The Anatomy of a Deception: How The McCains Changed Their Baby Adoption Story Just Before 2008 Campaign Began

As was pointed out yesterday by the Christian Science Monitor, the McCain campaign was called out for lying about the purported urging of Cindy McCain by Mother Teresa herself to adopt two children at her orphanage back in 1991. Turns out, McCain never met or even spoke with Mother Teresa on that trip.

Once confronted by the Monitor about the deception, the campaign quickly erased such claims from the website, as it did with Cindy's family recipes, which were proved to be lifted from the Food Network.

But after doing some research, this deception was no careless accident, but rather another shameless and deliberate attempt by the campaign to reinvent and embellish the McCain family history in time for his 2008 presidential bid.

Here's how the McCain adoption was described by them prior to the 2008 presidential race:

Newsweek (Nov. 15, 1999, Cindy McCain's Own Story):

On finding a child while running a relief mission to Bangladesh in 1991:

I was working in Dhaka, and a friend of mine from Arizona had said to me, Look, while you're there, do me a favor. Mother Teresa has an orphanage in Dhaka. Would you mind seeing if they need any help? And I said, Sure. We finally found the orphanage, and we saw 150 newborns on one floor. And a lot of them were sick. And the nuns said, [This little girl with a cleft palate]--can't you take her and get her medical help? And I thought, well, sure I can, I can do that.

CNBC (Feb 12, 2000, Tim Russert Interview with the McCains):

Mrs. McCAIN: She's--our daughter Bridget is eight years old. I found her in Mother Teresa's orphanage when she was 10 weeks old in Bangladesh. She has a cleft palate; she had some other problems. And the nuns persuaded me to bring her home, and I did. I--I could do that. I was able to do that. And literally on board the flight home from Bangkok to Los Angeles, not having spoken to my husband, I decided I couldn't c--I had to--I couldn't let her go. I had--she chose me. So she's ours now. I came home and presented my husband with a new daughter that he didn't know he had.

Vanity Fair (November 2004, The Trashing of John McCain):

In 1991, when Cindy McCain was on a relief mission to Bangladesh, she was asked by one of Mother Teresa's nuns to help a young orphan with a cleft palate. Flying her to the U.S. for surgery, Cindy realized she couldn't give her up. At the Phoenix airport, she broke it to her husband, and they eventually adopted the child. But few people knew that story. In the words of McCain's national campaign manager, Rick Davis, a smear doesn't have "to be true to be effective."

Now see how the story changed at the beginning of 2008:

The Sunday Mail (Feb. 3, 2008, Dark past no barrier for Cindy):

``While working at Mother Teresa's orphanage in the early 1990s, I stumbled upon the most beautiful little girl I'd ever seen,'' she said. ``She had a terrible cleft palate. She had problems with her feet. She had problems with her hands. She had all kinds of problems.

``As only Mother Teresa can, she prevailed upon me to take this baby and another baby to the United States for medical care.''

The Sunday Telegraph (Feb. 3, 2008, Cindy McCain: pills, ills, beer and the White House)

It was on a trip to Bangladesh in 1991 that she adopted Bridget. On Friday she recounted to voters in Missouri and Illinois how Mother Teresa persuaded her to return home with the child. "I just could not let her go. The only thing was, I had not told my husband. When I got back, he asked me 'Where will she go?' and I said: 'I thought she could come to our house.'

Digital Journal (Jun 15, 2008, Can We Trust Cindy McCain to Represent American Women?):

Mrs. McCain has been involved in charity work from clearing landmines, to starting a charity to help children who need facial reconstruction. She has been inspired by her daughter she adopted from Bangladesh who needed extreme care after being born with a cleft palate. The adoption was prompted by Mother Teresa herself who implored Cindy to adopt the little girl. She did so without first consulting John McCain because of her compassion for the girl and her respect for Mother Teresa.

But the most damning evidence of a deliberate attempt to concoct this story comes from cached versions of the McCain campaign website.

Here's how Cindy's campaign bio reads on the website as late as November 9, 2004:

As an advocate for children's health care needs, Cindy H. McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) in 1988. The AVMT provided emergency medical and surgical care to impoverished children throughout the world. Cindy led 55 medical missions to third world and war-torn countries during AVMT's seven years of existence. During one of those missions, on a visit to Mother Teresa's Orphanage Cindy agreed to bring two babies in need of medical attention back to the United States. One of those babies is now a happy and healthy little girl named Bridget McCain.

Now compare that to the change made on the website on February 3, 2008 -- the same day the stories above by The Sunday Mail and The Sunday Telegraph were printed:

As an advocate for children's health care needs, Cindy founded and ran the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) from 1988 to 1995. AVMT provided emergency medical and surgical care to impoverished children throughout the world. Cindy led 55 medical missions to third world and war-torn countries during AVMT's seven years of existence. On one of those missions, Mother Teresa convinced Cindy to take two babies in need of medical attention to the United States. One of those babies is now their adopted daughter, 15 year old Bridget McCain.

Notice the obvious change in the one sentence that depicts the circumstances of the adoption.

The instances of the dishonest efforts to create a McCain family portrait are growing. The campaign previously had to scrub its website of Cindy's family recipes when it was discovered in April that they were largely cut and paste from the Food Network.

At the time, they blamed an intern for the problem. I wonder who they will now blame for Cindy McCain's own words?

Are these indicative of the McCain family values?

UPDATE: Seems that Rick Warren told Larry King on Monday night that the Mother Teresa story was one of three times during Saturday's forum that McCain teared-up. They're liars and actors.

Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "The Anatomy of a Deception: How The McCains Changed Their Baby Adoption Story Just Before 2008 Bid"

Follow Mark Nickolas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mnickolas

Comments

[nmm]

I am baffled why no one is talking about another "deception" that Cindy engaged in.
She stole drugs from a non-profit that she ran that provided medical supplies. She was hooked on pain killers and when the theft was discovered, she was forced to resign. I only hear this raised by a few folks in AZ...

It's okay to have a problem and "get clean" but Cindy is no saint -

[stayinsouth1981]

No one talks because no one wants to pay the consequences of bringing out truth. This is all a load of MS.

So, I make my pros and cons list. Call in and make a contribution, vote and PRAY~

[mary wv8633]

I am truly conflicted about the issue of Cindy and John's adoption. While under NO circumstance should they lie about the occasion of how they adopted their daughter and under NO circumstance should Mother Theresa be allowed to be used as a scape-goat for their political promotion, I do think it is an important thing that adoption be presented in a positive way. As the sister of an adopted brother who also has two adopted cousins, I am a true advocate of this practice. Unfortunately in America it is not considered common and many prefer fertilization treatments to have 'their own children'. Adopting a child is an important thing and I am proud of the McCain's for their dedication to child welfare and for adoption. Now if only adoption was EASIER and more acceptable in AMerica so more people would do it!

[Snailgoop]

I can't stand McCain or his wife and I'm going to vote democrat this coming election but I think it's fair to say that you've taken this too far. When you bring a daughter with major disabilities home from a foreign orphanage and raise her as your own, then feel free to come back and smash someone who has done just that. Whatever the story is, Cindy McCain HAS to be given MAJOR credit for what she did as a philanthropist and a mother. If the story got twisted, that's unfortunate, and if she twisted it, that's wrong, but when you weigh her good act against her wrong act, the scales favor Cindy and not just a little bit.

[stayinsouth1981]

I think there are a lot of mothers who would do the same thing if they had the same resources.

[vidivici]

Sad isn't it? We have this knowledge and still McCain's numbers are improving.

[northman]

"My Friends, did I mention that I was a P.O.W. for five and a half years?"

[AdoptResearch]

More McCain lies:
When McCain met Cindy a wealthy Socialite at a party, he lied about his age (he is 20 years her senior) he shaved off 10 years!
Lately, the "Swift Boat" propagandists er campaign is trying to imply that Obama wasn't born on American soil therefore doesn't qualify for Presidency.
Truth be known, McCain was born in the Panama Canal area where his father worked to oversee the USA's assets in building a link for our import/exports. WHO wasn't born on American Soil?

[AdoptResearch]

In the Adoption world, we have known about this McCain controversy since 2004. McCain ran for the Republican nomination 2004 against Georgie a rumor started by the W. campaign that McCain fathered a "black" child. In fact, this is when McCain started addressing Bridget McCain, from there the story is different from publication to publication. The reason is it involves Human Trafficking of a high ranking official with a VERY wealthy wife.
Truth be known, Cindy McCain bypassed the government of Bangledesh and the USA, she put baby Bridget on a private airplane, thereby avoiding immigration, obtaining a visa for Bridget, etc.
What can the USCIS do once the baby was in the USA getting medical care under the guardianship of a Wealthy Politician's wife?
If people understood how difficult and how expensive it is to internationally adopt, this would erk you more. The stacks of paperwork required and layers of bureacracy we must go through.
Our country (and others) have two sets of rules: one set is for the rich and famous like Madonna (who paid the malawi government $1 million for David) Jolie (who with 3 international adoptions) one in Cambodia through Seattle International Agency, later closed down because of fraud in Cambodia, second in Ethiopia, she announced the birth mother died of AIDs, this was a LIE, the bio mother is alive. Last was Vietnam, who right after the adoption closed down to the USA because of fraud and children not being properly relinquished orphans.

[tahoeprogressive]

I don't want John McCain as President of this country because he is wrong on almost every issue. But, when it comes to children, we need to do everything we can to help and protect them. That includes going around government red tape and regulations. I wish the McCain campaign would quit using the adoption for political gain.

[vidivici]

aaaaaa

[TrooAmerican]

Rich people are too busy becoming rich-ER to truly walk in the shoes of poor or middle class persons that are mostly always in desperate situations.
Rich people lead far less stressful lives.
A) they use their power, contacts, influence and money to get out of criminal investigations, and minor offenses
B) they have teams of attorneys that watch out for them and handle all legal issues.
C) they never have to choose the lesser of items due to price
D) they dont have to worry about paying bills
E) they can eat however they want
F) they can pay for a lifestyle that is healthier
G) they can pay for dental, cosmetic, medical procedures to fix issues, or improve some things.
H) they dont have to tell their kids "sorry no sports this year, or no dance or music lessons, and no family vacation for the 5th yr in a row."

Yeah, McCain and his wife are just regular joes like the rest of us. Keep feeding those droppings to us.

[alexadav]

The general public needs to know about this.

[christianlefty]

This is the same type of lying when last year he decided to say he was a baptist. The truth is that McCain has never been baptized. The pastor at Phoenix baptist church where he attends ocassionaly, Dan Yeary states that McCain has never been baptized and he is not a member of the church. Pastor Yeary suggests McCain should say he ATTENDS the church, because every baptist knows the doctrine, except for McCain, and you must be baptized to be a baptist. To lie about your own christianity and religious beliefs, to me, is the ultimate lie. God help us if this liar controls our country.

[garyb50]

WOW ! !

I sure hope there is follow-up on this, Zoe13.

[NielsH]

There is one more story that has changed over the years and that is John McCain’s knowledge of the arrival of Bridget and Leela (the girl who was adopted by McCain aide Wes Gullet and his wife).

In most current accounts John McCain claims he had no prior knowledge of their arrival, as he did in dadmag.com in April 2006.

He was asked: You knew about your wife’s decision before hand?

McCain: (laughs) No. She arrived and said “Say hello to your new little daughter.”

While an article in the Arizona Star from December 25, 1991 says: The senator didn’t learn he was about to become a father again until his wife called from Bangkok, Thailand.

While the first story is already absurd and against common and ethical adoption practice, the fact the story has shifted over time, makes me question if this story is invented to cover up John McCain’s use of political influence to get Bridget to the US, circumventing proper procedures.

I wrote a longer account about this case on my own website: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/20784

[Benztown]

Why cant rich people serve humanity just for humanty sake?

[MFrancis]

This is an enjoyable story, but only because I despise what republicans have done to our country and desperate for an Obama win. But more so I am longing for a time when political news and attacks are more substantive. It is great journalism to uncover these fraudulent statements. Trying to make Cindy McCain look better by telling their adoption story (the heart of which is true) by lying about Mother Teresa's involvement is pathetic. But it's not something McCain himself said, and it's not a substantive election issue. It's dishonest, and we are surprised? Conservatives will find an excuse, and liberals will have an excuse to ridicule him. What a fun dance...

I suppose this post is a self-declaration - I'm not going to continue to latch on to any story in which McCain's camp makes a misstep. In being mindful of the larger good - to not play typical partisan politics - i'd like to keep myself from getting worked up over this sort of minutia.

[Tellecter]

You guys are complaining about one word -- nun. Rather than MT -- it was a MT nun that asked Cindy to adopt 2 kids.

If Cindy can embellish the adoption story -- I am sure that it will be ok for Obama to embellish his stance against the war in 2002 -- or Biden can embellish his resume again.

At the end of the day -- the McCain's adopted two children in desperate need

[everythingelse]

Actually, this isn't the only story the McCain's appear to be embellishing. How about John McCain's "cross in the sand" story? HuffingtonPost did a piece this past week about the (outrageous) similarities between McCain's story of a guard in his POW camp scratching a cross into the sand and one recounted by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about a guard who did the same thing in the Russian Gulag.

And now this in today's LA Times:

"In 1974, Reagan invited McCain to speak at a governor's prayer breakfast in Sacramento. The former prisoner of war told the story of a fellow captive who had scratched a prayer on a cell wall. Ronald and Nancy Reagan were reduced to tears. It was "the most moving speech I had ever heard," Reynolds said."

So now it's not a guard, it's a fellow captive??? With a prayer on a cell wall?

That's a lot of scratching, folks.

These people are blatantly dishonest. Mrs. McCain is secretive to avoid outright dishonesty. She just lies by omission.