[Vision2020] McCain: The Bully in Fiji

[Sunil Ramalingam]

I agree with Ted.  The story has not been confirmed publicly, so it's fair to question its authenticity.  If the author will publicly stand behind it, fine, but without that I can't believe it's true.

Sunil

Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 11:11:18 -0800
From: starbliss at gmail.com
To: editor at lataheagle.com
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] McCain: The Bully in Fiji

So far as I was able to determine with limited research, this story about McCain in Fiji has not been publicly confirmed by the alleged author "Anasuya Dubey", so the doubts raised about its authenticity appear valid.  

 
There is discussion of this story at this site below, where a certain Mary-Kay Gamel is mentioned as somehow involved in this "McCain In Fiji" story, either to spread the story or as actual author.  Maybe someone wants to e-mail Mary-Kay Gamel at the University of California in Santa Cruz about this?  On the other hand, if the response forwarded below from Gamel is accurate, she may be overwhelmed with questions, and though she was involved with forwarding the story, she cannot verify who authored it nor if it is true:

 
http://ewingtalker.com/2008/09/29/mccain-turtle-island_mary-kay-gamel-mccain/
 
A couple of the responses from this site are below:

As MUCH as one might want to believe the contents of the letter, it appears untrue.
One can independently look up website for UC Santa Cruz, look under faculty for Gamel, and find that Mary-Kay Gamel is indeed in the Literature dept. there, and that is her e-mail address. So a respectful request to her to confirm or deny the letter gets a response, below.

Moral: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is–be careful what one circulates, that is also known as gossip!
——————-
Subject: Re: Please confirm letter: MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN
I have received thousands of emails and phone calls about the Turtle Island account.
I did NOT write that account.
I did NOT forward it under my name.
I did NOT ask for it to be widely distributed.
I do not know whether the story is true or not, but I
1) have never been to Turtle Island (which costs $2000/day)
2) have never met Senator McCain
3) was a classics major, not an English Literature major
4) never eat pancakes
I regret the misinformation which is circulating, but it is not my doing, and I protest the misuse of my name.
How I think this happened: on 16 September I received this account 3rd-hand and forwarded it, with full email trail information and the name of the purported author (whom I don't know), to several friends with whom I discuss politics. It was further forwarded, and at some point the trail was deleted and I was misidentified as the author. I suspect whoever did this thought that my name and contact information would make the story more credible.

Snopes.com is investigating the account; current status "undetermined."
Finally, this is NOT an organized effort on the part of any political candidate.
I hope you will pass this on to all who have been misinformed.
MKG
------------
The first poster above is clearly throwing the sands of disinformation into people's eyes. I have seen a copy of the letter. The author identifies herself in no uncertain terms as:
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California , Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
831-459-2381 (office); 831-429-8803 (home)

mkgamel at ucsc.edu
Serious dirty laundry! …True or not? Let's not jump to conclusions here. Conventional wisdom would say, wait and see. But someone is lying about who actually wrote this letter, so it is not merely a difference of interpretation. I say, let's get to the bottom of this once and for all. Who among us can we all of us—who differently view the authenticity of this letter—agree to trust? Is there anyone? ….Any thoughts?

Such a person should ask Mary-Kay Gamel who claims to have written it.
I support Obama 100%. I believe John McCain is an honorable man, but is having difficulty under pressures he is too old to handle, which sometimes makes him act out in anger. For this reason, I find the authenticity of the letter credible. What it says is another matter. That I give an 80% truth rating, only because we all have some degree of bias.

Yes, there are two sides to this story. But clearly, there are untruths about the authorship of this document out there on the internet.
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

 
On 11/3/08, Kai Eiselein, Editor <editor at lataheagle.com> wrote:
Nick,
Snopes merely states the story is "unconfirmed".
Most of the so-called "confirmation" is second hand, there has been no

corroboration of facts nor has the author actually stepped forward publicly
to confirm the story.
The only "confirmation" is via email. Seems to me anyone could pretend to be
the author and make the claim.

Your statement, "The description of McCain's personality in this story is
very similar to the description that I have heard from a former member of
Congress who knows him well. This is not the person we want making life and

death decisions for our troops or our country, let alone civil rights or
judicial appointments." , or variations thereof is found on several sites,
but the "former member of Congress" is not mentioned.

So, who is the former member of Congress?
I find it disheartening that someone who is so adamant about facts on other
subjects seems to be lackadaisical about them on this.
I also find it odd that there has only been one voice on v2020, mine, saying

"Wait a minute, what's the truth here?"
Is partisanship more important than truth?
The silence is deafening.

--------------------------------------------------
From: <nickgier at roadrunner.com>

Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 7:32 PM
To: "Kai Eiselein, Editor" <editor at lataheagle.com>
Cc: <vision2020 at moscow.com>

Subject: Re: [Vision2020] McCain: The Bully in Fiji

> Hi Kai (you may call me Nick),
>
> Before posting this piece I checked it out with snopes.com and there was
> no disconfirmation or warning.

>
> Since then, I've located the following information about the confirmed
> identity of the author and her assurances that this is not a hoax.
>
> http://rickmccharles.com/2008/09/28/holiday-with-john-mccain/

>
> My firm uses a search engine called Locateplus and, according to the
> results from that site, there is an ANASUYA DUBEY living at 499 MARINA
> BLVD APT 303, SAN FRANCISCO, California.
>

> The description of McCain's personality in this story is very similar to
> the description that I have heard from a former member of Congress who
> knows him well. This is not the person we want making life and death

> decisions for our troops or our country, let alone civil rights or
> judicial appointments.
>
> Anonymous friend of Dubey: "The Holiday with McCain piece was written by
> Anasuya Dubey, (an American citizen if you were wondering), daughter of a

> previous Indian Consul General of San Francisco. She has a PhD in Clinical
> Psychology and is a close friend of long time friends of mine whom I trust
> absolutely. I therefore believe that her article, though seemingly

> incredible, is totally valid. It has been sent to the Obama campaign."
>
> John Hay of Tellingthoughts.com exchanged a number of e-mails with the
> author and here is her last e-mail to him:

>
> Dear John,– "I understand your need to hear that the story that my husband
> and I are telling is not a hoax (and we assure you it is not!).  We are
> trying to have it corroborated by a major newspaper and all this is taking

> more time and energy than we anticipated.  Newspapers have there own
> individual thresholds to meet — I believe we will hear definitely from the
> paper we are working with this week as to whether their findings on our

> story meet their threshold to publish a version if it. Naturally, I will
> respect whatever you need to do for your blog and it's efforts". — Thank
> you for your patience. — Anasuya
>
> In an earlier e-mail Dubey said that she was contacting her travel

> partners in order for them to confirm her story.
>
> Thanks for your interest in this story,
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> ---- "Kai Eiselein wrote:
>> Dr. Gier,
>> I am surprised that you would post something like this, without

>> researching
>> it. I truly thought that you were a man of higher integrity than this.
>> I spent some time last night checking out the truthfulness of this, and,
>> at
>> best, it is sketchy.

>> The purported author has not stepped forward to claim credit, only people
>> who say "My mom's coworker's cousin knows Anasuya" or "I've known
>> Anasuya"
>> have tried to add credibility to it. That alone should raise red flags.

>> There apparently is an Ansuya Dubey in the Bay Area, but she isn't
>> speaking.
>> (Don't bother with an Ana Dubey, she's a teacher in Hawaii and has
>> nothing
>> to do with it.)

>> Various sources on the web have stated that a major newspaper, or
>> magazine
>> has interviewed Anasuya and is about to break the story. One states that
>> Jane Kramer of The New Yorker is the reporter, but Kramer is the European

>> correspondent for the magazine, so that doesn't make sense.
>> Additionally, there are claims that others who were there are publically
>> backing the statements made, but no names were given. Without names,

>> there's
>> no way to verify it.
>> The story has a viral feel to it, it's just plausible enough to be true,
>> but
>> it's sketchy enough to be unverifiable at this point. It seems to me if

>> it
>> were true, major news organizations would have been all over it by now.
>> What else I find surprising is that NO ONE else on the viz has posted
>> anything to refute or prove the truth of this story. I suspect had a

>> charge
>> like this been made against Obama, there would have been dozens of
>> responses
>> of outrage.
>> Either way, if this is untrue, no one deserves a smear like this. If it

>> IS
>> true, then people need to know that it is.
>> So, here's my challenge:
>> Since there are so many of you in academia here, with contacts at
>> institutions on the west coast. How about tracking this woman down? San

>> Francisco isn't that far away, surely one of you knows "somebody who
>> knows
>> somebody".
>> So here is what is needed: Proof that Anasuya is who she says she is and

>> was
>> in Fiji at the time, travel documents,  a stamp in her passport would be
>> golden, along with a way of proving she was at Turtle Island at the same
>> time as McCain.
>> Her phone number,  statement from her saying that she wrote the story,

>> that
>> it is true and names of anyone else that was there to verify it.
>
>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: <nickgier at roadrunner.com>

>> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 6:29 PM
>> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Subject: [Vision2020] McCain: The Bully in Fiji
>>
>> > The Bully in Fiji

>> >
>> > My Holiday with McCain  By ANASUYA DUBEY
>> >
>> > It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential
>> > nomination
>> > in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with

>> > John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their
>> > adopted
>> > Bangladeshi child).
>> >
>> > It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close

>> > quarters with John McCain for almost a week since Turtle Island has a
>> > small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all
>> > vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other

>> > intimately.
>> >
>> > He arrived at our first group meal and started reading  quotes from a
>> > pile
>> > of  William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of

>> > them.
>> > As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was "if he
>> > likes
>> > this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?" I soon realized

>> > that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer
>> > audience for his "readings" which then became a regular part of each
>> > meal.
>> > Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this

>> > intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's buttons definitely
>> > got
>> > pushed as the readings continued day after day.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime

>> > entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chinese women
>> > had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't
>> > meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should

>> > stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a
>> > few
>> > comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from
>> > Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.

>> >
>> > McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that
>> > David
>> > the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of
>> > the

>> > table
>> > from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.
>> >
>> > Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego, and his rude behavior
>> > towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some

>> > redeeming
>> > qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh . I
>> > asked
>> > him about this one day and his response was shocking -"Oh, that was

>> > Cindy's idea - I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and
>> > adopted this thing without even asking me. You can't imagine how people
>> > stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in

>> > Arizona . No, it wasn't my idea at all."
>> >
>> > I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he
>> > engaged
>> > me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the US

>> > bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said "if I was
>> > incharge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson". Given McCain's
>> > personal experience with the horrors of war I had expected a more

>> > balanced
>> > point of view.
>> >
>> > I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan
>> > during WWII - but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say

>> > that
>> > if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on
>> > Japan
>> > . I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell
>> > that

>> > his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out
>> > his perspective but rather had made him more aggressive, and vengeful
>> > towards the world.
>> >

>> > My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was
>> > leavingTurtle Island . Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when
>> > McCain
>> > arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she

>> > needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I
>> > felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and
>> > told
>> > him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me,

>> > and
>> > said "don't you know who I am" and I looked him in the face and said
>> > "yes,
>> > you are the biggest asshole I have ever met" and headed back to my

>> > cabin.
>> > I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was
>> > given
>> > a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain's

>> > bullying.
>> >
>> > Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is
>> > the  first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when

>> > McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination but it
>> > soon
>> > became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did
>> > not act then.

>> >
>> > However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be
>> > elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American
>> > citizen
>> > to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America

>> > than
>> > that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have
>> > observed
>> > him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media
>> > portrays

>> > him to be. If his attitudes toward women, and his treatment of his own
>> > family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I
>> > shudder
>> > to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our

>> > President.
>> >
>> > Anasuya Dubey is a clinical psychologist in California .
>> >
>> >
>> > =======================================================

>> > List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> >               http://www.fsr.net

>> >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> > =======================================================
>> >
>> Kai Eiselein
>> Editor, Latah Eagle

>>
>
>
Kai Eiselein
Editor, Latah Eagle

=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.

              http://www.fsr.net
         mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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