Posted by
Kel-C on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:15:47 PM
Last night on Hannity and Colmes, the two hosts had a verbal scuffle over the treatment of Edwards's affair vs. McCain's affair.
Hannity asked the panel how Edwards could be trusted with his promises to the country (if he had become the President) when he can't keep a vow to the people he loves most. When Colmes got his chance, he asked the same question about McCain, who admitted to cheating on his first wife when he returned from Vietnam. While I think the question is valid, neither Hannity nor the other panelists could give a decent answer. The panelists said McCain's affair was fully vetted or brought the discussion back to Edwards. Hannity said it was understandable because McCain was tortured and came back a changed man. But no one answered Colmes's question.
Here's why the two are different. Almost every person who would run for office has made a mistake of some sort in his or her life or has come to change his or her mind about the world (I know I have - I was a Democrat before I went to college). Short of serious crimes such as treason, bribery, or murder, I look at a politician's horizon of about 15 years. That's why I could care less about Obama's drug use or Bush's alcohol use or McCain's affair or the HUGE glasses Hillary wore in the 70's while working against Nixon. We all make mistakes.
The past 15 years is what has most shaped how a person is today. John McCain cheated on his first wife more than 25 years ago. By all accounts (with the exception of a hit piece in the New York Times), he has been faithful to his current wife and has overcome almost all of the personal problems that led him to cheat in the first place (he apparently has a slight temper, though). Those years also show his record of voting and how he stands on issues. That's what makes me want to vote for him.
Now take Obama's past 15 years. Rev. Wright. William Ayers. Chicago politics. The votes he's made in the Senate to date. That's all I need to know. I don't care if he smoked pot and did tons of coke and was enamored with Communist poetry in college. I don't care if his parents had him in a Muslim school when he was child and had no say in the matter. Look at his record over the past 15 years, and there is no comparison to McCain's.