The Questions for Perot about McCain and Gambling

Yesterday's New York Times front-page investigative story about John McCain's long time ties to the nation's gambling industry ("For McCain and Team, a Host of Ties to Gambling"), jogged my memory about an unsettling bit of information I was given by Ross Perot in 1995.

In November 1995, my wife and fellow author, Trisha, and I, interviewed Perot for several days for an unauthorized biography (Citizen Perot: His Life & Times, Random House, 1996). During one of our conversations, outside of the 'on the record' taped interviews, Perot discussed with us how he had utilized private investigators to uncover information about other people. Perot never used, from what I could determine, any of the personal details he assembled about others. Rather, he was merely a collector of information, never knowing when it might come in useful.

I discussed this with my editor, Bob Loomis. Without independent reporting, much of it was no more than informed gossip. Perot had passed along personal details about Barbara Walters family, Clinton chief of staff Leon Penneta, and business tycoon Peter Ueberroth, someone Perot had seriously considered as a vice-presidential candidate in his own 1992 presidential run.

From our interviews with Perot about the Vietnam POW/MIA issue, it was clear there was no love lost between Perot and a number of public officials who opposed his efforts to keep looking for soldiers he believed had been left behind and were alive. On Perot's most disliked list was George Herbert Bush, who as Reagan's vice-president had shut the door to any further government probe on the matter. Richard Armitage, George W. Bush's ex-deputy Secretary of State, had earned Perot's eternal animosity because of his conclusion that there were no MIAs left in Southeast Asia. And the final person to earn Perot's enmity was John McCain, who as a decorated war hero, and then Senator, had also closed the door to any further MIA investigations.

Bob Loomis and I decided that I should not report Perot's personal details about these men and women, with two exceptions. Regarding Ueberroth, I wrote in Citizen Perot that one Perot campaign insider had concluded that "Ueberroth was the perfect match," but that "Perot and Mort Meyerson (Perot's top business executive at EDS) personally made inquiries about him and eventually opted for a stand-in candidate."

And as for Armitage, Perot's information was so detailed, including even surveillance photos of Armitage in supposedly compromising situations, I did report it. And Armitage was generous in giving me extensive interviews that helped explain the background and put into context Perot's one man war on him.

I am only reporting now Perot's rumor/information about McCain because of today's New York Times story. Perot told me that McCain had a gambling problem and he had uncovered details that McCain was bailed out in the late 1980s from a big gambling debt by his wife, Cindy.

If true, it raises a question as to whether McCain's gambling might ever have put him in a situation where he was pressed to repay his debt through Senatorial favors.

An enterprising reporter has to ask Ross Perot if he will acknowledge what he shared with me 14 years ago, and if so, if he will now provide the evidence to back up the assertion. Perot hasn't talked to me since I published my unauthorized biography, so unfortunately, I am not the person to ask. And some reporter should ask McCain, directly, if he has ever had a gambling debt that his wife had to pay off. American voters have a right to know.

Comments

[Margij]

Ask the National Enquirer to get to the bottom it

[marasgram18]

yes yes send this to them in fact I am emailing it to them your article that is

[vnique]

This could be the least of McCain's problems. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution disqualifies from the Senate any federal or state officer who had taken the requisite oath to support the Constitution, but later engaged in rebellion or aids the enemies of the United States. This provision, which came into force soon after the end of the Civil War, was intended to prevent those who sided with the Confederacy from serving. That Amendment, however, also provides a method to remove that disqualification: a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress. (Wikipedia)

Yet in McCain's own words just four days after being captured, he admits he violated the U.S. Code of Conduct by telling his captors "O.K, I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."

A Vietnam vet detractor says, "He received the nation's third highest award, the Silver Star, for treason. He provided aid and comfort to the enemy!" (David Hackworth Jan 2000)

[Krikkit]

You are absolutely wrong on your reading of McCain's actions with regards to the 14th amendment. Any confessions or information obtained under torture cannot by definition be considered as giving aid to the enemy.

McCain is the worst choice for the presidency for many valid reasons, but yours is an invalid one. You should wash your own mouth out with soap for even suggesting it.

[BlueZoo]

Thank you for your lucid and proper response to this issue. It's good to read somone's comments that aren't filled with misinformation and vitriol. Huzzahs!

Obama-Biden '08

[wmfor]

But McCain wasn't tortured. Any good Republican will tell you he merely underwent "enhanced interrogation techniques", no worse than a fraternity hazing.

[skippypicasso]

If this means you're voting for Obama, that's OK, there are enough people voting against Barack for idiotic reasons.

[JulieSA]

I like Perot a lot as a person. He's done many kind things for many people. He and his wife and children are all nice folks. I know people who know them.

However, he fell in with oddball conspiracy nutter types who got his ear in the nineties. Remember that wacko thing thing he said that someone was trying to sabotage his daughter's wedding? It was right before the election, and he lost a lot of votes for that. The guy that was feeding that stuff was one of those MIA scammers. So I don't consider all of Perot's sources reliable, especially the ones from that era.

[berkeleygirl1962]

Julie SA, I pretty much share your view of Perot. And I would also have agreed with you about "MIA scammers" until I read Sydney Schanberg's meticulous investigatory report on The Nation Institute's (parent of The Nation magazine) website:

http://www.nationinstitute.org/p/schanberg09182008pt1

I'd probably agree that McCain's personal gambling is only relevant if his indebtedness caused him to do legislative or regulatory favors for gambling interests (although some bible-thumpers may find the mere practice objectionable, in which case: good!). But the POW/MIA story as reported by Schanberg speaks to some pretty horrific lies and character flaws, and shows how a "conspiracy" among press and politicians is less a shadowy back-room top-down plot than an ever-growing thicket of personal psychological and poltical agendas that converge in such a tangled mess as to inhibit the disinfectant power of sunshine. I've been forwarding Schanberg's piece to Veteran friends, including McCain supporters, who are now McCain doubters after reading this expose.

[Krikkit]

You should have plenty of contacts. Who do you know that knows someone who is in good standing with Mr. Perot and is willing to ask him?

It should be an easy pitch for the right person to make. Now's the time that Mr. Perot both serve this country's best interests and get back at a man who apparently deserves his animosity. This should be an easy assignment. Get crackin!

[krocklin]

This story will never become properly investigated. It falls into the category of Bush's DUIs, cocaine use, failure to show up for a year for the National Guard, and no proof ever that he spent time in Alabama as a member of the National Guard. Not one of his co-guardsman could ever be brought forward to prove his whereabouts either in Texas or Alabama when he claimed he was there.
But Dan Rather's career was nearly ended reporting this story.
There are POW websites opposed to McCain because most of the narrative about his injuries and incarceration in Hanoi are a myth. He was never tortured they say - his injuries were sustained when he parachuted out of his plane after it was hit . And his nickname was songbird innthev camp because he told the Vietcong everything they wanted to hear and they put it on tape. He has suppressed these tapes and threatened Vietnamese leaders if they ever released those tapes while negotiating on their behalf for U.S. recognition.
They also oppose him because he did everything he could to stop efforts to find MIAs (for fear these tapes would surface), just as he opposes efforts to support and aid veterans.
The media never covers these stories, and yet there are plenty of videoclips from former POWs verifying all this. If all this were available about a Democratic candidate, the Swiftboaters would dig it all up.

[tbirdalum]

He messed up his arms just prior to the parachuting when he activated the ejection seat. There are two actions required on these seats. The first action of pulling up on the handles ejects the canopy and the second action of pulling up on the triggers inside of the handles activates the seat itself and one very important thing that has to be done is to keep your arms in right next to the body as the seat is leaving the cockpit, because there is only a very few inches of space on either side of the ejection seat. He failed to do this and was injured as he was leaving the plane. He was sinking in the lake 2 or 3 times prior to the vietnamese people pulling him out of the water.


O for 08

[DenveRockwell]

I think it is important that we stop the insults, stop the petty gotcha politics.

Let's win this election because our IDEAS are so much better. Let's set a new tone for the country. Let's do this the right way.

Obama/Biden '08

Yes We Can

[PuppaX]

I'm past "new tone." When McCain was willing to gamble his candidacy on Sarah Palin - and we all know that is exactly what he did - we showed that playing nice is not acceptable.

[Indie2008]

In todays age of mass communications and paper trails, this is something that could be confirmed or debunked easily by the national media. They don't need information from Perot. The bothersome aspect of this is that the normally inquisitive media has displayed a strange lack of zeal for investigating any allegations about McCain.

[Krikkit]

There's still such a thing as privacy laws that limit access to those paper trails and for good reason. You can't just access Cindy's bank account records from the internet for instance. However, if evidence exists from the investigations Perot initiated, that would be valuable fodder for the media, don't you think?

[MBryant]

McCain a gambling problem? Obviously!
Flyboy - gambled on changing families - Charles Keating - repeated runs for the Presidency - Sarah Palin? Suspend campaign for bail-out and skip debate?

He has called himself a "betting man".

Everyone of McCain's campaigns have been a roller coaster ride. The question on this one is would election day when he was on a trough or a peak, when he was riding high or busted?

He wants to take America along for the ride - blow on his dice, cross your fingers...

What happens in Vegas - stays in the McCain's White House

[danderoo]

Any old study of the Arizona Republic circa late 1980's and early 1990's would also turn up odd items like birthday telegrams and gifts from Senator McCain to Joey Bananas Bonanno, at the time, recently relocating his crime family to its Tucson base of operations.

And, many other references....

Cindy wasn't the only one bailing him out.

[SpencersMom]

And Perot paid the first Mrs. McCain's medical bills following her disfiguring auto accident that left her so unattractive (to John) that McCain immediately started running around on her. For years. Until he met a very wealthy, very young, very well-connected, and very pretty Cindy.

The Reagan shunned the McCains because of John's antics, including his getting his marriage license with Cindy before his first marriage was officially over.

Man of honor? Not so much...

PEACE

[Texdude]

Mr. Posner:

A few edits: It's Leon Panetta, not Penetta, and Poppy Bush is generally referred to as George Herbert W!!alker Bush, not George Herbert Bush. Otherwise, thanks for the article!

[JDHART]

Oh, I forgot to mention ... Perot was a big Bushie back in 2000.

[JDHART]

Is Perot still around?

I used to work for EDS and yes, the rumors are true, under Perot the company was super conservative -- women weren't allowed to wear pants; men couldn't have facial hair and there was no such thing as 'casual Friday'. We used to call their security people the EDS S. But that was 20 years ago.

[SpencersMom]

I used to help clients select computer systems, and let me tell you when the EDS folks came it to make their presentation, they were some scary folks!

Everyone in navy blue suits and white shirts (men and women alike) and they all spoke in the same tone, had the same mannerisms.

We used to refer to them as the sales team from "Ed's Computers."

PEACE

[mandycat]

When I was a (female) MBA student at Texas A&M in the early 80's we were warned that the ideal EDS candidate was a white, Christian male in his mid to late 20's, preferably an ex-military officer with a stay at home wife. Just enough women and non-WASP students were granted interviews or offered entry level jobs to keep the Fed's off their back. But if one of us was foolish enough to accept an offer, our lives would be so miserable we'd quit after two years. That was how long it took to work off the indentured servitude clause in the contract everyone signed on the way in, agreeing to repay EDS for your "training costs" if you left any earlier. Since there were five energy company interviews for every MBA student at the time, we always wondered what kind of mindless automatons would go with EDS.

[dadw5boys]

HOW MANY VOTING MACHINE COMPANYS DOES CINDY McCAIN OWN ????????

[terkid]

Now, his gambling problem has a name: SARAH PALIN.

Can't you get out of this one too, Cindy?