John McCain: A Question of Character

One of my Facebook friends said this week, and I quote: "Mitt Romney needs to quit being a jerk and get off the stage so we can all concentrate on what an even bigger jerk John McCain is."

This week a group of largely black women Congressmen said McCain calling Susan Rice 'not very bright', and 'unqualified' smacks of sexism and racism.  
They suggested that if Rice were a man they would never have made such accusations, and that the Republicans are bitter about Obama’s re-election and are taking it out on U.N. ambassador.

A look at the academic backgrounds of the two make the comments appear ludicrous.  McCain graduated at the very bottom of his class, and appeared destined to have an unillustrious military career.  In contrast, Rice graduated near the top of her class at Stanford and was a Rhodes scholar.  So she is smart--maybe he meant something other than IQ when he made the comment, but the Washington Post did a critical line-by-line analysis of what exactly Rice said, and felt that the comments by McCain were unfair.

What is McCain's record with women?  Not very good, both politically of late, and historically.  Politically he has sided with the GOP consistently, including on issues related to women's health care and equal pay.  So not much of a champion for women, and not much of an independent maverick either.  He cheated on his first wife, lied to her about it, and then claimed that it was not to have his cake and eat it too--it was to protect her.  Well, if that is protecting her, how would he harm her?  Should we put that aside because people lie about sex all the time?  Perhaps, but it does speak to selfishness and a lack of moral character.  It is one thing to leave your marriage, it is another to make that move solely to your advantage.  If you are unhappy, or you have fallen in love with someone else, say so, make a clean break, and then start your next life.  What he did is common, but it is not an indication of someone who likes women or has good character.

Then there is his current marriage--while his wife was a drug addict, illegally obtaining narcotics over a number of years, he stated he knew nothing about it.  If truthful, it reflects poorly on the quality of their relationship that he couldn't tell she was wasted most of the time.  Publicly, they appear stiff with each other, so the lack of knowledge as well as intimacy is convincing.  It says nothing good about his love of women.   His choice of Palin is a clear lack of regard for women--she is a nightmare as a politician and as a parent.

I don't know about the racism charge--he may just still be very angry that Obama beat him, race aside.  But that charge may distract from the main problem--that his character is determined not solely by who he was as a POW.  It is the sum total of his life, and that is not looking squeaky clean.