Cindy McCain's half sister: "I'm voting for Obama"

[DesertRat]

Source: AP

DENVER (AP) — Cindy McCain's half sister says she will not vote for Republican John McCain and plans to cast her ballot for his Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

"I have a different political standpoint," Kathleen Hensley Portalski said in an interview with "Us Weekly," published online Thursday. "I'm voting for Obama."

Portalski said Obama's proposals are "more positive and I'm not a big war believer."

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbMJjet6b8h0zDODn4g28m-qatawD92RFGL04

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Good for her.

[Suji to Seoul]

18. Yes, good for her. It's good to see some reality in that plastic family

[marshall]

39. From Wikipedia entry on Cindy McCain's father:

"His frequently-amended will<12> left his entire estate to Cindy Hensley McCain,<1> who became the controlling stockholder and chair of the board after his death.<23> His first daughter Kathleen, her husband and children had received substantial ongoing gifts, credit cards, and college tuition payments in the decade before his death, but were left only one modest lump sum from his estate."

Ouch, that's gotta hurt! No wonder she's mad.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Now if only they could find an Obama relative that will vote for McCain!

Oh...I know....

Dick Cheney! :)

[mucifer]

3. great answer!!!

[LibDemAlways]

4. That's a nice slap in the face, and she went public

most likely because Cindy likes to pass herself off as an only child and doesn't acknowledge her siblings. Kathleen has publically said she's angry that Cindy treats her as a non-person. Gotta love those Republican family values.

[DesertRat]

6. I had always thought that Cindy was an only child

And I live in Phoenix where our newspaper feeds us McCain news ad nauseum. I wonder why Cindy has never acknowledged having a half sister? There might be an interesting back story.

[LibDemAlways]

7. Here's a link to an NPR Story about her. Quite interesting.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93708729

[kskiska]

11. She has two half-sisters

Her mother was married previously and had a daughter, and the same with he father.

[Politicalboi]

14. She has 2 half sisters

[mojowork_n]

29. Scroll down to Reply 28. It's not a pretty story.

Have you ever heard the name, "Don Bolles?"

[NBachers]

31. Thanks. I didn't know Don Bolles was in the lineage

of this whole sordid entanglement. I'll have to look up the project where all the journalists descended on Phoenix and tried to complete Bolles' work. Maybe there's some interesting information there.

My god- think of that kind of journalistic integrity and devotion. Sorely lacking in this day and age.

[mojowork_n]

33. These are the best-researched that I've found

How the Family Business got started:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits/1

Most recent, following his primary victories this spring:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-08-07/news/postmodern-mccain-the-john-mccain-some-arizonans-know-and-loathe/

...Even though much of it's 'corroborated' by a** wad Jerome Corsi, I'm kind of inferring that the conclusion of the IRE investigation was that not one of those later reporters had the stones Don Bolles did. (Not after they all saw how he'd ended up -- all over the parking lot. He survived long enough to name some of his murderers -- the guy who planted the bomb, the "mafia", and the mobbed-up corporation -- but not all of them.)

Here's the IRE website, where the trail ends:

http://www.ire.org/history/arizona.html

The project was exceedingly controversial and remains so. The New York Times and The Washington Post, giants in the business, chose not to participate. Some journalists, including IRE members, disliked the idea of reporters on a crusade...

[NBachers]

35. Adamson

If I remember right, weren't his last words the name Adamson?

[mojowork_n]

36. Yes, Planted the bomb & fingered Cindy's father's boss, Marley

From the IRE website:

A chronology of the major events in the car-bomb murder of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles:
The Arizona Republic
June 3, 2001

June 2, 1976 - Bolles, 47, is gravely wounded when six sticks of dynamite are detonated beneath his compact car in the parking lot of the Hotel Clarendon, 401 W. Clarendon Ave. Bolles, who had been lured to the hotel by the promise of a news tip, whispers the name "Adamson" to his rescuers.

June 13, 1976 - Bolles dies. Phoenix Police arrest John Harvey Adamson, racing-dog owner and a former tow-truck operator.

June 16, 1976 - Max Dunlap, a Phoenix contractor, is questioned by Phoenix Police homicide detective Jon Sellers, the lead investigator. Police say Dunlap had been observed delivering cash to Adamson.

Jan. 15, 1977 - In an agreement with prosecutors, Adamson admits planting the remote-control bomb and pleads guilty to second-degree murder. He agrees to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a 20-year, two-month prison sentence. Dunlap and James Robison, a Chandler plumber who allegedly helped Adamson by triggering the bomb, are arrested.

July 6, 1977 - Trial begins for Dunlap and Robison, who are charged with first-degree murder. During the trial, Dunlap's attorney tries to cast suspicion on Phoenix attorney Neal Roberts, who had dealings with both Adamson and Dunlap, as the real mastermind in the murder plot.

Nov. 6, 1977 - A jury finds Dunlap and Robison guilty primarily on the strength of Adamson's testimony. They also are found guilty of conspiring to kill then-Arizona Attorney General Bruce Babbitt and advertising man Al Lizanetz. Adamson testifies that Dunlap wanted the three killed because each had angered Dunlap's friend, millionaire rancher and liquor wholesaler Kemper Marley Sr., who never is charged in the case.

Jan. 10, 1978 - Dunlap and Robison are sentenced to death.

Feb. 25, 1980 - The Arizona Supreme Court, saying defense lawyers should have been allowed to question Adamson more closely, overturns the convictions of Dunlap and Robison and orders a new trial.

June 2, 1980 - The murder charge against Dunlap is dismissed after Adamson balks at testifying against him again. Adamson had asked prosecutors to grant him certain concessions, but was denied.

June 6, 1980 - The Arizona Attorney General's Office withdraws Adamson's 1977 plea bargain and reinstates the original charge of first-degree murder.

June 13, 1980 - The murder charge against Robison is dismissed after Adamson refuses to testify.

Oct. 17, 1980 - In a trial held in Tucson, a jury finds Adamson guilty of first-degree murder.

Nov. 14, 1980 - Adamson is sentenced to death.

May 9, 1986 - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturns Adamson's death sentence, saying that he improperly was condemned to die after a trial judge had ruled that a prison term was appropriate.

Dec. 22, 1988 - Adamson's death sentence having been reinstated, it is again overturned by the circuit court.

Nov. 27, 1989 - After a renewed investigation by the Attorney General's Office, led by investigator George Weisz, Robison is recharged with the murder of Bolles.

June 25, 1990 - Marley, 83, dies of cancer in La Jolla, Calif.

June 28, 1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court leaves intact the 1988 appeals court ruling overturning Adamson's death sentence.

Dec. 19, 1990 - Dunlap is recharged with Bolles' murder. Dunlap and Robison also are charged with conspiring to obstruct a criminal investigation into the slaying. Adamson agrees to testify against the pair in return for the reinstatement of his 1977 plea bargain and 20-year, two-month prison sentence.

Jan. 11, 1993 - Dunlap and Robison are granted separate trials.

March 22, 1993 -An attorney for Dunlap, John Savoy, is sentenced to two years' probation on perjury conviction for telling a grand jury he didn't have any records dating from 1977 related to Dunlap. Prosecutors believed some of the records detailed secret cash payments from Dunlap to Robison's girlfriend.

April 20, 1993 - Dunlap is found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiring to obstruct the investigation of the case, and is later sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years.

Dec. 17, 1993 - Robison is acquitted, despite admitting under cross-examination that he asked a fellow jail inmate to arrange for the murder of Adamson, the chief witness against him.

July 26, 1995: Robison, having pleaded guilty to soliciting an act of criminal violence for trying to have Adamson killed, is sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Aug. 12, 1996: Adamson is released from prison and goes into the federal Witness Protection Program, which he will voluntarily leave a few years later.

1998: Robison, 76, is released from prison.

Jan. 28, 1999: Phoenix attorney Neal Roberts dies in poverty at the age of 66 of coronary artery disease, cirrhosis and emphysema. His former secretary says Roberts told her he was involved in the Bolles murder at various levels, but investigators say his statements may have been influenced by his heavy drinking and taste for melodrama.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. If she's willing, the Obama camp should snap her up quickly & get

her in front a camera pronto! What a great ad.

[baldguy]

8. Cindy doesn't consider her to be "family" anyway.

She was always an only child/

[marshall]

38. Did she get a piece of daddy's pie?

The business that made him rich was started the year after Cindy was born, so it wasn't part of the marital assets when he divorced his first wife. And I've read that sis grew up with her mother and had infrequent contact with daddy. That is cause enough for sour grapes.

[Pachamama]

9. Obviously, the "better half"....

...and smarter half of the family....

[santamargarita]

10. At least they're not all stupid assholes

~

[Clout]

16. No kidding!

Classic!

[MasonJar]

12. She needs to go in an ad; after all they started it when they featured

a dem delegate in an ad.

[Alexander]

13. K&R

[a la izquierda]

15. I have a half-brother and a half-sister.

They're quite a bit younger than me (17 years younger and 21 years younger). I don't treat them exactly as I treat my two full sisters, partly because of the age gap...they're more like a niece and nephew. I send them birthday and Christmas presents, just like with my full siblings, but I can't talk to them like I can my 29 and 27 year old sisters, ya know? But whenever I'm asked how many siblings I have, you know damned well I tell people I've got three sisters and a brother.

Cindy McCain is a horrible human being. Good on Kathleen for telling her story.

[Nevernose]

17. The terminology bothers me, too

My kid has two half-sisters (the mother's others), and nobody, and I mean NOBODY, refers to them as "half-sisters." Not any of the kids, not their mother, not their fathers, not their grandparents.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

37. Heck, I have a half brother...

I have never even met and when asked, I generally say I have two sisters and a half brother. How hard is that??? :shrug:

[Straight Shooter]

19. How much you want to bet at some time in the past McSame called Kathleen a c**t?

I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.

[pengillian101]

20. I wonder - is this just a ploy?

I wonder - is this just a ploy about Barack's half-brother being in the news recently? Sounds odd to me.

[NeoConsSuck]

21. She's not sure how many sisters she has

http://www.borowitzreport.com/article.aspx?ID=6925

[cascadiance]

24. Would any of them be African American?

Now that would be an interesting revelation, especially if that person were voting for Obama!

And if she's unsure, then how can be sure they are all "half sisters", and not also "half brothers" too? Or are they offered only that way with "Stepford varieties"...

[JI7]

22. are they half sisters from the wealthy side of the family ?

[mojowork_n]

28. Yes. Cindy's (mob-connected) Dad did the same thing to his 1st wife. ..

Cindy McCain's old man, Jim Hensley, was convicted on Federal charges of a felony, a few years after WWII. He was almost convicted a second time, on similar charges, but he had some high-priced legal talent on his side -- William Rehnquist, the future Supreme Court Chief Justice.

Police investigations later tied Hensley to bookmakers and organized crime, but after a couple of decades of below-the-surface rumblings and covering up (?), the trail ended when investigative reporter Don Bolles was murdered -- by car bomb.

Jim Hensley left his 1st wife, and their daughter, Kathleen. His will didn't leave Kathleen's family very much -- $10,000 for her, but nothing for her kids. It was as if they ceased to exist -- they only had limited contact on major holidays and birthdays -- after he met Cindy's mom, some sort of Swedish bikini team blonde...

This Kossack stumbled across a few more of the sordid details:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/19/91954/3445

July 14, 2008
...

Although Newsweek said Mrs. McCain’s family "is deeply rooted in Arizona," and that her late father, Jim Hensley, "was one of the most prominent men in the state," who was "a World War II bombardier . . . shot down over the English channel,"—in other words, a war hero just like McCain—Newsweek did not even hint of the racketeering and corruption (and murder) associated with Hensley and his patrons in his rise to power.

Newsweek said Hensley "borrowed $10,000 to start a liquor business" which became one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributorships in the country and pointed out that the vast Hensley influence and fortune (worth $200 million) "got access to money and connections" after he divorced his ailing first wife and married his then-mistress, Cindy Hensley, and settled in Arizona where he first ran for office in 1982. What Newsweek chose not to mention is what AFP previously reported:

McCain’s father-in-law got his start as the top henchman for Kemper Marley, who, for 40 years until his death in 1990, was the undisputed political boss of Arizona, acting as the behind-the-scenes power over both the Republican and Democratic parties. But Marley was more than a politician. He was the Meyer Lansky crime syndicate’s chief Arizona operative, front man for the Bronfman family—key players in the Lansky syndicate.

but the opinions and comments that followed were very divided, ranging from:

"This needs to go viral!"

and...

"McCain deliberately married into a mob-connected family to bankroll his political career." (Cindy McCain is really Meadow Soprano!)

to...

'It's not nice, going after a candidate's family is off limits.'

The "New Republic" had a lengthy piece on John & Cindy, but it's frothy, light and fluffy "Soap Opera Digest" stuff:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=0fd7470d-a41f-4d9e-9328-fd079b476a0a

Edit update... I went back to the Kos thread and followed a disparaging link. Jerome Corsi, the red-faced old fool who wrote that horrible book about Barack, told pretty much the same story, here:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57354

[HEyHEY]

23. What does his dog's breeder think?

What fucking non-story

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. kick and recommended!!!

[HughMoran]

26. Love it. No wonder Cindy doesn't mention her

Woot!

[amuse bouche]

27. Family members love stabbing each other in the back. It's a fun game

[Dead Elephant]

30. This is better then the cousins against GWB

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330264410642&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling

[NM Independent]

32. I'd be pretty pissed off if I were her.

Stuck with a sorry ass $10K while that spoiled little bitch Cindy had an unbelievable fortune handed to her. Even $1 million would have changed their lives forever, and wouldn't have been a more than a drop in the bucket out of that fortune.

It just ain't right. I'd be sabotaging the campaign and then some. In fact, I'd be downright vengeful.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. Good for her!

[sasori]

40. she won't be...

...the first conservative to vote for Obama.:P

[HopeHoops]

41. John's Response....

Well, no, Kathleen doesn't plaster on the makeup like a trollup.