Famous Last Words

"I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war." When John McCain made this memorable statement it was an obvious attempt to disparage his opponents motives. Now, because of his ill-conceived selection of Sarah Palin as running mate, we clearly see that he did not mean he wouldn't endanger the country in other ways just to try to win a political campaign. Carl Bernstein, as astute an analyst of the political scenc as anyone writing today, says it well in his article, The Palin Pick -- The Devolution of McCain. Berstein says,

Indeed, no presidential nominee of either party in the last century has seemed so willing to endanger the country's security as McCain in his reckless choice of a running mate. He is 72 years old; has had four melanomas, a particularly voracious form of cancer; refuses to release his complete medical records. Three of our last eleven presidents (and nine of all 43) have come to office unexpectedly in mid-term from the vice presidency: Truman, who within days of FDR's death was confronted with the decision of whether to drop the atom bomb on Japan; Lyndon Johnson, who took the oath in Dallas after JFK's assassination; Gerald Ford, sworn in following the resignation of Richard Nixon. A fourth vice president, George H.W. Bush, briefly exercised the powers of the presidency after the near-assassination of Ronald Reagan.

Given that history, what does John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin -- the cavalier, last-minute process of her selection and careless vetting; and her over-briefed, fact-lite performance since -- reveal about this military man who has attested to us for years that he is guided by his personal code of honor? "Two things I will never
do," McCain told me, "are [to] lie to the American people, or put my electoral interests before the national interest" -- an obvious precursor of "I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war."

He then answers his own question:

It does not take a near-death experience to know that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be commander in chief, or that -- in choosing her -- McCain has ignored his own oft-avowed code of conduct. "McCain made the most important command decision of his life when he chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee," noted David Ignatius in the Washington Post. "....No promotion board in history would have made such a decision."

I having no problem praising Berstein for coming to this decision because he now agrees with me. Of course I came to this same conclusion almost a month ago. See my post McCain Throws the Election on August 29, 2008.

Worth a thousand words

Who Does She Think She's Kidding

The headline reads "Clinton attacks Obama ahead of debate. " A couple of paragraphs into the story she brings out the same old line, "Who is best prepared to be commander in chief on day one?" I know she's losing and desparate, but I really don't understand what possible reason she has for thinking that she is any better prepared to be commander-in-chief than Barack Obama is, or that the American people would have more confidence in her to handle a military crisis than they would in him. Somehow, I don't see being a senator from New York as preparing one to be C-i-C. Although, I must acknowledge that I have been to NYC enough to know that it can sometimes be mistaken for a war zone. And as far as spending eight years in the Whitehouse, Bill's record as CIC is second only to his "indescretions" as being among the worst things about his presidency.

Besides that she's playing right into John McCain's hand, because he is the only one in the race that can legitimately claim to be "prepared." Fortunately, the framers of the constitution did see military prowess as a necessity for being president. In spite of the unanimous election of George Washington as the first president, only three of the next ten had any military experience and one of them died a month after he took ofice. Looking at the history of how the presidents have used the CIC position, there is no direct correlation between effectiveness in office and military experience. Although there have been a number of presidents who used their military experience to help get them elected.

If Hilary really expects to make a comeback in this race, she had better find a different message. It seems pretty obvious to me that as soon as democrats and independents began to have confidence that Barack Obama was electable, her fate was sealed. We thank her for keeping the repubs on the ropes for so long, but now is the time for both candidates to heat up the attack on McCain and let the nominations chips fall as they may.

By Their Fruits . . .

I loved it during the Dems debate the other night when Tim Russert caught nearly all of them off guard by asking them about their favorite Bible verse. All of them seemed a little nervous about the question except Dennis Kucinich, who quickly pulled from his pocket a copy of St. Francis' prayer, ". . . make me an instrument of thy peace . . ." which he keeps right next to the copy of the Constitution that he always carries. While some have criticized him because it was not a "Bible" verse, it certainly is biblical. I am constantly astounded that people who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus and his teachings find so many ways to get around his teachings on peace. I don't think Kucinich has a chance to win, but maybe he can influence the platforms of the front running fence straddlers.

Situation Ethics at the ERLC

I seldom give Richard Land credit for anything, but I will give him credit for consistency in his condemnation of Rudolph Giuliani. Of course, I do wonder if he would be quite as concerned about the divorces if Giuliani were more conservative politically. Especially, in light of his comment, "I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."

Oops

I spoke to soon. Read the rest of the statement. Although McCain has been married twice, Land said, the senator's other credentials and history of conservatism earn him more respect than Giuliani. Land said. "When you're a war hero [like McCain], you have less to prove on the character front."

So being a war hero excuses you from the moral absolutes that Land and his ilk are so fond of slapping us in the face with. I really do find it interesting that a man who claims to be a spokesperson for a large group that follow the "Prince of Peace" sees being a warrior as somehow justifying other moral failures.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing either McCain or Giuliani for their divorces, I'm just trying to figure out what kind of situation ethicist Richard Land is.