[Oe List ...] A local professor's experience with McCain
Len Hockley
lenh at efn.org
Tue Sep 30 19:02:58 EDT 2008
Hi,
Try Googling "Mary-Kay Gamel Turtle Island" and you can find all you ever
wanted to know about this.
Len
At 01:42 PM 9/30/2008 -0700, you wrote:
>Ed,
>
>I don't remember what list, but last week I got a copy of the statement, I
>don't remember who from, but I was only one of several recepients. It was
>followed shortly thereafter by a statement to the same list, signed
>supposedly by Mary Kay Game saying what I reported earlier. I think the
>list is informal, not like our OE or dialogue lists. I'm sorry I didn't
>keep the source, but I am certain of the statement.
>
>Randy
>
>--- On Tue, 9/30/08, ed feldmanis <edfeldmanis at gmail.com> wrote:
>From: ed feldmanis <edfeldmanis at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] A local professor's experience with McCain
>To: "Order Ecumenical Community" <oe at wedgeblade.net>
>Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 11:07 AM
>
>Randy,
>
>Your statement is really interesting. Where is the list and what's the
>url? That way we might follow up on it.
>
>Ed
>
>On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 12:15 PM, R Williams
><<mailto:rcwmbw at yahoo.com>rcwmbw at yahoo.com> wrote:
>Ruth,
>
>Mary-Kay Gamel, or at least someone using her name, has posted to another
>list that she did not author this statement, knows nothing about it and
>has never been to Turtle Island.
>
>Randy
>
>--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Ruth Landmann
><<mailto:tddynewf at cruzio.com>tddynewf at cruzio.com> wrote:
>From: Ruth Landmann <<mailto:tddynewf at cruzio.com>tddynewf at cruzio.com>
>Subject: [Oe List ...] A local professor's experience with McCain
>To: "Order Ecumenical Community"
><<mailto:oe at wedgeblade.net>oe at wedgeblade.net>
>Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 9:55 AM
>
>
>
>Hi Everyone,
>
> The following came from a friend of mine...
>
>Ruth
>
>
>
>Hello:
>This was written by a former professor of mine from UCSC. She teaches
>Classical Literature. She's a calm, wise person. She's real. This is not a
>chain letter. You can email her if you'd like.
>
>
>
>Linden
>
>I realize I am preaching to the choir, but in the hopes that you know
>anyone on the fence, here goes:
>
>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.
>Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime
>entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had
>the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet
>up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should stop
>Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few
>comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from
>Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.
>McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David
>the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the
>table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.
>Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude behavior
>towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming
>qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked
>him about this one day, and his response was shocking: "Oh, that was
>Cindy's idea â*" I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and
>adopted this thing without even asking me. You can't imagine how people
>stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in
>Arizona . No, it wasn't my idea at all."
>I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged
>me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the active
>US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said, "If I was in
>charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson". Given McCain's personal
>experience with the horrors of war, I had expected a more balanced point
>of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on
>Japan during WWII â*"- but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to
>say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs
>on Japan. I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could
>tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have
>mellowed out his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and
>vengeful towards the world.
>My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving
>Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived
>and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to
>lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I felt fiercely
>protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave
>her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said, "Don't
>you know who I am." I looked him in the face and said, "Yes, you are the
>biggest asshole I have ever met" and headed back to my cabin. I am happy
>to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing
>ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.
>
>Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is
>the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when
>McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination, but it soon
>became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did
>not act then. However, now that there is a very real possibility that
>McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an
>American citizen to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome
>for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation.
>I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the
>media portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women and his treatment
>of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then
>I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as
>our President.
>--
>Mary-Kay Gamel
>Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
>Cowell College
>University of California, Santa Cruz
>Santa Cruz, California 95064
>831-459-2381 (office); 831-429-8803 (home)
><mailto:mkgamel at ucsc.edu>mkgamel at ucsc.edu
>
>=
>
>--
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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