Guarded Cindy Gives McCain Perfect Accessory

Years of practice as politician's wife, with some rough spots, leave her well polished

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 22, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – Cindy McCain has been a candidate’s wife for more than half her life, and she’s gotten pretty good at it, the Washington Post reports in a profile. The demur, good-looking, stay-at-home mom knows how to humanize her husband and avoid policy talk. “I don't see any chink in her armor,” says her mother-in-law, “and I'm not biased.” But Mrs. John McCain has an intensely guarded, even sometimes secretive, private side.

The couple’s distance—he in Washington, she in Arizona—moved Cindy to deal with her problems alone. Afraid of flying, she got her pilot’s license without telling John. She hid a painkiller addiction from him until she’d kicked it. “She wanted to be the best possible Mrs. John S. McCain as she could,” says a brother-in-law. “I think she honestly felt that she did not want to be one of his problems.”

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

Cindy McCain makes a campaign stop with her husband, Thursday, July 10, 2008, at Senate Coney Island Restaurant in Livonia, Mich. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Cindy McCain, left, speaks with Jay Leno during the taping of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in Burbank, Calif., Wednesday, April 30, 2008. (AP Photo/NBC,Paul Drinkwater)

John McCain and his wife Cindy McCain walk onto the stage before his speech at the National Council of La Raza annual convention in San Diego, Calif., Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

John McCain kisses his wife Cindy McCain on the cheek after she introduces him at a campaign stop at J&L Steel Erectors, in Hudson, Wisc. Friday, July 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Cindy McCain talks with Jay Leno about getting over her fear of flying, kicking her drug addiction and lying about her age. (wikavideos)

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Guarded Cindy Gives McCain Perfect Accessory