Welcome to Moussegate–the latest “silly season” scandal to strike the 2008 presidential campaign. On Sunday, a New York attorney named Lauren Handel was searching the Web for a recipe by passionate TV host Giada DeLaurentis–but Google kept steering her to the “Cindy’s Recipes” page of JohnMcCain.com instead. After a bit of sleuthing, Handel discovered that four of the seven meals listed as “McCain Family Recipes”–Ahi Tuna with Napa Cabbage Slaw, Passion Fruit Mousse, Rosemary Chicken Breasts and Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon and Farfalle with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms–were lifted word-for-word from the Food Network’s Web site; Cindy even sent the mousse recipe to the New York Sun earlier this year. Within 12 hours, the campaign had banished the offending pages from its servers and informed CNN that it was “a web intern” who “added Rachael Ray to our policy team without [Cindy] knowing it”–because, you know, Cindy doesn’t have anything to do with the creation of her own recipes.
Is Moussegate as important as, say, the plan to initiate a one year “pause” on discretionary spending among government agencies that McCain announced this morning? No. But it’s a lot more hilarious. I mean, on the one hand you’ve got a bottle-blonde millionaire beer baroness (how’s that for elite?) known on the trail for rocking a slim, Prince-style purple pantsuit and an all-season tan–doesn’t really seem like the cooking type. On the other is some sweaty campaign staffer worried that the wives of America won’t be able to identify. Voila! “Cindy’s Recipes.” The only problem: Cindy doesn’t have any recipes. Thank goodness, then, for unpaid interns. Within minutes, a googling monkey turns up a few delectable dishes, and they’re quickly posted to the Web. Are they “McCain Family Recipes”? Nah. But heck if they don’t make Mrs. McCain look marginally more traditional. After all, nothing says all-American like Ahi Tuna with Napa Cabbage Slaw!
Seriously, though. There’s nothing wrong with political spouses sharing a family dish or two with the American people. But acting as if recipe-swapping is so important that it’s better to share someone else’s kitchen creations than none at all… well, that’s the real silliness here. The fact is, it’s 2008. No one cares if you’re a cook–unless you say you are and you’re not. Of course, the McCain campaign understands more than most how crucial it is to at least appear authentic. But apparently someone down in Arlington forgot a few ingredients this time around.
