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Blogger reveals McCain did not vote for Bush
A report by liberal blogger and author Arianna Huffington that John McCain had admitted to not voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential race spurred a minor tempest on Tuesday.
- By James Rainey, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
- Published: 00:09 May 8, 2008
- The Huffington Post says John McCain had confided shortly after his bitter loss nearly eight years ago that he had not voted for Bush.
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
Los Angeles: A report by liberal blogger and author Arianna Huffington that John McCain had admitted to not voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential race spurred a minor tempest and brought angry denials from McCain's campaign on Tuesday.
On her Huffington Post website on Monday, the pundit reported that the current presumptive Republican presidential nominee had confided shortly after his bitter loss nearly eight years ago that he had not voted for Bush.
McCain had suffered sharp attacks from Bush supporters in the 2000 race, and his disdain for the tactics was no secret. But Huffington's revelation, if true, would debunk the Arizona senator's longtime stance as the loyal Republican who closed ranks behind Bush. McCain adviser Mark Salter rejected Huffington's assertion as "totally false".
"Arianna has a new book to promote," Salter said on Tuesday. "Whatever her cause celebre of the moment is - and it's always subject to further revisions with her - she will say anything to promote it and make anything up. That's been her modus operandi for years."
Reached by phone in Miami, Huffington stood by her story. She said she previously had admired McCain but gradually became disillusioned, persuaded that he had forsaken his maverick, truth-telling ways in pursuit of the presidency. "I felt the media is so enamoured with McCain and they are giving him a pass on one thing after another," Huffington said. "I think there is a disconnect in the country ... and I felt it was time for me to tell what I knew."
Huffington said she was at a dinner party hosted by a Hollywood celebrity just days before Bush's January 20, 2001 swearing in when McCain and his wife, Cindy, confided they had not voted for Bush. Cindy said she cast a write-in vote for her husband, while McCain did not specify how he marked his ballot, Huffington said. The McCains at the time had just completed a bruising primary race, which included false accusations that Cindy was a drug addict.
Another woman who attended the 2001 dinner said in an interview on Tuesday that Cindy also told her that she could not bring herself to vote for Bush.
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