Miss Cindy is getting a nice little ride on the swiftboat..

[Virginia Dare]

and I for one am happy to see it. Oops! Her half sister who got NOTHING is a Democrat!

When Cindy McCain talks about growing up, she usually refers to herself as an "only child" -- a phrase that ignores the existence of her half sisters.

"It's terribly painful," Kathleen Hensley Portalski said yesterday. "It is as if she is the 'real' daughter. I am also a real daughter."

Portalski and McCain are both children of the late Jim Hensley, the Arizona businessman who founded one of the largest beer distributorships in the nation. Kathleen, 65, is the product of Hensley's first marriage in the 1930s to Mary Jeanne Parks. Hensley divorced Parks for Marguerite "Smitty" Johnson, whom he met at a West Virginia hospital in World War II and married in 1945. Cindy was born nine years later

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082000253.html

[floridablue]

1. Can we get a DNA to prove who her father is ?

I wonder what papas connection was to get that Budweiser distributorship in a high growth area. Almost a guaranteed success.

[atreides1]

4. From papas bio

Following his discharge in 1945, Hensley and his brother went back to work for Marley in his United Sales Company in Phoenix and United Distributors in Tucson. In 1948, both brothers were prosecuted by the federal government and convicted of falsifying liquor records to conceal illegal distribution of whiskey against post-war rationing regulations. Jim Hensley received a six-month suspended sentence while his brother received a year in federal prison. In 1953, Jim Hensley and Marley were charged by federal prosecutors with falsifying liquor records. Defended by future Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, they were acquitted.

In December 1952, the Hensley brothers bought into the Ruidoso Downs racetrack in New Mexico, with Eugene running it and Jim returning to Phoenix. In a May 1953 hearing before the New Mexico State Racing Commission, the Hensley brothers concealed the existence an equal partner, Clarence "Teak" Baldwin, who had been banned from any ownership role due to illegal bookmaking activities. A 1953 New Mexico State Police investigation found further that Kemper Marley was a financial backer for bookmakers and had connections with Baldwin and with the bookmaking operations of organized crime, a conclusion echoed decades later by the Arizona Project investigative reporting team. The Hensley brothers gained their Ruidoso Downs racetrack license in 1953, as no New Mexico law barred convicted felons from race track ownership, although in 1955 new Governor of New Mexico John F. Simms would say he was "appalled" by the previous administration's decision to do so. Previous Governor Edwin L. Mechem had defended the approval, saying that the Hensleys had been under constant surveillance and deserved continued attention, but that no action was taken against them because the investigation showed that as race tracks go, all laws apparently were being observed. Jim Hensley would sell his interest in Ruidoso Downs to his brother Eugene in 1955.

[TexasObserver]

2. Yes, Cindy doesn't care about her sister, and denies her.

But she loves kids! Kids who can be a cover for her prescription drug thefts.

[Fridays Child]

3. It's interesting that Cindy's father did to his first wife what her asshole husband did to his.

I doubt that the similarity escaped Kathleen Hensley Portalski and her mother.

[bronxiteforever]

5. Party of Family Values-A Potential First Lady who ditched her half-sisters

This is a huge story and how can this be a Christian thing to do?-Pastor Warren? Anyone?

[rurallib]

6. Is there more than one half-sister? Or just the one?

Cindy got it all from Daddy didn't she? Even his grandkids were stiffed.
And yes, the similarities between Daddy and her flyboy husband are amazing.

[City Lights]

7. Two. From the article:

But there's more: Cindy McCain has another half sister. Before her marriage to Hensley, Johnson had a daughter, Dixie Burd, by a previous relationship. Burd, who is much older than Cindy, could not be reached for comment.

[Virginia Dare]

9. Oh my goodness, a LOVE CHILD!.....n/t

[rurallib]

12. Thanks - I read the NPR version yesterday

and I am fairly sure they only mentioned one.

[rurallib]

14. Okay - I was curious and did some googling

From an online memorial:
She (Cindi's mother Marguerite Johnson "Smitty" Hensley)is survived by two daughters, Dixie Burd and Cindy Hensley McCain; five grandchildren, Bobby Burd, Meghan McCain, Jack McCain, Jimmy McCain, and Bridget McCain; one great-granddaughter, Deann " Burd" Mitchel and two great-great-grandchildren, and one sister, Jeri Harbolt.

So Cindy has a half sister by each parent? Apparently at least her mom acknowledged her other daughter. No mention if she was cut out of the will as the other half-sister was.
http://www.mem.com/Story.aspx?ID=1560009

[City Lights]

15. And despite the fact that she doesn't exist as far as the mccains are concerned,

she gave $2300 to his campaign.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Burd&fname=Dixie

[City Lights]

8. Telling lies about an opponent is swiftboating.

Cindy isn't being swiftboated. She's being exposed. It makes me very happy. :D

[Virginia Dare]

10. Yep, this is smooth sailing into the land of truth...n/t

[Riddler]

11. Nice to see that the family of the nominee of the party of family values HAS no family values.

[npincus]

13. she only has 8 homes and a gazillion bucks.... not enough to share w/family

unless of course it's the husband you've "borrowed" from another woman.