Cindy McCain's Half-Sister Ignored, Cut Out Of Family

NPR:

Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

Read the whole story: NPR

Comments

[gintheb]

Ahhhh, family values.

[MoeJava]

I wonder just how much extra money Cindy was charged by her flotilla of attorneys. to make sure her half sister didnt inheirit 50-50. Time and time again, poor people dont stand a chance against multi-million dollar heirs and their money. Best Legal system money can buy.

[jaynevada]

Obama supporters are hilarious.

Let's see... Obama lives in a $1.6 million mansion... his wife wears Gucci...

Obama has a half-brother called George... who lives in a hut on $1 a day... what does he get from Obama... zero, zilch, nada (other than being called a pretty round-headed baby)...

Do you want a man who is so pathetic that his wife spends more on a pair of shoes then his brother has to live on for the entire year? I wouldn't even shake his hand.

[EarthToZoey]

You haven't been paying attention, 'jaynevada'. George Obama said in an interview on CNN that not only does he not "live in a hut" but that he is "well-off" by Kenyan standards. He said he is proud of his brother and wants for him to do well. He said all of this in plain English -- a language he learned at his Kenyan school where, as he states, he received a good education.

And Michelle's "Gucci" was a gift on the campaign trail.

Try reading something other than Drudge.

[bygollymissmolly]

It has no ability to read anything other than what it wants to believe. If it did, it's head would explode. That's the problem with the people on the right. They only accept as valid something that fits exactly into their view of the world. They are very sad people, indeed.

[bygollymissmolly]

Here cupcake, read it and weep:

But reports surfaced in the past few days, springing from an Italian Vanity Fair article saying George Obama is living in a shack and "earning less than a dollar a day."

The reports left him angry.

"I was brought up well. I live well even now," he said. "The magazines, they have exaggerated everything.

"I think I kind of like it here. There are some challenges, but maybe it is just like where you come from, there are the same challenges," Obama said.

Obama, who is in his mid-20s, is learning to become a mechanic and is active in youth groups in Huruma. He said he tries to help the community as much as he can.

At least one of his neighbors feels that perhaps the candidate should help the brother.

"I would like Obama to visit his brother to see how he is living, to improve his way of life," said Emelda Negei, who runs a small dispensary near Obama's house.

But George Obama will have none of it. He draws inspiration from his famous half-brother. He acknowledges that he is biased but said he knows that his half-brother will be the next president.

"Because he wants to be [president]," he said. "I think in life, what you want is what you are supposed to get."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/22/bts.obama.brother/

[JRandomPoster]

For the aristocracy, it is traditional for the primary heir to get the full inheritance, and the other children to get nothing. Otherwise, the fortune is split up and the primary line are no longer aristocrats.

[CindyKay]

That would mean that Kathleen should have received the Lions share Not Cindy.

[hoopesaz]

I don't care for the McCains, but you can't castigate them for something her FATHER did. HE split the family up and raised them seperately. He could have raised the two daughters as sisters, but he didn't.

I'm not sure what credit everyone thinks she should get. She is the half sister of the wife of a candidate for president. What, exactly, does that merit? Good grief...ta­lk about digging for offense.

[CindyKay]

The half Sister may have been raised seperately BUT Cindy knows Damn Well She is Not An ONLY CHILD but She Continues to say She is , if this were Michelle Obama We Would Never Hear the End of it.

[jupitor]

Bury anything embarrassing to you! Ex-wife, Step sister! what other skeketons in the closet? law sues with ex-wife, mom sues exwife! Let it all come out!

[DogTown]

The problem is two fold...Cin­dy has lied again to all of us, and she has been not been nice to a sibling.

[AustinTxn]

The same argument can be used for the weak attacks against Michelle Obama.

[ccpostman]

Cindy can easily do the right thing and give a little money to her half-sister. She knows what is right!
She is just trying real hard to keep this a secret. Guess what... the secret is now out.

Kick down girl. Don't act like a total witch!
Maybe somebody will throw a glass of Bud on you and you'll melt?

[londonrainbow]

That is not good, for a wanna-be first lady. How can u ignore your sister like this, you can see the sister has an average lifestyle from the sofa she is sitting on and the wall. Whereas Cindy has millions. Now that is disgusting.

[CindyKay]

Me , Me , Me , Me , Me !

All Cindy & Johnny Boy think about are themselves.

Cindy Could & Should have done the Right Thing & Included Kathleen in the Family Fortune.

If they are Sooooo Hurtful toward their Own Family Members then How Can We Trust Them to Do What is Right for the American People ??????????­??????????­????



Buy American Made Products & Help Save American Jobs !

Vote For Obama / Biden & Help Save Americas Future !

[MsLiz]

Ladies, if you see Meghan McCain around your husband, get a lawyer and a private detective. She may follow in her mother's and grandmother's footsteps.

[londonrainbow]

Yes boy this thing runs in the family big time. LOL. Cindy and her mom are husband thieves.

If this story was about Michelle, it would have made world news. Guaranteed.

[MizLiz]

Speaking of the McCain daughters, any idea where they've hidden Bridget?

[twiggy1954]

I am not a fan of the McCains, but I think families are complicated and it is unlikely that the public knows all the facts. In my own family, my "half-sister" was born 10 1/2 months after my father filed for divorce and shipped out to the Pacific front in WWII. He did not include her in his will.
In any case, Cindy McCain was not raised in the presence of other children, and she certainly ACTS like an only child, so let her claim that distinction if she wants to.

[frl]

i listened to this on npr yesterday. while cindy mccain may not have been raised with her half sister, she and her father did visit with the half sister. so i think its understandable when the other sister hears a woman totally deny her being a part of the family (as cindy mccain has on numberous occassions publicly stated that she is an only child of her father's) that she would be upset by it. i'd think anyone would.

[hoopesaz]

Didn't cindy say in that story that she was "rasied as an only child"? I may have misheard, but that's what I remember. And if that's what she said, what about that isn't true?

[ccpostman]

I'm sorry you have him as a father.
He did the wrong thing leaving his daughter with NO child support.

Let me guess, you got all the money from the will?

It must be hard trying to justify the money you got.

Looks from what you wrote you still feel real bad!

Do the right thing.

[bygollymissmolly]

So did you go running around telling everyone that you were an only child?

[ObamaismyHero08012]

We human beings can be worse than animals at times. Didn't "C"...indy just come back from some third world country with CNN's John King where she "donated" $$$ to some poor children while the cameras rolled and yet her own nephew dosen't even have an ipod sorry a car.

[Kim445588]

Charity should begin with taking care of your own.

[SFkid]

Ha, the McCains lie? Absurd, never, uh, no way? aaah, OK, they always lie, to you , me everyone.

[MrCleaveland]

This just in! Keith Olbermann has uncovered the fact that Karl Rove and Halliburton have purloined the Cone of Silence! That's right! They are at this very moment secretly transporting the Cone to Arizona, where they will use it to silence McCain's second wife's half sister!

This is big, folks! BIG!!!!!!!!!

[londonrainbow]

LOL

[ZimboChick]

Keith will be on top of this one guaranteed ....even if u all clown him

[StephBlingle]

I'm glad to see people are giving information about the other daughter Dixie Burd, but they're still not getting their facts right. She's only a year older than Cindy and she's the daughter of both Marguerite and Cindy's father and is therefore a full a sister.

According to the obituary for Marguerite "Smitty" Hensley in the Arizona Republic, October 24, 2006, courtesy of NewsBank, Cindy McCain's sister is "Dixie Burd." Both are listed as the only surviving children.

Her full name as revealed by the database Veromi is Deborah Ann "Dixie" Burd and she was born April 18, 1953:

http://www.veromi.net/Summary.asp?fn=dixie&mn=&ln=burd&dobmm=04&dobdd=18&doby=1953&city=&state=&age=&vw=&Search=&Input=&x=55&y=15

So there were two daughters of Marguerite Hensley, the second wife--Cindy McCain and ANOTHER sister who was only one year older.

[MidwestMomma]

Oh! My! could this get any more apalling? Why would you call yourself "the only child" of someone when it is blantantly not true? For what purpose? If you are in public life you have to know you can't lie about something as basic as bloodline and why would you want to?

Everyone has family issues but to go out of your way to lie about the existence of siblings is stupid and unnessecary and John McCain must not see a problem with it or he would have stopped it. These two have a real problem with family committmen­ts..I find it distrubing!

[MizLiz]

Thanks for that great website -- genealogy is one of my hobbies.

[helonias]

Who will get into the kingdom of heaven

The MCCains or Cindy's half sister.
Any takers

[MizLiz]

That needle eye is looking smaller and smaller.

[MidwestMomma]

Wow! This is shows some real bad judgment on the part of both McCains. Seriously, would you continue to lie about something that can be so eaily found out when your husband is running for president and if you are running for president would you let your spouse continue to lie?

Sorry but this once again proves the McCains have very little respect for family or the truth.