The Smear Gap

Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden
by Ted Robbins

NPR.Org

Kathleen Hensley Portalski displays newspaper clippings of her father in World War II, as well as snapshots of herself as a child with her father.

Courtesy Nicholas Portalski

Portalski is shown with her late father, Jim Hensley, who also was Cindy McCain's father.

Read the original profile on Cindy McCain.

Nicholas Portalski, whose mother is McCain's half sister, says it's "very, very hurtful" that he and his mother haven't been recognized.

All Things Considered, August 18, 2008 · Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

The Portalski family is accustomed to hearing Cindy McCain described as Hensley's only child.

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC.

McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month. "I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."

McCain's father was also a businessman ??? and twice a father.

"I'm upset," Kathleen Portalski says. "I'm angry. It makes me feel like a nonperson, kind of."

Who Is Kathleen Hensley Portalski?

Documents show Kathleen Anne Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley on Feb. 23, 1943. They had been married for six years when Kathleen was born.

Jim Hensley was a bombardier on a B-17, flying over Europe during World War II.

He was injured and sent to a facility in West Virginia to recuperate. During that time, while still married to Mary Jeanne, Hensley met another woman ??? Marguerite Smith. Jim divorced Mary Jeanne and married Marguerite in 1945.

Cindy Lou Hensley was born nine years later, in 1954.

She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.

Obama's padded resume Part III

For all his glowing job titles, Obama has never gotten much done. Is it any wonder that his spokesmen respond with sweeping generalities when asked what Obama has actually accomplished relevant to the presidency?
Obama has held several serious positions from which a serious man could have made a serious impact. But Obama made none. He remains a man of proven charisma, but unproven skill???and not for lack of opportunity. He???s treated his offices as if they were high school student council positions-fun to run for, fun to win, affirmations of popularity, heady recognition from superiors, good resume-builders for stepping up to the next position of power, and???well, that???s about it-actual accomplishments are not expected; heavy lifting is never on the agenda.
Obama???s record of accomplishment is thin not because of lack of opportunity, but in spite of it. For twenty years, Obama has walked the floors of the most prestigious institutions in the nation, but has left no footprints other than those from his runs for whatever office came next.
It???s been said that some people want to be President so they can do something; and some want to be President so they can be something. Obama has accomplished nothing noteworthy despite the golden opportunities and positions he???s had; why should we believe he???d be a different man in the White House?
No company would hire anyone with Obama???s empty track record, pattern of underachievement and padded résumé to be CEO. Is America really ready to hire him as President?
Most of this is familiar material to us here. But it can???t be repeated enough.
Allah knows, our watchdog media will never tell us about Mr. Obama???s lack of credentials.
...........................................................
Obama, All Lies All the Time

Obama, CHANGE you can believe in if you want a President who is narcissistic, specious, vacuous, and effete.

Obama's padded resume Part II

Obama???s other activities since 1985 have included Harvard Law School, writing two autobiographies (including several months writing in Bali), prestigious summer law firm jobs, three years as an associate at a Chicago law firm, and twelve years part-time on the University of Chicago Law School faculty. As Medved notes, it takes quite the ego to consider any of those stints ???public service.??? Which of them is Obama including?
Obama made yet another inflated boast last month during his visit to Israel. At his press conference in Hamas rocket-bombarded Sderot, Obama talked up ???his??? efforts to protect Israel from Iran:
???Just this past week, we passed out of the US Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don???t obtain a nuclear weapon.??? (Emphasis added.)
Nice try. But as even CNN noted, Obama is not even on that committee. That is one peculiar ???mistake??? to simply have made by accident. Again, his claiming credit for the work of others just looks like clumsy, transparent résumé embellishment.
Would someone with Obama???s stellar list of job titles resort to making stuff up? He seems to think he has to. In spite of the many impressive positions he???s held, he???s done almost nothing with them. If he wants to claim specific, relevant accomplishments, his only resort is to stretching the truth.
Look at his record: he???s now completed over half of a Senate term; yet, is there even one signature issue he has taken hold of, other than his own presidential run? Similarly, as the New York Times recently pointed out, Obama spent twelve years on the University of Chicago Law School faculty???singularly famous for its intellectual ferment and incubator of scholarship???and produced not even a single scholarly paper. He was President of Harvard Law Review, but wrote nothing himself. Even as a state legislator for seven years-or community organizer for three years, there is little that shows his imprint. OK, to be fair, he did write two books. About himself.

Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden (Pt 2)

NPR.Org

She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.

Portalski says she did see her father and her half sister from time to time.

"I saw him a few times a year," she says. "I saw him at Christmas and birthdays, and he provided money for school clothes, and he called occasionally."

Jim Hensley also provided credit cards and college tuition for his grandchildren, as well as $10,000 gifts to Kathleen and her husband, Stanley Portalski. That lasted a decade, they say. By then, Jim Hensley had built Hensley and Co. into one of the largest beer distributorships in the country. He was worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.

Sole Inheritor To Hensley's Estate

When Hensley died in 2000, his will named not only Portalski but also a daughter of his wife Marguerite from her earlier marriage. So, Cindy McCain may be the only product of Jim and Marguerite's marriage, but she is not the only child of either.

She was, however, the sole inheritor of his considerable estate.

Kathleen Portalski was left $10,000, and her children were left nothing. It's a fact Nicholas Portalski says his sister discovered the hard way.

"What she found in town ??? on the day of or the day before or the day after his funeral ??? was that the credit card didn't work anymore," Nick says.

The Portalskis live in a modest home in central Phoenix. Kathleen is retired, as is her husband. Nicholas Portalski is a firefighter and emergency medical technician looking for work.

They say it would have been nice if they were left some of the Hensley fortune.

They also say they are Democrats, but Nicholas Portalski says he had another reason for coming forward.

"The fact that we don't exist," he says. "The fact that we've never been recognized, and then Cindy has to put such a fine point on it by saying something that's not true. Recently, again and again. It's just very, very hurtful."

Kathleen Portalski says she'd like an acknowledgment and an apology.

NPR asked the McCain campaign ??? specifically, Cindy McCain ??? to comment or respond. Neither replied.

Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden
by Ted Robbins

NPR.Org

Kathleen Hensley Portalski displays newspaper clippings of her father in World War II, as well as snapshots of herself as a child with her father.




Enlarge

Courtesy Nicholas Portalski
Portalski is shown with her late father, Jim Hensley, who also was Cindy McCain's father.




Read the original profile on Cindy McCain.





Enlarge

Ted Robbins/NPR
Nicholas Portalski, whose mother is McCain's half sister, says it's "very, very hurtful" that he and his mother haven't been recognized.


All Things Considered, August 18, 2008 · Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

The Portalski family is accustomed to hearing Cindy McCain described as Hensley's only child.

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC.

McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month. "I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."

McCain's father was also a businessman ??? and twice a father.

"I'm upset," Kathleen Portalski says. "I'm angry. It makes me feel like a nonperson, kind of."

Who Is Kathleen Hensley Portalski?

Documents show Kathleen Anne Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley on Feb. 23, 1943. They had been married for six years when Kathleen was born.

Jim Hensley was a bombardier on a B-17, flying over Europe during World War II.

He was injured and sent to a facility in West Virginia to recuperate. During that time, while still married to Mary Jeanne, Hensley met another woman ??? Marguerite Smith. Jim divorced Mary Jeanne and married Marguerite in 1945.

Cindy Lou Hensley was born nine years later, in 1954.

She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.

fMcCain is a Republican and, thus, a compulsive liar. Really, he can't help it.

I can't believe that I still read Alter's dribble. I need another good laugh so I will now read Fineman.

I have no problem with the critical ads on Obama. In fact, Obama himself compared his popularity to that of Paris Hilton. What the McCain team needs to do is run an ad pointing out that Obama has had lots of opportunities but no achievements to show for those opportunities. Obama offers empty "hope and change," which is equivalent to a TV reality show.

This is just another one of Jonathan Alter's love letters to Obama. Alter does not have the ability to write a fair or truthful column. I have yet to read a column of his that is not slanted completely toward Obama. Alter should be writing for The National Enquirer.

I think McCain is on a roll.

Having "The Obama" campaign come out and denounce how unfair John McCain is being to poor Obama is hardly news. What not "The Obama" campaign? It's Johnathon Alter, worshiper and chief of The ONE, at the Newsweek bureau of "The Obama's" campaign. You're right...."The Obama's" campaign would be more non-biased! So "The Obama" comes out and says that "They" meaning McCain is going to try and scare you because he has a funny name and doesn't look like George Washinton"? The race card again!!! McCain responds with an ad comparing "The Obama's" celebrity to Brittany?????Who's gone to far? Who's more negative???? Why of course Obama's worshipers think its McCain. If I were Johnathon Alter I'd be a little panicked after watching "The ONE" give Nuance a bad name at Saddleback why McCain showed why he should be our next President. Johnathon......its till not too late.........You and Newsweek can still plead with the super delegates to Nominate Hillary at the convention and save the election. I know it will be hard to change your new religion....but its a cult Johnathon....you can do it!!!!

Finally, someone has the courage to say "the emperor has no clothes," rather than the noncomittal "the latest court fashions are decidedly skimpy!"

McCain's campaign clearly has the mindset that if they keep throwing stuff our fast enough, nobody will be able to catch them. And it's not just lies about Obama, they even lie about their own policies.

Alter maligned Hillary throughout the primary season. If you're not an Obama supporter, it is open season! He and Olberman are all aboard the Obama train

Well Hussein finally told the truth about something. In the Saddleback massacre, he admitted making decisions was above his "pay grade". Then later today, his camp admits he has been lying about the infanticide bill he oppossed in Illinois. Wonder when he is gonna fess up about his birth certificate???

NOBAMA!!!

John McCrass, leader of the class of bourgeois bigots who will stop at nothing to smear a brilliant candidate's name and reputation - in the name of Mediocrity, Averageness and sheer and utter ignorance. The Bushes belong to this class too. It's our American upper class, so called mainly because of the money; the classiness (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with anything. And forget integrity, ingenuity, innovation or inddependence of thought - these folks all cling to their peers and profits like an old fart clings to his golf clubs on the green of his bourgeois country club. Monkeys think alike, act alike and exclude alike.