Cindy McCain's half-sister: 'I'm angry'

So we haven't even gotten to the convention stage of the campaign process and we're already down to interviews with a candidate's wife's step-sister's grievances. Shouldn't you, ahem, journalists, save something for September?

Who CARES? This half-sister sounds like an opportunist, and I could care less if she is "angry". There are many other good things in life to focus on besides the fact that your estranged half-sister doesn't talk to you.

Boo-hoo, so how does this fit into a presidential campaign. Obama's half brother who lives in China says their dad was a deadbeat dad and a drunk, that has no bearing on the campaign either. You can pick you friends, like it not your stuck with you family good or bad. Guess she needs to get over it.

Cindy always came across as cold, but I can even feel a chill from here.
You think Kathleen will be invited to the Republican convention?

How is this relevant, other than to take another swipe at McCain? Let's talk about the issues such as Obama not having a position on ANYTHING.

"HENSLEYS SPEAK"

YES WE'RE NOT LISTED ON HER "SCHEDULE III" FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATMENT. SHE DID GIVE YOU ONE!
YES WE'RE NOT LISTED ON ANY LOANS OR PRESCRIPTIONS!
YES WE DON'T EXIST IN HER MIND, BUT WE DO!
SHE'S BEEN AWOL!
SHE'S BEEN MISSING!
WE'RE TREATED LIKE IMMIGRANTS.
WE AREN'T "MORTGAGE LIABILITIES" WE'RE FAMILY!
WE'RE BLOOD!
WE'RE NOT WORTH 300 MILLION DOLLARS!
WE'RE NOT "ELITIST"
WE'RE NOT MARRIED TO "MCCAIN"
BUT WHO WANTS TO BE!
WE EXIST, JUST LIKE CAROL, JUST LIKE VICKIE!
JUST LIKE THAT 4 MILLION DOLLARS FIDILETY NATIONAL TRUST BANK LOAN.
WE'RE NOT LISTED ON HER SCHEDULES, SO WE DON'T EXIST!

Sounds really childish. Portalski, like the McCains, is ancient - does it really matter whether Cindy says she's related to Portalski? Half the time, I don't want to be related to my family and we're "fully-blooded."

Probably should have mentioned that last night as family values kinda thing.

Wa wa wa. Get ovet it you saw your father a couple times a year. You never mention that you spent any time with Cindy. 1943 to 1954 that' s 11 years difference right. By the time Cindy was 5 that would have made you 16, what 16 year old girl wants to play dolls with a 5 year old? For all practical purposes she was an only child with a teen age visitor a couple of times a year. As for Nicholas grow up and live your own life. Quit being bitter, whoever told you life was fair, was pulling your leg. Be happy with the life you have things could be worse. If you arn't happy with your life only you can change the way you live.

I am not sure how this family matter has any relevance to the campaign...

So Cindy McCain doesn't consider that she has siblings because she didn't see them growing up... and this makes the half-sister (who didn't see her or her father very often) angry... What is the point supposed to be? Cindy is a bad person? Her Father's first marriage ended in a way that we don't know about?

Sounds like a family matter to me.

Sour Grapes!

I presume that the Tribune will be reporting in excruciating detail all about every one of Michelle Obama's relatives any day now. But I hope not. Could someone please notify the media that the wives are not running for office and they and their children should not be subjected to this kind of sleazy journalism. Otherwise, no man will ever want to run for president if it means that the media will drag his wife through the mud, real, imaginary or media manufactured.

I am sure we wont see this story on Fox or even CNN.  This does not surprise me at all.  Cindy McCain is a very selfish self centered woman who was instrumental in John McCains discard of his first wife and kids.

Cindy doesn't want to recognize her half sister and family and Johnny Boy never mentions his children from his first marriage. The two are perfect for each other.

McCain's children probably fell like non-people too.

That's really sad. Like Cindy McCain, I'm a child of second marriages, and I know that my half-siblings had to deal with a lot of nasty stuff from the divorces that I never had to. I've always treated them as my brothers -- not that I'm some saint, but it was the least I could do to show them that I loved them as family, even if they didn't get along with their stepparents.
I know every family is different, so I don't want to make assumptions about why Cindy behaves as she does, but it makes me sad. Each new generation is given an important opportunity to heal the hurt inflicted by their parents, and when they don't, it's a shame.

This really saddened me. For a father to treat his children so differently. Leaving his multi-million dollar fortune to Cindy and a crumby $10,000 to his other daughter, who already had to struggle growing up without a father. This really changes my opinion of Cindy. She could have righted the injustice by voluntarily sharing the inheritance equally.

Good thing he is a republican family man and did he not divorce his first wife?

Absolutely zero relevance. Remember, Obama and his media surrogates pledged to run an "honorable" campaign. Just like he and his pack of dustbusters "honorably" went after Jack Ryan and Blair Hull's divorce records. This is pathetic.

All I know is that John McCain cheated on his first wife. That's all that matters, really.

This is typical Obama modus operandi... his flaks promote a story... hoping it will get some traction. After if breaks, his surrogates beat up on McCain for a few days.

Then the media asks Obama for a comment and he will say that it is not a big deal and the press ought to lay off of digging up dirt on candidates families.

You see, he's running a different kind of campaign... even when it turns out that his camp is pushing the story in the first place.

He gets the benefit of the first mud, then says "don't throw mud [at me]."

Yeah!!!!

NPR doing unbiased, honest journalism once again. I learned to laugh at NPR long ago...and I trust the majority of thoughtful, competent Americans do also. If I am wrong, then you win NPR...

Wow...Thanks to the compassionate religious right for their insight. Drink any blood tonight? Geeez!

Obama to name Biden as VP.

You heard it here first.

The left is grasping at straws particularly after the Obamessiah bombed the other night.

And this story has relevancy how?

Laura, Via, Deadwood and others DON"T GET that this goes to the genocidal mentality, the 'let them eat cake' mentality that lets McSame say things like 'well they shoulda been responsible and not takena vacaction' to the mortgage crisis.
The 'mortgage crisis' is THE WAR ECONOMY and the DEREGULATION economy left in the wake of Ronald Reagan's banking fiasco.
Watch this.
http://therealmccain.com/?utm_source=
rgemail

This story is certainly relevant. John McCain, a man who dumped his first family in a nano second in his headlong rush to marry a woman twenty years younger and $100 million dollars richer than his first wife, is this year's darling of the "family values" set. But what family values are we talking about? No matter how you "interpret" this story, Cindy McCain's father abandoned a child from his first family. If Cindy didn't know her half sister, that's entirely her father's fault, not her sister's. The problem is, Cindy McCain appears to have no problem with the fact that her father and her husband dumped their families. So apparently for Republicans, "family values" continues to mean being firmly opposed to people you don't like having sex. Everybody say "hallelujah."

Can we talk about Obama's half-brother who says he's a muslim, then? After all, this story is SO relevant.

Roger Morris, the pharmacy called. Your Prozac prescription is ready.

..........and this means absolutely nothing. This is the calibre of reporting on NPR? How somebody was made to FEEL 45 years ago? Get real.
What a waste of subscribers' donations.

Who cares?
Cindy McCain isn't running for president, and even if she was, who cares whether she recognizes a half brother and half sister?

RNC Bruce & the Kids want it - they got it.

You live in a glass house and you're too stupid to keep your yaps shut. So let's have at it.

Let's hear ALL about McCain's adulterous affair with the beer heiress. We want time lines, locations, birthdays, anniversary dates, etc. I want RNC Bruce to choke on his own mud slinging vomit. And what's left over, I want John D. and the rest of his RNC sycophants to wipe it up.

Cindy can't remeber her own family members? I guess those pain killers she stole from needy children to feed her addiction had more of an impact than originally thought.

...but is it the first time she's PROUD of her country?
The Presidential candidate's wife's half-sister form the previous marriage...gimme a break!

This story is hardly newsworthy and makes NPR seem eager and grabbing at straws to find a negative about Mrs. McCain. She is much admired by the public for her philanthropic work but we hear little about that or the fact that she has an adopted Black daughter.

Sour grapes, you say? Give me a break. This woman is Cindy's half sister, and as recently as a month ago, she referred to herself as an only child! Her father may have half-heartedly supprted the sister, but left her $10,000 of his huge estate. I know Phoenix, and if this woman lives in the central area, it is an indication that she has limited means. If Cindy was a decent woman, she would acknowledge a sister, and share some of that enormous wealth. My guess is that the sister is an embarrasment to this wealthy, famous woman, and she also is purely greedy. If the Democrats had the "go for the throat" qualities of their GOP brethren, they'd run with this. I have no respect for Cindy McCain at all. Selfish and mean.

Just like the fake right wingers. Always talking about family values and their own families are a mess. It just proves what I have always thought about the McCains. PHONY.

Yet another disturbing article that brings to light the general dishonesty by which McCain and his family exist. Is this really relevant to McCain becoming President? No. Does it paint a picture of a couple who appear to be real opportunists? Yes. I am uncomfortable with the McCains as the first family.

Another great sin! Put family first...family values..have babies and discard them, treat them like a non person, but we can adopt and use as atax write off..motto: don't be angry get even

What a bunch of McCain troll hyporcrites.

For months the McCain campaign has been calling Obama elitist and trying to convince the public that he is some kind of country club liberal.

Yet the reality is that in the McCain world, the McCain's are so worried about appearances that they DENY THE EXISTENCE of two half-siblings. Coincidentally, those sibilings were not handed the McCain family fortune.

They are not asking for money. They are just pointing out how hurtful it is to be rendered non-existent in order to keep up some appearance of family values. The McCain and Hensley family have a long traditional of infidelity and immorality that the MSM is only starting to report on.

As is often used as a preface to attacking Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain is a very visible part of the campaign. Her background is fair game, especially since she wears the pants in her relationship as McCain's sugar momma.

How pathetic. Why didn't they try and bond with Cindy years ago instead of blaming Cindy in the media for her father's pathetic judgement through his life.

I don't think they want to mend a family, they want their 15 minutes of fame. They are allowing themselves to become a tool of the media.

Perhaps this performance shows us the father had some good reason to make the choices he made?

Why waste all the energy typing all these words? Why not just say, "We here at the Tribune are voting for Obama and we will do everything in our power to make sure he wins." The readers might actually respest your honesty and it just may turn into less layoffs.

Could someone please notify the media that the wives are not running for office and they and their children should not be subjected to this kind of sleazy journalism.
Posted by: Darella | August 18, 2008 8:04 PM

I could have sworn I read your post right after the idiots on the right called Mrs. Obama a racist, America hater and all those other wonderful names. Probably not...Huh?

I guess with the 6-degree of separation theory, NPR can probably link just about anybody on this God green earth to Kathleen Portalksi herself. So yeah, I AM pretty upset that Kathleen hasn't acknowledged ME for years! By the way, NPR gets public funding for this kind of reporting?

After Obama's stunning reversal at Saddleback, his Tribune flacks are becoming desperate. Remember how they destroyed Obama opponent Ryan in Obama's Senate race? They will try for a repeat here. Unlikely to succeeed though. Ryan withdrew when gutless Illinois Republican "leader" Bar Topinka failed to back him against blatant media bias. The stakes are higher now and national the Republicans are made of srterner stuff than born- to-lose Bar Topinka..

So Cindy is denying the exsistence of not only her father's child but also her mother's?
I wonder how the other sister feels?
I guess Cindy feels justified since she recieved the bulk of her father's fortune.

It is one thing not to get along with half siblings due to one's step or natural parents actions..it is quite another to deny they even exist!

Most would believe a major life event such as a stroke at such a young age would prompt a metamorphsis of thought and action. Not apparently so with Cindy.

She continues to thinks like a "only child".

John McCain reportedly did not see his children from his first marriage for years
after abandoning their mom to persue Cindy.

So John, and Cindy are obvioulsy cut from the same mold.

Just "eliminate " folks if they don't suit your current focus!.

It sounds like Cruella de Vil and John Boy deserve each other. Each would sell his own grandmother if they thought that would further the political cause.

Family dynamics tell us an awful lot about character. From the dispicable things McCain has called his wife to the way she has treated her half sister.

But then, these are the "family values" folks. Right!

If "his second wife, Marguerite, also had a daughter from her first marriage." then can Cindy McCain really claim she grew up as an only child?

Cindy McCain- cruel and selfish- that's what's coming out about her and that's the true person. Her so called charitable work, it's just a mask for who she really is. Her daughter Meghan, just wrote a biography- a children's book- about her father. She omitted the children from HIS first marriage as well. Kind of shows you what kind of a family they really are. This has nothing to do with politics- I'm an independent, I lean a bit right. I just would not be comfortable having these people represent our country as the first family.

After reading the comments from the usual right-wing nuts, it's funny that NOW they are whining about leaving the wives out of the campaign only after they smeared Michelle Obama. After digging up a term paper she wrote over 25yrs ago, I wonder will the Hannity’s and the other hate-mongers tell the truth about Cindy McCain past and present lies. She is not a decent woman and has a history of lying, cheating and stealing. Her recent lying about cooking recipes and that she is an only child just paint the picture of what type of person she is. If the Obama’s were people like the McCain’s, this would have been on the front page of the paper and he wouldn’t have a chance this election. The “liberal media” that the idiots always complain are afraid the cover the truth about the McCain’s.

Public officials forfeit privacy. There's no partisan agenda here; Billy Carter got just as much ink back in the day, as did the Reagan kids, the Kennedy clan and Margaret Truman.

It's the same in France, but they get Carla Bruni photos out of the deal.

The point is that the McCains are going around talking about FAMILY values and CHRISTIAN values ... yet Cindy goes around telling the world she is an "only child?" And she gives thousands away to charity and spends time in other countries ... but can't acknowledge or do anything for her half sister who lives in Phoenix? Give me a break, the McCains are total hypocrites. I thought charity started at home ...

I agree, it seems to be acceptable to go after Michelle for very minor, silly things, taking snippets out of context and calling her ....well you know. But when it is on the other side, ...well I am surprised someone hasn't said that John is a POW and so we can't talk about these things. Calling Obama an elite, a person who has worked for everything he has and John, well daddy has helped a lot. And I think Cindy is mean spirited to not have shared the wealth with her kin. Michelle and Barrack are by far the better people in this race, by far....

Actually Cindy McCain gives very little to charity. It's appalling how little- compared to her income.

I agree with Sharon, Mang, Hannah, and and everyone else who said this story DOES matter. Republicans always talk about "Family Values", and though it's not 100% clear what that terms means, but one would assume it means that you love & respect family--all of your family. Cindy's public behavior towards her half sister is anything but loving or respectful. There be a lot more to the story of why Cindy's father left so little to his first family, which may account for Cindy's comments and behavior. However, if this as an Obama family issue, Fox and all the right would be all over it!

Wow..Not only did John McCain married his mistress, but now we learn that his mistress Cindy is the product of an illicit affair by McCain father-in-law. No wonder Cindy didn't mind dating a married man.
http://joeland7.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/mccain-lied-about-his-divorce-

Cindy McCain often refers to herself as an only child, as she did on CNN last month when, if fact, she knew she was being deceitful. Why? Cindy McCain's older half sister, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, story must be told. After all, she is a real person not a figment of someone’s imagination. Some may say sour grapes, I say where is the Family and what are your Values Cindy McCain? CNN & Larry King, you have examined the private lives of many, now do Cindy!

Cindy McCain's repeatedly saying she is an only child matters in two respects: One, if she will mislead people on something this simple, what other white lies are constantly being given to the public (there are others--search a little) and Two, aren't the McCains part of the family values mindset as well as the Straight Talk Express? I think the ST Bus has taken dozens of detours.