McCain, in the news again...

Story via Mojoey (his blogroll), and Atheist Revolution. This is an adaptation of something I wrote earlier this evening, in a forum. I mentioned that McCain's affair could be a measure of the man; this was picked up on, and I was forced to explain myself. Damn! How I doing that... :-)

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There was an article in the now defunct Mirabella magazine, just before the 1994 elections - when I read it, I mentioned to my wife that the GoP's chances had just plummeted. The article was about how the three leading Republicans - all crusading their moral views - had all left their wives in less-than-illustrious ways.

With the current election, there's a lot less natter about morality and the imperfections of the candidates. But, like it or not, the American voter does tend to demand that their candidates and politicians be as pure as snow; the leeway of the previous generations is no longer granted. Roosevelt, for instance, would never get the nomination, let alone 3 terms, now - the wheelchair and walking stick would essentially end his political career. Harry Truman would not be nominated for VP because of his friendships to his various "friends". And so on. JFK wouldn't get nominated because of his dallying with Marilyn Monroe, never mind the rest of the ladies he "entertained". And so on.

Today, there's a strong undercurrent of expecting perfection from the candidate; it's discussed endlessly in the various gossip mills (papers, blogs, etc). It's also used as a hammer against the opponent - if adultery wasn't so important, why is Clinton's? (That is a very important, and pertinent question, I feel!) I mentioned that McCain's adultery could be used to measure the man simply because I felt that a double-standard was being used: McCain's adultery wasn't as important as Clinton's, because it happened a long time ago, because he'd fessed up, and so on. It is a double standard to say that one guy's affair was beyond indecent, but this other guy's doesn't even matter. One was President, the other is trying to be President - if we're not going to hold the candidates to a consistent level of decency and honesty, what exactly are the standards they're being held to?

Personally, I don't care if they have an affair or not - it's how they go about covering it up that is interesting. That tells me more about the man than the actual affair. McCain can't get his facts straight on the issue, which is either obfuscation or senility, and Clinton did his level best to avoid coming clean. Edwards tries out various approaches, and displaying a sense he didn't demonstrate when he had the affair, seems to have quit trying to excuse his behavior. The cover-up, the excuses and the rest of it tell us who the man is fearful of: in Clinton's case, it's clearly Hillary. With Edwards, it's his own vanity. With McCain, it's clearly the fact that he's desperate to keep his party executives and the far-right happy.

The LA Times wrote about McCain's affair, in the context of "well, we know this about Edwards - remember McCain's little dalliance?" A reporter obviously knew of the affair, did some research and wrote about it. The Huffington Post picked up on the story, and from there it's gaining a life of its own. (Considering the number of people who actually read the LA Times, even online, if the Huffington Post hadn't picked it up, it would probably have been a "well, isn't that interesting" piece. Little noticed, and hardly commented on.) Edwards was rumored to have had the affair; rumor has it Obama asked him to fess up before the Convention. The man (Obama, that is) has displayed a keen eye for the politically inconvenient. He probably guessed that some editor or "news" channel would sit on the story, and break it at a time that was convenient for them. (Have a wild guess when that would be... :-) )

I do find that McCain's vagueness about his extra-marital affair to be a measure of the man - it tells me he's not as honest as he would like us to think. But, then again - how honest is a man when he's wearing $500 shoes, and telling you he's an everyman? So far, in this race, I'd say that the momentum and political savvy is definitely on Obama's side. McCain has demonstrated an overall ineptitude that is actually quite disturbing. What is interesting is how McCain has to continually get ahead of the news, while Obama simply is the news.

Carolyn Ann