Character Questions

During the South Carolina primary in 2000, Bush aides mounted a vile whispering campaign in which anonymous callers phoned voters and told them John McCain, who had won the New Hampshire primary, had an illegitimate black daughter born to a prostitute. McCain lost that primary.

The child was in fact McCain’s adopted daughter, Bridget, a Bengali. McCain’s wife, Cindy, adopted Bridget on a visit with Mother Teresa to an orphanage in Bangladesh.

“A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin,” McCain said at the time. “She’s a wonderful child, a complete part of our family and we love her.”

Which was why I asked once and I’m asking again: Where is Bridget now?

McCain’s daughter Meghan is ever present on the campaign trail, profiled in various media, owner of her own campaign blog and a film crew recording her every step. McCain Blogette is replete with photographs of every family member, grandparents, family friends, but not one image of Bridget. Bridget has been air-brushed out of the family picture.

In a year when we have the first serious African-American and female candidates for president, is it still too dangerous for a Republican candidate to have an adopted dark-skin daughter?

I totally respect Bridget, if it’s her decision to stay off-stage (or maybe rumors of Bridget being a Barack Obama supporter are true). But since when does the media respect a candidate’s privacy? I’m not saying hound Bridget. But her total and complete absence is troubling.

When will the toadies in the media ask McCain where he’s hiding Bridget?