Cindy McCain defends her blasphemous past and habits not to forget devious self

Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, decried the "viciousness of the media" Monday, days after the New York Times ran a front page story detailing her troubled history with prescription drugs and difficulty fitting into Washington social circles.

In an interview with Fox news that aired Monday night, Mrs. McCain said she thought the biggest difference between her husband's first presidential run eight years ago and his campaign this year was the media's attitude toward the Arizona senator's candidacy.

"What has really stunned me is the — quite honestly, is the kind of viciousness of the media on occasion," Mrs. McCain said. "In 2000 — there's certainly always been, you know, differences, and the — you know, the things that occur. But this has taken on a different tenor. And I don't know why and what's caused that, and I'm sorry for it because I think it turns a lot of young people off."

Cindy McCain's comments come a week after she accused Obama of waging the "dirtiest campaign" in U.S. history. On Monday, she also addressed the lengthy New York Times story directly, saying she has no plans to read it and has since received several messages of support.

"I did not read it, no. I did not read it, and I have no intention of reading it," she said. "My BlackBerry was loaded with friends the next morning saying, ‘I cannot believe this, you know? I'm sorry for you and all this.’"

The article drew a sharp response from the McCain campaign, which called it a "barrage of petty and personal attacks," and said the New York Times reporters "employed tactics that are obviously unprofessional and almost certainly unethical" in researching the story.

McCain attorney John Dowd also scolded the paper for rehashing a series of facts that he said have been long reported, and said they had failed to do similar investigative pieces into either Michelle or Barack Obama.

"It is worth noting that you have not employed your investigative assets looking into Michelle Obama. You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book, Dreams of My Father," Dowd wrote in a letter to the paper.