The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    "ILLICIT BOOZE, GAMBLING, HORSE RACING, DECEIT AND CRIME": A Good History On John McCain's (Late) Father-in-Law

    By azpaull on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 5:29pm |

    In an effort to deflect the fallout from his housing problem and his wealth, Sen. McCain has been extolling the praises of his late father-in-law and how he is an American success story.  Here's a report by two multiple-award-winning investigative reporters at the New Times, on Jim Hensley's history - written for the 2000 campaign. 

    I had re-read this a few weeks ago, but decided not to post about it;  but, I heard my senator use a sanitized version of how his father-in-law made the money that he has come into, and I realized that this history takes on new importance.

    http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/167059

    From the introduction:  "John McCain's political allegiances to liquor purveyors and his father-in-law's interests are subtle. That narrative is marked by a pattern of patronage.

    The Hensley saga, meanwhile, swirls with bygone accounts of illicit booze, gambling, horse racing, deceit and crime. James Hensley embarked on his road to riches as a bootlegger."

    VERY interesting. 

    http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/167059