Happy Election Day, everyone! I hope you voted! I went bright and early. Anyway, today we continue yesterday’s post – some interesting (although I suppose that’s subjective) facts about our potential First Ladies. Yesterday we featured Michelle Obama, today we learn more about Cindy McCain.
1. She is into drifting and considers herself a “gearhead”. Her dad took her to the Indy 500 when she was only 12, which is where she discovered her love of cars. In high school, she took a class in auto mechanics and went to drag races with friends. When she saw the drifting technique on T.V. several years ago, she traveled to Japan with her son to take drifting lessons with a top instructor. The two of them have even competed in races together, once even finishing in second place.
2. She got her pilot’s license in 1986 and bought a small plane so she could fly her husband around Arizona during his Senate campaign.
3. She once spent two months writing notes on more than 4,000 Christmas cards to constituents.
4. She was the Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona when she was 14 years old.
5. She was named the Best Dressed when she was a senior at Central High School in Phoenix.
6. During her addiction to the painkillers Percocet and Vicodin, she would take up to 20 pills a day. She has since opened up about her addiction and says she hopes her story will help others. “I don’t want anyone to end up in the shoes I did,” she has said.
7. Along with the Bush twins, Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, she is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Joe Biden’s first wife was also a Theta.
8. She wrote her thesis on dance therapy.
9. When she visited Vietnam and brought a team to do neurosurgery and orthopedic work, she had a bizarre experience: she not only found herself in the exact hospital John McCain was brought to after being shot down, she found herself in the exact room. A doctor whispered to her that he had helped treat her husband during his time there.
10. During the election in 2000, George W. Bush supporters started spreading the rumor that Cindy and John McCain’s adopted daughter, Bridget, was actually his illegitimate child. Upon hearing these rumors, Cindy swore she would never be involved with politics again and said, “You’re on your own, John McCain!”
[See also: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Michelle Obama]
Comments (21)
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That’s cool she is a gearhead. I remember that not too long ago attention was brought to the fact that she and John own a number of Japan built vehicles. Anyone know what vehicles she owns?
posted by J on 11-4-2008 at 3:38 pm
11. She is a cylon. Frackin’ toasters are everywhere.
recaptcha: recalled soon
posted by EV on 11-4-2008 at 3:38 pm
Is it me, or is that kind of a creepy picture? I think she wants to eat my soul.
reCaptcha: Fenton Fowler
posted by Sillstaw on 11-4-2008 at 4:05 pm
All pictures of her are creepy, because Republicans DO want to eat your soul.
It is cool that she’s into cars, but I don’t blame her one bit for being furious at the nasty, evil, racist campaign dirty trick (led by the Bush campaign) against her husband and daughter. It’s been called one of the dirtiest campaign tricks in history. That’s why it’s even more incomprehensible that McCain has allowed his running mate’s rallies to descend into racist rallies with monkey dolls. That’s beyond appalling. I voted to make history in Virginia!
Captcha: survivors trophy. I hope it’s Obama holding it by the end of tonight.
posted by Southern Buddhist on 11-4-2008 at 4:23 pm
I believe the picture is from her presentation at the 2008 Republican National Convention
posted by Dwayne on 11-4-2008 at 4:34 pm
That’s right Southern Buddhist, we Republicans do want to eat your soul. Coinsidently, I also want to be a rodeo queen, fly a plane, learn to drift, and be a member of KAT. The Cactus High alumni in me though has a serious beef with Central High. Regardless, has anyone seen that awful movie “Death Race”? Cindy McCain could have understudied for Joan Allens role in that…
posted by Tiffany on 11-4-2008 at 4:37 pm
Yeah Buddhist, because the Dems saying Trig isn’t Sarah’s baby wasn’t dirty at all. Republicans are sooo eeeevil! Booooo! What a maroon.
posted by Hurricane on 11-4-2008 at 5:17 pm
I really don’t like it when people say things based on a person’s political party. I had a guy break up with me when he found out I sided more with the Republican party. I also had a friend break off contact with me when she found out I was more a Republican than a Democrat (she found out because she asked me, not because I flaunted it in people’s faces). The whole political party thing just peeves me off majorly. Keep your politics to yourself unless you’re a politician and it’s your job to talk about your politics, I say.
posted by Lindsay F on 11-4-2008 at 5:54 pm
Hurricane–along with refraining from name calling, perhaps you could learn to spell. ReCaptcha: picking our
posted by Judy on 11-4-2008 at 6:06 pm
Wow…the facts about Michele were actually interesting. However, I don’t find the fact that Cindy is a high school preppy, race car driving, druggy sorority girl interesting. While I may not have known all those things, I’m certainly not surprised.
It also confirms my hopes that she nor her hateful husband get into the White House today.
posted by Logan on 11-4-2008 at 6:11 pm
Although a Democrat, I’m going to reach across the aisle here in support of Hurricane, who I’ll assume to be Republican.
I’m going to assume (again – bad habit) that Judy’s talking about Hurricane’s use of “maroon” when questioning his spelling. I think Hurricane was referencing the old Bugs Bunny cartoons (us Dems love a good cartoon), as in “what a maroon!”
Of course, I could be wrong. I don’t want to be accused of scurrilous rumor-mongering in an attempt to sway the election.
posted by Jim on 11-4-2008 at 6:32 pm
As someone who voted for McCain, I would just like to clear up this confusion about Republicans. We do not want to eat your souls. We want to eat your brains. Please get it right.
ReCaptcha: Kitty administer
posted by Sam on 11-4-2008 at 7:09 pm
It is funny how the facts about Michelle were about her professional career and education, and the facts about Cindy were about her addiction, expensive hobbies and (to me) attempt to make her look superficial. Mental Floss is just as bias as the next site.
YOU DISAPPOINT ME!!
posted by Colin on 11-4-2008 at 8:07 pm
maybe colin, the reason that mentalfloss is “biased”(and that’s a bit of a stretch) is because there really isn’t anything that interesting about cindy mccain.
posted by elih on 11-4-2008 at 8:46 pm
In four years of living in Arizona, and how many hundreds of hours of unwillingly watching endless campaign soundbites, I can’t ever recall hearing Cindy McCain talk. It’s a pretty stark contrast between her’s and Michelle Obama’s public persona.
posted by gibson8or on 11-4-2008 at 8:59 pm
Yes, Colin..if you have some actual interesting things about Cindy, please share.
posted by Logan on 11-4-2008 at 10:16 pm
I’m torn between Colin’s and elih’s comments, but a little more digging on Cindy McCain facts wouldn’t hurt? I personally couldn’t care about her high school status and her marathon run with writing Christmas cards, but it was interesting enough to learn she used to have a drug addiction.
posted by Lisa on 11-5-2008 at 12:31 am
The real tragedy of this article was it’s failure to mention the millions of dollars she, as a chairman (chairwoman?) has been able to raise for charity, or the non-profit organization she founded and runs. They did not mention the fact that she was a teacher for students with special needs, or is a publish author. But we can’t have her looking better than Michelle Obama, that would defeat the purpose of these two articles.
posted by David on 11-5-2008 at 4:24 am
Sometimes, I wonder if politics should even be brought up on a forum. People defend that a little more vigorously than their religion.
Flaming other people because of their beliefs is a tired old exercise that accomplishes nothing, all it does is raise hackles.
I’m nonpartisan, and I approve unity in soul eating.
posted by Taryn on 11-5-2008 at 7:23 am
Here is some more trivia for those that are not consumed by their own hate…
1. Cindy adopted a young girl with a cleft pallet during her work to help the vietnamese. I assume this is the adopted child mentioned in the article.
2. Cindy McCain had a stroke in 2004 and lost her ability to talk for a while. She has never fully recovered.
posted by Morris on 11-5-2008 at 3:46 pm
I think Cindy looks scary too, but some of you guys are just cruel. No reason to bash someone just because they don’t believe in the same things that you do. I did enjoy reading about both her and Michelle Obama, because I learned a little more about someone that I didn’t know before. Look at the good, people, and stop hating.
posted by CK on 11-5-2008 at 7:05 pm