McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket

Paregoric Kid · 09-06-2008, 02:17 AM

McCain's Double Standard: Hawk In The Drug War, Yet His Wife Got No Penalty

Wed, Sep 03, 2008 11:42 am

Source: commondreams.org
http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/4624

Much has been made of allegations of possible youthful use of illegal drugs by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Meanwhile, his chief GOP opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has admitted that his wife not only illegally used drugs but walked away from criminal charges. The McCains have worked to make Cindy McCain's addiction into a political asset--despite the fact that she stole the drugs from a charity she directed and used them while mothering four young children.

In 1994, Mrs. McCain admitted that she had solicited prescriptions for painkillers from physicians who worked for an international charity that she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. She then filled the prescriptions in the names of her staff.

There are two ways to react to this behavior. According to the Betty Ford model, people can sympathetically respond to the oppressed and ignored wife of a busy politician who has bravely come forward to admit her overpowering addiction. Mrs. McCain took this posture when she first tearfully confessed her addiction. She and her husband repeated this performance in October on the NBC program "Dateline."

The other possible public reaction is one of anger. Americans are prosecuted every day for such drug use. While most drug abusers purchase their drugs from street dealers, Mrs. McCain used her status as a charity director and senator's wife to cajole the drugs she wanted.

In fact, Mrs. McCain was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency was approached by a former staff member of her charity. The investigation resulted in no charges or prison time for her, and she entered a diversion program. While these records were not made public at the time, Mrs. McCain eventually confessed her drug use when she learned that a reporter was investigating the story.

Is Mrs. McCain to be judged as a pitiable victim or as a criminal felon? This debate is at the heart of the discussion of American drug policy. Should we deal with illicit drug users as victims or as criminals?

Let's examine Mrs. McCain's position in these terms. She was the privileged wife of a prominent family and spouse of an important politician, a person who had her own position of prestige and power. Should she not be held at least as accountable for her actions as an uneducated inner-city drug user? After all, she could enter drug treatment at any time she chose, unlike many drug users who find themselves in prison.

Moreover, Mrs. McCain was violating a position of trust by stealing from a charitable organization, using its money and medical expertise to fuel her drug use. Is this not morally more reprehensible than simply purchasing drugs illegally?

Finally, Mrs. McCain was the mother of four children at the time she admits to using drugs--between 1989 and 1992. Her children were born in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1991. In other words, Cindy McCain was using drugs while raising small children, one of whom she adopted while she was an addict. In most states, family services will remove children from a woman who is known to be an active drug addict, and she would certainly not be allowed to adopt a child while addicted.

John McCain is a hawk in the drug war. He advocates stricter drug laws, penalties and enforcement against drug sellers. He has had nothing to say about redressing our punitive approach toward drug users. Of course, McCain also supports family values. Yet if John and Cindy McCain were not well-off and influential, they might not have a family at all. McCain's lack of concern for street drug users contrasts sharply with the support and understanding his wife received. It's the old American double standard. For "straight-shooter" McCain, charity begins at home--and ends there.

Palin and the Pot Question

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128450.html
Jacob Sullum | August 29, 2008, 1:19pm
Here is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice presidential pick, on drugs:

Palin doesn't support legalizing marijuana, worrying about the message it would send to her four kids. But when it comes to cracking down on drugs, she says methamphetamines are the greater threat and should have a higher priority.
Palin said she has smoked marijuana—remember, it was legal under state law, she said, even if illegal under U.S. law—but says she didn't like it and doesn't smoke it now.
"I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled."

This was a year ago, when Palin was challenging then-Gov. Frank Murkowski for the Republican nomination. Although her child-centric defense of prohibition is standard stuff, her pot smoking admission is indeed a step up from Clinton's. (The former president, you may recall, not only claimed he didn't inhale when he tried marijuana at Oxford but initially obfuscated by saying he had never broken the drug laws of this country.) Palin's "I smoked it but didn't enjoy it" scores a bit lower on the candor meter than Barack Obama's "I smoked it and liked it but now regret it." (And neither is as encouraging as "I smoked it and liked it and still do" or "I never smoked it, but I don't think people should be arrested for it.") But compared to Murkowski, an anti-pot alarmist who pushed through a bill that purported to recriminalize private possession of marijuana, Palin sounds enlightened. Because the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 that the state constitution's privacy clause bars the government from punishing people for possessing small quantities of marijuana in the home for personal use, the courts so far have rejected Murkowski's recriminalization law (which was based on the premise that today's pot is much more dangerous than the marijuana available in the '70s). So Palin could continue to smoke pot in the privacy of her home without fear of arrest, barring a federal raid on the governor's residence. It's a good thing for McCain, who can't even tolerate the idea of marijuana as a medicine for desperately ill people, that she never really liked it.
In February I suggested what Obama should have learned from his youthful drug use.

pharmboy · 09-06-2008, 04:29 AM

The guy scares me, because I'm afraid he'll die and the crazy bitch would then be Pres.

McCain or Palin for four years would be bad but the real hit would be the nut cases they

would try to stack the Supreme Court with, that would be 30+ years of insane logic and

laws getting shoved down our throats. Not to mention giving the bible thumpers wayy more

power than they should have.

I don't know who is running the Bush Administration but it isn't Bush and I'd bet if McCain wins

the same sickos will be behind everything he does too.

Obama doesn't have alot of experiance. GOOD the kind of experiance you get in D.C. is experiance

being corrupt. The dems seem to have smarter aids and goto guys , use them.

Ok I'll stop I'm getting tired. So McCain would have made the Elephant go cold turkey, nice guy
.

SHELLEY · 09-06-2008, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pharmboy

I don't know who is running the Bush Administration but it isn't Bush and I'd bet if McCain wins

the same sickos will be behind everything he does too.

Obama doesn't have alot of experiance. GOOD the kind of experiance you get in D.C. is experiance

being corrupt. The dems seem to have smarter aids and goto guys , use them.

Ok I'll stop I'm getting tired. So McCain would have made the Elephant go cold turkey, nice guy
.

whoever ran the bush administration
will also run the mccain administration
would also have run run the obama administration
would also have run the ron fuckin paul administration
would also have run the crazy nader administration
okay, i'll admit it- the last two are jokes

i don't remember who it was that posted a while back
about being an intern for obama
well i don't have as much motivation as him
but i am officially working on the mccain campaign
by calling registered republicans to send their absentee ballotts!!!
go my team!!

clinton · 09-06-2008, 06:18 AM

what do you like about john mccain?
im not trying to start a political argument, im just asking.
the things i learn about him turn me cold..obama isnt my cup o tea either..i know these cats all have the
same handlers, the may not even know it but there is almost certainly someone at the top making sure
he gets his/they get theirs

upstate_007 · 09-06-2008, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHELLEY

but i am officially working on the mccain campaign
by calling registered republicans to send their absentee ballotts!!!
go my team!!

I don't want to beat a dead horse, and I know that none of us are going to change your mind. But, what the fuck.

I hope for your and your baby's sake that you both get weaned off of methadone before Captain Shithead and his merry fucking gestapo close down your clinic.

clinton · 09-06-2008, 08:27 AM

thats what i was trying to figure out..youre on mmt, the guy you want to get into office
wants the mmt programs stopped cold in their tracks..i know it all doesnt come down to
this when it comes to electing a president buts its an important issue to me and id even be
more bothered by it if i was currently on a mmt program

Duckfeet · 09-06-2008, 09:57 AM

We want to be really careful on here--or I think we should be--to not start attacking people for their political beliefs...we can all vote...or most of us can, and the nice thing about America, is that we are allowed free speech.

A junky--like me--can like candidates for different reasons, but I don't feel compelled to demonize either the candidate I *don't* like, or the people who vote for him...it's a tricky business, and it's hard *not* to be a single issue candidate...

I try to look at the candidate's character throught their life, what is known anyway, and honestly vote for who I think will best represent my country at home, best use our dwindling tax base, and best defend us against enemies abroad...

The president--whoever he will be--doesn't really change that much at the local level, but I think once nuclear weapons get used...and their proliferation has made me be totally convinced they will be used...that I need to look at this and other international concerns, and then make my decision...

I am looking forward to possible debates between these candidates, to see how they will deal w/these different issues...and I myself, doubt very seriously that methadone maintenance will be affected by who is president...but that's just me, others may differ...

Best wishes...and I hope we can remember that there are good reasons we generally avoid politics or religion as topics...even tho I broke this rule repeatedly myself, in my obsession w/Ron Paul...so I talk it better than I walk it, which is no surprise to me, anyway....

jonny-5 · 09-06-2008, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHELLEY

whoever ran the bush administration
will also run the mccain administration
would also have run run the obama administration
would also have run the ron fuckin paul administration
would also have run the crazy nader administration
okay, i'll admit it- the last two are jokes

i don't remember who it was that posted a while back
about being an intern for obama
well i don't have as much motivation as him
but i am officially working on the mccain campaign
by calling registered republicans to send their absentee ballotts!!!
go my team!!

wow it seems that you really love to post stuff as fact without having any real knowlege about it. i hope no one takes you seriously.

dick cheney would not be running the mccain admin or the obama.

Badly Drawn Girl · 09-06-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny-5

wow it seems that you really love to post stuff as fact without having any real knowlege about it. i hope no one takes you seriously.

She doesn't take herself seriously. She posts stuff to get a reaction, period.

nick · 09-06-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHELLEY

whoever ran the bush administration
will also run the mccain administration
would also have run run the obama administration
would also have run the ron fuckin paul administration
would also have run the crazy nader administration
okay, i'll admit it- the last two are jokes

i don't remember who it was that posted a while back
about being an intern for obama
well i don't have as much motivation as him
but i am officially working on the mccain campaign
by calling registered republicans to send their absentee ballotts!!!
go my team!!

Shelley,you should found the crack hookers for McCain support group..............I'm sure the republican gop would love your support.

Opiyum · 09-06-2008, 12:58 PM

God I hope these assholes don't decide to go the election fraud path again. I'll be spending a great deal more time on unemployment if they do.
I'm voting because of what's best for my union because it's my lively hood. For me it's about survival not because of some insane beliefs or because of some stupid desire to have access to ak-47's.
People are so stupid. I sometimes wonder if it's as simple as a chemical difference in peoples brain's. A difference that makes them relish in being antagonistic and difficult. No matter I guess. The fact is that it's hereditary. People are bred to buy into bullshit.
What we need is a pill that takes away our fear. The kind of fear that turned firehoses on the blacks and that denies gay people the right to marry.
I imagine that's what makes us human though and who wants a pill that takes that away from us.

red26 · 09-06-2008, 01:00 PM

PK where the hell have you been young man!?! You still in the burg? I hope yer all good these days bro and still studying yer arse off as usual, by the looks of it most likely. Glad to see your still with us kid.

jonny-5 · 09-06-2008, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opiyum

God I hope these assholes don't decide to go the election fraud path again. I'll be spending a great deal more time on unemployment if they do.
I'm voting because of what's best for my union because it's my lively hood. For me it's about survival not because of some insane beliefs or because of some stupid desire to have access to ak-47's.
People are so stupid. I sometimes wonder if it's as simple as a chemical difference in people brain's. A difference that makes them relish in being antagonistic and difficult.

amen

nick · 09-06-2008, 04:19 PM

If I was considering the relative merits of the two vice presidential candidates in relation to their record on drug policy,I'd go with Palin any day.

Jesus,I feel dirty after typing that,but you guys should be aware of what a piece of absolute dirt Biden is.

clinton · 09-06-2008, 04:35 PM

what has he done?
thats why im going with option c -neither are worthy

09-06-2008, 02:17 AM	#1
Paregoric Kid Never Looked Back Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 3,385	McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket McCain's Double Standard: Hawk In The Drug War, Yet His Wife Got No Penalty Wed, Sep 03, 2008 11:42 am Source: commondreams.org http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/4624 Much has been made of allegations of possible youthful use of illegal drugs by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Meanwhile, his chief GOP opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has admitted that his wife not only illegally used drugs but walked away from criminal charges. The McCains have worked to make Cindy McCain's addiction into a political asset--despite the fact that she stole the drugs from a charity she directed and used them while mothering four young children. In 1994, Mrs. McCain admitted that she had solicited prescriptions for painkillers from physicians who worked for an international charity that she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. She then filled the prescriptions in the names of her staff. There are two ways to react to this behavior. According to the Betty Ford model, people can sympathetically respond to the oppressed and ignored wife of a busy politician who has bravely come forward to admit her overpowering addiction. Mrs. McCain took this posture when she first tearfully confessed her addiction. She and her husband repeated this performance in October on the NBC program "Dateline." The other possible public reaction is one of anger. Americans are prosecuted every day for such drug use. While most drug abusers purchase their drugs from street dealers, Mrs. McCain used her status as a charity director and senator's wife to cajole the drugs she wanted. In fact, Mrs. McCain was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency was approached by a former staff member of her charity. The investigation resulted in no charges or prison time for her, and she entered a diversion program. While these records were not made public at the time, Mrs. McCain eventually confessed her drug use when she learned that a reporter was investigating the story. Is Mrs. McCain to be judged as a pitiable victim or as a criminal felon? This debate is at the heart of the discussion of American drug policy. Should we deal with illicit drug users as victims or as criminals? Let's examine Mrs. McCain's position in these terms. She was the privileged wife of a prominent family and spouse of an important politician, a person who had her own position of prestige and power. Should she not be held at least as accountable for her actions as an uneducated inner-city drug user? After all, she could enter drug treatment at any time she chose, unlike many drug users who find themselves in prison. Moreover, Mrs. McCain was violating a position of trust by stealing from a charitable organization, using its money and medical expertise to fuel her drug use. Is this not morally more reprehensible than simply purchasing drugs illegally? Finally, Mrs. McCain was the mother of four children at the time she admits to using drugs--between 1989 and 1992. Her children were born in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1991. In other words, Cindy McCain was using drugs while raising small children, one of whom she adopted while she was an addict. In most states, family services will remove children from a woman who is known to be an active drug addict, and she would certainly not be allowed to adopt a child while addicted. John McCain is a hawk in the drug war. He advocates stricter drug laws, penalties and enforcement against drug sellers. He has had nothing to say about redressing our punitive approach toward drug users. Of course, McCain also supports family values. Yet if John and Cindy McCain were not well-off and influential, they might not have a family at all. McCain's lack of concern for street drug users contrasts sharply with the support and understanding his wife received. It's the old American double standard. For "straight-shooter" McCain, charity begins at home--and ends there. Palin and the Pot Question http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128450.html Jacob Sullum \| August 29, 2008, 1:19pm Here is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice presidential pick, on drugs: Palin doesn't support legalizing marijuana, worrying about the message it would send to her four kids. But when it comes to cracking down on drugs, she says methamphetamines are the greater threat and should have a higher priority. Palin said she has smoked marijuana—remember, it was legal under state law, she said, even if illegal under U.S. law—but says she didn't like it and doesn't smoke it now. "I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled." This was a year ago, when Palin was challenging then-Gov. Frank Murkowski for the Republican nomination. Although her child-centric defense of prohibition is standard stuff, her pot smoking admission is indeed a step up from Clinton's. (The former president, you may recall, not only claimed he didn't inhale when he tried marijuana at Oxford but initially obfuscated by saying he had never broken the drug laws of this country.) Palin's "I smoked it but didn't enjoy it" scores a bit lower on the candor meter than Barack Obama's "I smoked it and liked it but now regret it." (And neither is as encouraging as "I smoked it and liked it and still do" or "I never smoked it, but I don't think people should be arrested for it.") But compared to Murkowski, an anti-pot alarmist who pushed through a bill that purported to recriminalize private possession of marijuana, Palin sounds enlightened. Because the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1975 that the state constitution's privacy clause bars the government from punishing people for possessing small quantities of marijuana in the home for personal use, the courts so far have rejected Murkowski's recriminalization law (which was based on the premise that today's pot is much more dangerous than the marijuana available in the '70s). So Palin could continue to smoke pot in the privacy of her home without fear of arrest, barring a federal raid on the governor's residence. It's a good thing for McCain, who can't even tolerate the idea of marijuana as a medicine for desperately ill people, that she never really liked it. In February I suggested what Obama should have learned from his youthful drug use. __________________ "The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When such pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together." -Epicurus Sign the Petition to Urge the PA General Assembly to Oppose the Methadone Accountability Package The Sick Life \| OpioWiki \| AllYourSpeechAreBelongToUs.tk \| The Hasheesh Eater http://lp.org http://www.campaignforliberty.com/ Sign the Petition to Urge the Pennsylvania General Assembly to Pass the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act

09-06-2008, 04:29 AM	#2
pharmboy Never Looked Back Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: S.E.PA Posts: 1,875	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket The guy scares me, because I'm afraid he'll die and the crazy bitch would then be Pres. McCain or Palin for four years would be bad but the real hit would be the nut cases they would try to stack the Supreme Court with, that would be 30+ years of insane logic and laws getting shoved down our throats. Not to mention giving the bible thumpers wayy more power than they should have. I don't know who is running the Bush Administration but it isn't Bush and I'd bet if McCain wins the same sickos will be behind everything he does too. Obama doesn't have alot of experiance. GOOD the kind of experiance you get in D.C. is experiance being corrupt. The dems seem to have smarter aids and goto guys , use them. Ok I'll stop I'm getting tired. So McCain would have made the Elephant go cold turkey, nice guy . __________________ All you need is LOVE and a 134 D Mini - Gun. Bring back the 6O's Raise some Hell.

09-06-2008, 06:18 AM	#4
clinton turtle power PLATINUM MEMBER Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Westport kcmo Posts: 2,851	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket what do you like about john mccain? im not trying to start a political argument, im just asking. the things i learn about him turn me cold..obama isnt my cup o tea either..i know these cats all have the same handlers, the may not even know it but there is almost certainly someone at the top making sure he gets his/they get theirs __________________

09-06-2008, 08:27 AM	#6
clinton turtle power PLATINUM MEMBER Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Westport kcmo Posts: 2,851	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket thats what i was trying to figure out..youre on mmt, the guy you want to get into office wants the mmt programs stopped cold in their tracks..i know it all doesnt come down to this when it comes to electing a president buts its an important issue to me and id even be more bothered by it if i was currently on a mmt program __________________

09-06-2008, 09:57 AM	#7
Duckfeet Wasted and wounded SUPER FUCKING SOLID GOLD MEMBER Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Tijuana Norte Posts: 9,851	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket We want to be really careful on here--or I think we should be--to not start attacking people for their political beliefs...we can all vote...or most of us can, and the nice thing about America, is that we are allowed free speech. A junky--like me--can like candidates for different reasons, but I don't feel compelled to demonize either the candidate I don't like, or the people who vote for him...it's a tricky business, and it's hard not to be a single issue candidate... I try to look at the candidate's character throught their life, what is known anyway, and honestly vote for who I think will best represent my country at home, best use our dwindling tax base, and best defend us against enemies abroad... The president--whoever he will be--doesn't really change that much at the local level, but I think once nuclear weapons get used...and their proliferation has made me be totally convinced they will be used...that I need to look at this and other international concerns, and then make my decision... I am looking forward to possible debates between these candidates, to see how they will deal w/these different issues...and I myself, doubt very seriously that methadone maintenance will be affected by who is president...but that's just me, others may differ... Best wishes...and I hope we can remember that there are good reasons we generally avoid politics or religion as topics...even tho I broke this rule repeatedly myself, in my obsession w/Ron Paul...so I talk it better than I walk it, which is no surprise to me, anyway....

09-06-2008, 12:58 PM	#11
Opiyum OPIOLYMPIAN & PODMODER SUPER FUCKING SOLID GOLD MEMBER Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: PITTSBURGH Posts: 3,763	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket God I hope these assholes don't decide to go the election fraud path again. I'll be spending a great deal more time on unemployment if they do. I'm voting because of what's best for my union because it's my lively hood. For me it's about survival not because of some insane beliefs or because of some stupid desire to have access to ak-47's. People are so stupid. I sometimes wonder if it's as simple as a chemical difference in peoples brain's. A difference that makes them relish in being antagonistic and difficult. No matter I guess. The fact is that it's hereditary. People are bred to buy into bullshit. What we need is a pill that takes away our fear. The kind of fear that turned firehoses on the blacks and that denies gay people the right to marry. I imagine that's what makes us human though and who wants a pill that takes that away from us. __________________ In somnifera veritas In somnifera aequitas

09-06-2008, 01:00 PM	#12
red26 Never Looked Back Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: the Bonnie situation Posts: 1,166	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket PK where the hell have you been young man!?! You still in the burg? I hope yer all good these days bro and still studying yer arse off as usual, by the looks of it most likely. Glad to see your still with us kid. __________________ too old to lose it , too young to choose it Ziggy Stardust

09-06-2008, 04:19 PM	#14
nick Honorary Charter Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Perdition's flame. Posts: 13,685	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket If I was considering the relative merits of the two vice presidential candidates in relation to their record on drug policy,I'd go with Palin any day. Jesus,I feel dirty after typing that,but you guys should be aware of what a piece of absolute dirt Biden is. __________________ Life's but a walking shadow,a poor player That struts and frets his hour opun the stage, And then is heard no more.It is a tale told by an idiot,full of sound and fury, signifying NOTHING. Macbeth.

09-06-2008, 04:35 PM	#15
clinton turtle power PLATINUM MEMBER Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Westport kcmo Posts: 2,851	Re: McCain-Palin The Drug War Hypocrites Ticket what has he done? thats why im going with option c -neither are worthy __________________

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