Before the Keating 5, and before his "relationship" with this lobbyist, McCain was a self confessed war criminal. He dropped bombs on civilians.

For his crimes he was captured and spent 5.5 terrible years in the Hanoi Hilton prison camp. That he hasn't spent his entire political capital making sure the we close Guantanamo, and do not engage in torture of prisoners is a testament to his lack of moral fortitude.

He didn't enter politics in order to right the incorrect foreign policies that lead him to his fate in Viet Nam. he didn't enter politics in order to hold his government more accountable to the people. He entered government because he was a vice president at a large Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship and instead of lobbying for business interests, he figured he'd just get elected instead.

He then proceeded to the the business of businesses in government until he was caught on tape taking political contributions in exchange for political favor in the Keating scandal.

So...Let's recap.

Drops napalm on civilians.

Shakes Nixon's hand on release from captivity and strongly supports Nixon's handling of the war.

Cheats on wife on his return and gets divorced.

Becomes vice president of next wife's dads business.

Runs for office to do the bidding of his crony business associates.

Gets caught in, and is a member of the Keating 5, a group of senators who were caught exchanging influence for payment.

Cheats on second wife with lobbyist whose business is before his committees.

...and naturally figures this history qualifies him for the office of the president. The New York Times has rightly stuck a fork in him.

I'd have to go with McCain's brand. Obama's looks like a bottled water company. The font is too feminine.

I'm voting for anyone with the balls to use "America! Fuck Yeah!" as their tag line.

Bob Novak: War monger, propaganda mouthpiece.

Karl Rove: Little twerp who is the "mastermind" behind the worst presidency on record, the complete decline and routing of his party, the worst foreign policy, and the flimsiest political tactics.

Romney: Will have to build the second and third Guantanamo prison camp by himself.

All of them corrupted by power, elitist, feel the rules don't apply to them.

When the "reformer," and the "router of corruption," is corrupt himself you know the river runs deep.

I'll be interested to hear the soft responses from the two democrat candidates. They'll probably thank him for his service, and suggest it is a trying time for him and his family, and refuse to put a statement down with any teeth. Probably defer any statements "until the investigation is over."

I greatly appreciate this article and the efforts in reporting it by Matthew Cole. Excellent work.

I'd say that a bigger picture look at the region would reveal we have reasons to destabilize the area and to tacitly support an insurgency. What a perfect situation for us. The Afghan government requires our help and military bases, the Pakistani government requires our help. Old school colonialist tactics. Read in the article the disparate groups with disparate goals. Perfect and just the way we want it.

It is naive to assume that our military and political leaders would never support something that would eventually harm American soldiers or American citizens. We have constantly sacrificed the security of Americans, for the overall goals of our foreign policy. We sold missiles to our arch enemy Iran in the Iran/Contra scandal. We are constantly supplying insurgents and counter insurgents with weapons, and tactics, with the end game far over the horizon.

By allowing a multi national group to exist in Northern Pakistan, it destabilizes both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Exactly our mission and our desired result.

We are not talking about someone who proclaims he is against something then is secretly taking part. That would be hypocrisy. We are talking about someone who prosecuted people for this same crime. That is corruption. It is serious. It has nothing to do with puritanism. Every case he prosecuted should be called into question.

"If we have no respect for ourselves -- how [do] we expect it from anybody else?"

haha

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This isn't about hypocrisy, this is about corruption. Hypocrisy would be saying one thing, and doing another. Prosecuting people and going after prostitution rings is not "saying one thing," it is an action. He is corrupt. He does not deserve to be in office. Every case he brought to trial should be reviewed. He also exposed his office to potential blackmail. He is also guilty of treating is wife and children like shit. No sympathy here on an ethical, moral, or criminal level.

Prostitution is exploitation, plain and simple. Just because someone has excepted the fate of a prostitute and benefits from the monies paid, doesn't mean that it doesn't do harm.

When you are in a hole... stop digging.

You can rationalize all you want. Prostitution is wrong and exploitative and deserves to be outlawed, and it has nothing to do with how puritanical the United States is.

Would you be o.k. if your sister or mother were prostitutes?

Would you be o.k. if your wife was a prostitute?

If you have a daughter, and she just turned 18, send her to the escort agency? She'd make good money!

Here is a simple barometer that cuts through all your rationalizations: Ask yourself, in your heart, if prostitution is wrong. The answer is already there.