Cindy McCain ‘shocked, appalled’ about Myanmar
GOP candidate’s wife rules out negative campaigning, releasing tax returns
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Exclusive: Cindy McCain interviewed May 8: In an exclusive interview, Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, talks with TODAY's Ann Curry about his run for president. Today show |
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 | U.S. given OK on Myanmar aid May 8: Myanmar's junta has given the U.S. permission to fly in relief supplies for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Today show |
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 | Aid begins to reach Myanmar May 7: Relief supplies begin to reach Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis. NBC's Ian Williams reports. Today show |
Cindy McCain watches the videos and reads the news about the devastation in Myanmar, where tens of thousands of people have lost their lives to a cyclone and millions more have been displaced, and she wants to go there to help.
“I can't sit still,” the wife of Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, told TODAY’s Ann Curry in a rare one-on-one interview. “I want to be there. And I want thousands of people to follow me. I'm appalled at the government of Myanmar doing what they're doing. They didn't tell their citizens, number one, warn them that this is coming. And, number two, now that this disaster has occurred, they're not allowing humanitarian help in? I don't understand it. I'm shocked, appalled, and I'm angry.”
The quick biographies of Mrs. McCain in stories about her husband invariably mention that she’s his second wife, 18 years his junior and the heiress to a fortune estimated to be worth more than $100 million. They might say that she’s the mother of their four children, including two sons in the military and a daughter adopted from Bangladesh. Some will mention that she once confessed to being addicted to prescription painkillers.
But they rarely get into her extensive work with charities serving the world’s poor, including Operation Smile, the HALO Trust, CARE, and her own charity, the American Voluntary Medical Team.
Giving back
“What drives you to reach out to do so much? Adopt a child, reach out to all these different nations, care about Myanmar?” Curry asked. “And what does it say about what you might do as first lady?”
“What it says about me is just what my parents taught me,” Mrs. McCain replied. “My parents taught me to give back. I am hoping that I am instilling the same thing in my own children.”
One thing she said she will not give back, though, is negative campaigning. During McCain’s first run for president in the 2000 Republican primaries, he was hit by smear tactics, some of which were aimed at his adopted daughter, Bridget.
Mrs. McCain said that the upcoming campaign against either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton would not engage in negative tactics.
“We'd rather not win than to have to do that,” Mrs. McCain said. “That's not worth winning for. This is about being a leader and a person that can be a good example for our children, and a good role model. There's many, many, many more things to this job than just being the president. You are an example. You have to — you have to be better than that. You have to be.”
She had asked her husband after the 2000 race not to try again for the presidency. She said she relented because she believes the country needs the leadership her husband can provide.
A ‘great debate’
While she said there would be no negative campaigning, she knows it will get intense.
“Look, this is politics. We're going to go back and forth,” she said. “There are clear differences in this race between whatever candidates wind up against each other. That's the beauty of this race … What you're going to see is a great debate. Which is what the American public deserves. None of this negative stuff, though. You won't see it come out of our side at all.”
One issue she is hearing about already is her refusal to release her tax returns. When she and McCain married in 1980, they signed a prenuptial agreement in which they agreed to keep their finances separate. The candidate has released his tax returns, but Mrs. McCain told Curry that even if she becomes first lady, her finances will remain private.
“My husband and I have been married 28 years,” Mrs. McCain said. “And we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate. I am not the candidate.”
John McCain is 71 years old, but his wife said he has more energy than she does, pointing out that he plans to hike the Grand Canyon this summer.
“I would challenge anybody who has a question about his age to come travel with us for a day on the campaign,” Mrs. McCain told Curry. “I have to pull off sometimes. He's too much for me.”
Another issue that is sure to come up is the former Vietnam POW’s temper, which is legendary in Congress. But Mrs. McCain said the legend strays from the facts.
“It's not a temper. It's passion,” Mrs. McCain said. “When you see people, like spending how many millions of dollars on a bridge to nowhere, and other people that he believes just spend your money and my money, you know, irresponsibly, he gets angry.”
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