Andrew McCarthy says it better than I could (of course) in this article at National Review Online.
Note: I agree with his critique of McCain, not with his critique of the Bush Doctrine.
Filed under: Elections, International affairs, Islam, Israel, McCain, Military & Counter-Jihad, Politics, Presidential campaign
We are all flawed, of course.
The question boils down to WHICH flaws we are willing to live with.
As far as McCain goes, there are plenty of flaws. The question is as follows:
Is the candidate prepared to change his mind when he occupies the office? That is the real test.
Well, sure we’re all flawed, but only three of us have a credible chance of becoming the next President, flaws and all- one radical leftist, one radical liberal, and one standard-issue, garden-variety Carter/Mondale style liberal.
I was about to write that the only flaws that concern me are not the candidates’ personal flaws, but only such intellectual flaws as lead to disastrous public policy. However, it seems to me that McCain’s infamous “anger management” problem might be a personal flaw that could critically handicap his ability to recruit, retain and lead well-qualified White House staff and Cabinet officers. Bill Clinton may have been a cretinous moral nullity (I said “may have been”- I’m not being judgmental here!!!) but his apparent sex addiction did not cause that type of problem did it?
Nevertheless, that is sniffing down a different rabbit trail. As to whether the candidate is prepared to change his/her mind once in office, surely the only way we can evaluate that is to consider how willing they’ve been to change their minds in the past. In that regard, Sen. “F— Y–!” McCain flunks the test. What motivation would he even have to do so?