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Friday, July 11, 2008

Maverick Moment of the Day

posted by on July 11 at 11:45 AM

It’s old news that John McCain divorced his first wife, a former model named Carol Shepp, after he returned from the war in Vietnam to find her disfigured by a car accident.

But some of the details of McCain’s divorce and quick re-marriage to beer heiress Cindy Hensley McCain don’t add up, according to today’s LA Times.

In his 2002 memoir, “Worth the Fighting For,” McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Hensley.

“I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow,” McCain wrote. “I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980.”

An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had “cohabited” until Jan. 7 of that year — or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.

Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.

More on the admitted “selfishness and immaturity” that led McCain to divorce his first wife in this manner, and the anger this inspired from the Reagans (among others), as the story continues.

RSS icon Comments

1

Some people believe in the sanctity of marriage so much that they do it repeatedly.

Yay for family values!

Posted by monkey | July 11, 2008 11:53 AM
2

The only thing worse than bigamy is unintentional bigamy.

Posted by I'm black! Really! | July 11, 2008 12:02 PM
3

It's not just that it's bigamy, it's that he was sleeping around on his wife and two little girls while parading around DC with younger women in public.

Family values?

Don't make me laugh.

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 11, 2008 12:09 PM
4

Who cares?

Posted by yuiop | July 11, 2008 12:20 PM
5

Um, it's not bigamy at all, y'all. You can obtain a marriage license for your next marriage while your current one is being resolved; you just can't actually get married until after, which is what he did. Read it right.

This story is in the same vein as the 'Obama isn't an American citizen!' bullshit and I hope it dies a similarly quick death.

Posted by Ursula | July 11, 2008 12:24 PM
6

It's not bigamy at all, guys. You can get a marriage license for your next marriage while your current marriage is still being resolved; you just can't actually get married until after the divorce is finalized, which is what he did. Read the whole damn paragraph.

This is the left-wing equivalent of the 'Obama isn't a natural-born American Citizen!!!!' bullshit, and I hope it dies a similarly quick death.

Posted by Ursula | July 11, 2008 12:27 PM
7

Aw, crap. Sorry for the double-post.

Posted by Ursula | July 11, 2008 12:34 PM
8

What Ursula @5 said.  We have more than enough legitimate policy and character reasons to oppose McCain.  The man's already admitted to being a jerk about the divorce.  It happened nearly 30 years ago, and I suspect a lot of Slog denizens have little trouble forgiving themselves for similar past episodes of shittiness toward a partner.

Posted by lostboy | July 11, 2008 12:38 PM
9

i'm with ursula on this one (but you only have to say it once girl), this only shows that mccain isn't perfect and relationships are complicated. duh. it's not going to cost him any votes, particularly among the women hating right, better to drop it and move on.

Posted by douglas | July 11, 2008 12:38 PM
10

He's still a creep for doing it. And he has the temerity to still speak about "family values", that hoary old chestnut.

Posted by laterite | July 11, 2008 12:39 PM
11

Wow, he must have been a real bastard to get the Reagans worked up about divorce.

What's even more interesting is that anyone would care who that dried up old skank Nancy Reagan would endorse. Remember, you can put skank in Chanel, but she's still skank.

Posted by But I hear she gave GREAT head..... | July 11, 2008 12:43 PM
12

@10: What, you're surprised? These guys learn to mistreat women before they learn to walk. (See also GINGRICH, NEWT.)

Posted by Ursula | July 11, 2008 12:50 PM
13

A Republican lying about his affair? No, go on!

Posted by Y.F. | July 11, 2008 1:16 PM
14

@8 - However, the fact that he takes responsibility for it yet continues to lie about it to make himself look good is something that should be reported.

Posted by wench | July 11, 2008 4:49 PM
15

wench @8, this is starting to remind me of the rhetoric surrounding Clinton's impeachment.

Posted by lostboy | July 11, 2008 7:10 PM
16

That was using a calendar from Panama?

Posted by Canteen Boy | July 11, 2008 7:22 PM

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