The initial hints from this Wall Street Journal article could have some readers sighing, “Oh, not again!” With the title, McCain and the Model, one could easily think we had yet another high profile politician caught in an affair with a mistress or pursuing “ladies of negotiable affection” to the dismay of their wives. Those expecting a salacious, tawdry tale are likely to be disappointed.
But the best story by far begins in the summer of 1957, when McCain sailed to Rio de Janeiro aboard a destroyer. In his 1999 memoir, “Faith of My Fathers,” McCain wrote about “excessive drinking, nightclubbing and little or no sleep” and said, “My imagination could not have embellished the good time we made of our nine days in port.”
Exhausted from his full-throttle social life, McCain nonetheless rallied to attend one last party. On that fateful night, he met a Brazilian model. (Alas, her name is withheld in several retellings.) A few days after the pair met, McCain had to set sail again—but the moment he returned home, he repacked his bag and jumped aboard a military plane back to Rio. They kept up a furious correspondence through the fall.
The tale continues to unfold, describing how the young naval aviator makes several trips to South America to visit the model, where “the pair was always accompanied by the wealthy model’s aunt or servant” until their final night together. At that point the suggestion is made that McCain went to the young lady’s house for dinner and they may or may not have – gasp! – engaged in pre-marital sex.
It is difficult to imagine how a jaded American public, deluged with tales of Governors and other high level politicos straying from their wives or soliciting prostitutes, could be overly concerned about this. A young, single sailor during the late fifties travels to a foreign port, meets an exotic beauty, pursues a relationship for a few months and perhaps finally beds her. The collective yawns this will likely produce may do far more for the sales of No-Doz manufacturers than they will for the Democratic Party.
If this story is indicative of anything, it is that we desperately need another primary election to roll around so the media will finally have something new to chat about. But until then, we can likely expect more of this – possibly the number of times the candidates eat red meat or don’t finish their veggies at dinner.