rich and powerful that he takes command, not only of McCain but also of the state's senior senator, Dennis DeConcini.
McCain's wife, Cindy, and his father-in-law invest $350,000 in a Fountain Hills shopping-center project with Keating. McCain is certain no one will ever take the trouble to find out.
He believes he has the perfect answer to any criticism. There is a prenuptial agreement. The money is his wife's to do with what she wants. He misses one point. It would be one thing to buy a fur coat without consulting your husband. It is something else entirely to invest nearly a half million dollars.
There is a dramatic meeting with Keating who tells McCain that all he has to do is keep his mouth shut and no one will ever be the wiser.
Keating tells McCain there is nothing to fear and the ambitious senator is convinced.
Until this point, the Arizona media had been repelled by Keating's repeated threats to sue any and all publications that dared to print unfavorable stories.
Before he realizes, McCain is in too deep with Keating. He has been inexorably drawn into a lavish lifestyle consisting of free rides on Keating's personal jet planes and vacations at Keating's opulent home in the Bahamas.
And by this time, McCain has accepted $112,000 from Keating in campaign donations.
McCain has crossed over the line.
And when the savings-and-loan scandal strikes, McCain and four other senators are caught in the storm.
The novel's final chapters will revolve around an investigation of McCain, DeConcini, Alan Cranston, Donald Riegle, and John Glenn, who helped Keating by creating pressure on bank regulators.
In the novel based on these events, McCain might save his soul by making a dramatic public confession. He would stand before a packed gallery and admit that he had lost his moral focus.
And then McCain would walk proudly out of the hearing room with his wife on his arm. His political career would be over but his honor would be restored.
In real life, the McCain story may end on a more cynical note. He will sell out Keating, just as he tossed aside Tully, who was once so close he became godfather to one of McCain's children.
We will remember John McCain as a self-serving egoist who skulked through the corridors of power. We will never forget the desperate man selling his soul in an effort to make the Senate Ethics Committee believe he had done no wrong.
The final chapter of McCain's real political life backs up a terrible suspicion many have held.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
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[–] 23462344? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
GETTING TO KNOW THE REAL JOHN McCAIN
By Burma Davis Posey
McCain graduated 894th in his class of 899 students from the Naval Academy. He was known for being wild and it usually revolved around women. He was a member of a group of students who called themselves "The Bad Bunch".
He married Carol Shepp who was a successful swimsuit model. She had been married to one of his classmates and had two children from her first marriage. She and McCain became parents for a daughter one year later. He had been quite a playboy and was already becoming bored with the domesticated life. He requested active duty in Vietnam. While he was there, Carol faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news about her husband. His plane was shot down in 1967 and he became a POW.
On Christmas Eve 1969, Carol and the children were spending the holiday with her parents. After dinner she was going to take gifts to some friends. The road was icy and she slid head-on into a telephone pole. She was thrown from the car through the front window. Her legs, spine, and right arm were crushed and she was in the hospital for 6 months. Ross Perot was an advocate of POW's and he paid her medical bills. She requested that John not be told because she felt he already had enough to deal with.
McCain was released in 1973 and returned home to much fanfare. Carol had several surgeries, lost 5 inches in height, and gained some weight.. McCain told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again. But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance.
As a war hero, McCain was moving in ever-more elevated circles. "He started carousing and running around with women.", reported Robert Timberg. Bob Timberg was a retired Marine, an American journalist, writer, and author of four books, including THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG and JOHN MCCAIN: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY.
McCain admitted he started having many girlfriends and affairs during this time. On one trip to Hawaii he met an Anheuser Busch distributer heiress, Cindy Hensley, at a cocktail party. She was 17 years younger than McCain and worth $100 million dollars. He invited her to have drinks with him at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. He said by the end of the evening he was in love.
They had an affair for nine months while he was still married to and living with his wife Carol. McCain wanted to marry Cindy but needed first to get a divorce. He and Carol separated in January 1980. He requested a divorce in February, the divorce was sped along and granted in April. He and Cindy married 5 weeks after the divorce was final on May 17, 1980. Carol and their children were devastated. McCain callously left his first wife and children behind. He and Cindy moved to Arizona. Cindy's father was well-connected and helped McCain move smoothly into Congress representing Arizona in Washington DC.
McCain's new wife and her family were extravagantly wealthy. Her father was one of the largest distributors of Anheuser Busch in the country and she was an only child. The divorce settlement afforded Carol McCain full custody of their three children, alimony, child support, including college tuition, houses in Virginia and Florida, and lifelong financial support for her continuing medical treatment from the car accident.
Carol said the reason for the divorce was John turned 40 and he wanted to be 25 again. Carol was extremely hurt. She went to work as the press assistant for soon-to-be First Lady Nancy Reagan. She became loved and respected in Washington. She kept a dignified silence about the horrendous way McCain had treated her.
Some of the McCain friends were less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.
Despite his popularity as a politician, there are those who have not forgotten his treatment of his first wife. Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights.
Ted said, "I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is... deceit. "When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young, beautiful, and very wealthy. McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.
"This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. Yet he has no character. He is a fake." Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel, even by the standards of modern politics.
Mr. Perot said, "McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory.
After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history. A man who cannot be faithful to a loving, self-sacrificing wife cannot be trusted to be faithful to the American people.
Cindy has also had to learn the lessons about her husband the hard way. Even though she and McCain put on a perfect front for the public, especially when he is running for office, she really is an invisible wife to him.
Tom Gosinski, who served as director of Cindy McCain’s nonprofit American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) wrote in his journal about the McCain marriage: "During my short tenure at AVMT I have been surrounded by what on the surface appears to be the ultimate all-American family. In reality, I am working for a very sad, lonely woman. Her marriage of convenience to a U.S. Senator has driven her to distance herself from friends, cover feelings of despair with drugs, and replace lonely moments with self-indulgences. She became addicted to Percocet and had a doctor prescribing them for her illegally. When her parents learned she was taking them, they helped her stop.
Washington rumors were saying McCain had an inappropriate relationship with the young and lovely lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. Ms. Iseman began visiting McCain's offices and campaign events so frequently in 2000 that his aides were "convinced the relationship had become romantic". One staff member supposedly asked, "Why is she always around?" His staff members began a campaign to "save McCain from himself" by restricting Iseman's access to McCain during the course of the 2000 presidential primary. According to the Washington Post, McCain's political advisor John Weaver met with Iseman at Washington's Union Station to tell Iseman not to see McCain anymore.
It is not a real marriage between John and Cindy McCain. Real marriages usually involve living together. McCain and Cindy have not "lived" together for 20 years. To defend this, McCain brags the family takes two vacations together every year and Ms. McCain is the one who has always made that happen."
Two vacations per year...What a farse and fake!! Nothing about this man is real. He has no compassion or empathy for anyone except himself. The only real thing emotion he is capable of is anger. He is famous for his anger.
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[–] 23462339? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Part 2/2
Here is a fact-checker who verifies this info.
[–] 23462119? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
GREAT article. You should send that to The View!
[–] 23464634? ago
I would stay home from work and figure out how the tv works to see that!
[–] 23464768? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Hahaha I would watch that for the first and only time if the read viewer mail!!!