NYT: McCain & Gambling... (ties to industry, his personal addiction)

[npincus]

We know McCrap's campaign is run by lobbyists... more troubling to me is his attraction to gambling, and what I would call addiction: unwillingness to stop even though it is unseemly, harmful to his public, political persona. In the context of his monthly (or more) gambling marathons he has participated in most of his adult life, his recent bizarre behavior can be better understood. Our economy is his crap shoot.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/politics/28gambling-web.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Only six members of Congress have received more money from the gambling industry than Mr. McCain, and five hail from the casino hubs of Nevada and New Jersey, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics dating back to 1989. In the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama has also received money from the industry; Mr. McCain has raised almost twice as much.

In May 2007, as Mr. McCain’s presidential bid was floundering, he spent a weekend at the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas strip. A fund-raiser hosted by J. Terrence Lanni, the casino’s top executive and a longtime friend of the senator, raised $400,000 for his campaign. Afterward, Mr. McCain attended a boxing match and hit the craps tables.

For much of his adult life, Mr. McCain has gambled as often as once a month, friends and associates said, traveling to Las Vegas for weekend betting marathons. Former senior campaign officials said they worried about Mr. McCain’s patronage of casinos, given the power he wields over the industry. The officials, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We were always concerned about appearances,” one former official said. “If you go around saying that appearances matter, then they matter.”

The former official said he would tell Mr. McCain: “Do we really have to go to a casino? I don’t think it’s a good idea. The base doesn’t like it. It doesn’t look good. And good things don’t happen in casinos at midnight.”

“You worry too much,” Mr. McCain would respond, the official said.

[riverwalker]

1. Bill Bennett lost $8 million gambling in one year

Mr. Morality is a pretty high roller in Vegas. Was a big story 5 years ago.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0306.green.html

[npincus]

2. I remember that, BB and his "Book of Virtues"...

wasn't a hooker involved in that as well? I am pretty sure about that.

A passion for gambling is incompatible with the office of the president... that's how we got in Iraq. More people need to be informed about McCain's gambling addiction.