DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) – Reporters on board John McCain’s campaign plane Wednesday got an early look at Meghan McCain’s soon-to-be-published “picture book biography” of her father, titled: “My Dad, John McCain.”
The Simon & Schuster hardback, set to hit stores on September 2, is a brief, sentimental look at the familiar elements of McCain’s legendary biography, including his time in a Vietnamese prison and his run for the White House in 2000.
Several pages are devoted to McCain’s military background and his imprisonment in Vietnam, with relatively little attention paid to his youth (he “broke a lot of rules” in high school, the book says) and to his time in Congress.
Cindy McCain, along with Meghan's siblings Jack, Jimmy and Bridget, are described fondly in the book - but the children from McCain’s first marriage are left unmentioned.
Illustrated by Dan Andreasen, the pictures in the book are gauzy sketches of famous McCain iconography: there’s a drawing of his cadet head shot from the Naval Academy, as well as a rendition of a still-recuperating McCain’s meeting with Richard Nixon following his return from Vietnam. McCain is also depicted sitting forlornly in his Hanoi prison cell.
The book is recommended for children between ages 5 and 10, but it contains a mild dose of the politics, including some of the McCain campaign’s over-arching themes, particularly the notion that McCain "puts his country first."
Meghan conjures one of her father’s favorite town hall tag lines on the book’s final page, writing: “I know he’ll say what he really thinks. Maybe it won’t be what people want to hear. But it will be the truth.”
New Hampshire is praised as the state that vaulted McCain to the Republican nomination; next month's Republican convention, where the Arizona senator is slated to officially receive his party's presidential nomination, is described in the past tense.
“In September 2008, the Republican Party had a big meeting, the Republican National Convention,” Meghan writes. “And on that day, my dad was officially chosen as the Republican candidate for President of the United States.”
One percent of the book’s proceeds will go to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which provides support for wounded military veterans and their families.
From CNN Politics
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Some artistic liberties were clearly taken with the cover of this book, I don't see Mccain in any of those illustrations. The str8 talk express should be all over this, asap!
I told all forty of my Aliases to read it.
I find it harsh for the other children of John McCain not to be included. Given he was married and had children before Cindy, it should be included in any biography. Was there never any contact between the first set of children and the current group? If there wasn't, that might explain things, but I still find it rude and questionable. It almost denies their existance and the previous marriage McCain had.
How many advance copies did Bush order?
We want a signed copy for our library,and one for our history teacher.
Am sure that it is a very nice book for children, but we're talking adults here. And of course, what everyone's blogging about is how his first family/children have been left out.
You know the Edward's scandal brings something to mind other than the obvious McCain leaving his first wife. Edwards has a challenge here in that he has the opportunity to do what McCain apparently did not. That is work through his self-delusions/selfishness and compulsions, to name a few, by working through this terrible time that can be the crucible for the good of himself and his family. McCain on the other hand just moved on from one family to the next without any time to look at himself, and I believe to this day he is still compensating for what he should have reflected on many years ago. He still projects his lack of self-knowledge, and lacks wisdom for this time in history in this great nation of ours.
This is gratuitous "feel good" press for a 72 year old man's daughter?
What an opportunist. Like daddy, like daughter!
You even have Rush crying on the air now,this book just gets to the heart strings doesnt it?
Wonder how the children who were left out from the previous marriage feel?
Is she still dating that Ron Paul supporter?
I hope that he autographs a copy and sends it to his first wife and children...who waited for him while he was captured...only for him to kick them to the curb for a beer heiress.
Phil Gramm started crying when he read it,but he didnt whine about it,hes to tough for that.
What will they stoop to next?????? It's nauseating.
Oh how cute megan but he does have other children with his first wife that he left for your rich barbie doll mommy so even with your cute little book I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR YOUR DAD!!! SORRY SWEETIE!!
please don't mention that your dad loves war.. that is not good for children.
So based on the cover, did he have her when he was 60?
My presidential candidate can beat up yours
Obama '08
Not even good bathroom reading, unless you use the paper as tissue!
This book will help pull the economy out and cut the deficit in half by years end.
Bad idea....should have waited till after the election to release this tale
All my friends are overcome with emotion and will commit to giving their iphones to charity now.My dog and cat are even sniffling.I recomend all dittoheads to buy as soon as they can to keep along side Rushs news letter for the poor.
I wonder if she told the story about the time they tried to play charades. McCain was trying to be a grizzly bear but couldn't put his arms over his head, so everyone thought he was Frankenstein.
1 percent is a lot of cash to a Republican.Can we write it off my income taxes?
The ironic part is that books weren't invented yet when McCain was a child.
It's a great fairytale. We know the real truth. He had an affair with Cindy Lou while his wife was sick with children. Then he ditched for a beer fortune and a barbie doll.
Obama 08