SOMEBODY GOT TO CINDY…. Cindy McCain, perhaps best known as Sen. John McCain’s (R) second/current wife, did something pretty brave this week. While her husband positions himself as one of Congress’ leading anti-gay lawmakers, Cindy McCain appeared in a NOH8 activist video in support of gay rights.
In the television ad, she tells viewers, “Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future…. They can’t serve our country openly.” She added that the government “treats the LGBT community like second class citizens.”
It was a striking move, given that her husband is leading the charge to ensure gay servicemen and women “can’t serve our country openly” and that the LGBT community is treated “like second class citizens.”
But in an even more striking move, Cindy McCain is now saying she no longer believes what she said in the commercial.
Cindy McCain announced that she is against the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” one day after she appeared in a video where she lends her support to end the ban on gays openly serving in the military. […]
“I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband’s stance on DADT,” she tweeted.
Look, I really don’t care what the spouses or children of policymakers have to say about current events. Cindy McCain’s views on discrimination, or any other issue, are her business.
Until, that is, she decides she wants to play a more active, high-profile role in the larger public debate. In this case, on Thursday, Cindy McCain wanted to use her role as public figure to tell Americans how wrong it is that gay servicemen and women “can’t serve our country openly” and that the LGBT community is treated “like second class citizens.” And on Friday, Cindy McCain wanted to use her role as public figure to tell Americans that gay servicemen and women shouldn’t “serve our country openly” and that the LGBT community deserves to be treated “like second class citizens.”
I’m not sure which is more troubling — the fact that Cindy McCain is willing to publicly contradict herself so blatantly, or that her embarrassed husband probably pressured her to say something that’s at odds with her own beliefs.
