Of course he should, for chrissake, he's a Republican. That means that the author of this piece is to blame, we will soon be hearing about that!

. . . from, I believe, TPM. Here it is: among the credit cards that the McCains have is a card for which they co-signed with one of their kids. Thy classify that particular child as a dependent on their tax forms. And--here's the nugget!--the kid's credit card balances ranged from $15,000 to $50,000!

Who, pray tell, is paying down these absurd debts? Somehow, I doubt that it's the teenager.

Who would like to suggest names for the reality TV show starring McCain's spoiled brat of a kid? I nominate "Raising McCain." Is that too obvious?

It seems odd that Senator McCain has been a sitting senator for the entire past 4 years that this has been a problem, and it's the first time we're hearing about it. It's also strange that it just started happening after McCain's last election cycle in 2004, as well. I'm not sure what any of it means though. Probably nothing.

"If an inadvertent accounting problem constituted a "scandal" for Franken, should McCain be held to a different standard?"

This has been the Republican mantra. "Do as I say, not as I do." When Eliot Spitzter was caught in a sex scandal, the right wing nuts kicked and screamed until he resigned. However, I don't see any kicking and screaming when the names Craig or Vitter are mentioned. Double standard? You betcha!!!

Where to begin? How much time and page space do you have?

Each party smugly seeks to tell the public how to live their lives, albeit in decidedly different ways. When they themselves do not live up to the standard they seek to impose upon "we the people," then it becomes news.

Republicans get held to a higher standard on social issues, since they are the ones always bitching about our society going to hell in a hand basket. So, when a Republican standard bearer of the Moral Majority gets caught with their pecker parked where it ought not be parked, then the press has a field day with it. Republicans resign over such indiscretions while Democrats get indignant about them as an invasion of their privacy.

On the other side of the coin, Democrats are always bellyaching about the need for the rich to "pay their fair share." Hence when they have a tax bill in arrears, it is big news. Republicans hostile to government and thinking taxes are too high are not going to take the same heat on that issue as those telling us we should be paying more in taxes.

It can be seen as unfair given the treatment is not the same between the two parties, or it can be seen as an even handed way to call people out when they do not "practice what they preach."

Which stance you take likely depends on whose ox is being gored at the time.

Barack Obama has no credit card debt and has set up college funds for his daughters; John McCain has a six-figure credit-card debt and hasn't paid one of his property tax bills. Which of these candidates sounds like the fiscally responsible one?

Which of these candidates sounds like an average American? The one with huge credit-card debt who doesn't pay his tax bill on time, or the prudent planner for the future? John McCain: he's just like you and me!

So, when a Republican standard bearer of the Moral Majority gets caught with their pecker parked where it ought not be parked, then the press has a field day with it. Republicans resign over such indiscretions

See above. Vitter, Craig, et al.

John McCain's "Base", the Mainstream Media Reporters, will put this story out to pasture in no time. All it will take is another good old barbecue, at any of the McCain Family residences, and we will never hear of this again.

I really can't wait until someone has the sense to look into Cindy McCain's business interests. I want to see McCain's campaign when it turns out that she pays her employees next to nothing, hires illegals or doesn't give adequate health care. I believe that credit card debt and tax bills are only the tip of this iceberg.

It's not like Franken or McCain are flouting the law. If anything, this should be an example of how ridiculous our tax system it: Franken was victimized by a system of taxation that is so complex that no reasonable person could understand it, and McCain by a system that is so arrogant that they can't be bothered to try to track down somebody who is derelict in paying taxes. Why not simply tack a penalty on and do a little research? It's not as if they can't enforce the collection, by auctioning off the house, if necessary. Why should somebody lose their property because somebody forgot to send a forwarding address?

This was typical "gotcha" politics, indicative of how far we have fallen as a nation. It was wrong when applied to Franken and wrong when applied to McCain, and the same kind of politics is wrong when applied to Obama. But you're going to have fun with it anyway, because it is what the media specialize in.

"The McCains, thanks to Cindy McCain's family fortune, are multimillionaires. They simply wouldn't have any reason to avoid an $8,000 bill."

That's how the rich get rich and stay rich. When Mitt Romney was in Utah for the Olympics, he claimed his house as his principal residence, saving I believe $18K in property taxes. When confronted with that, he blamed his wife.

He's an elderly man who sometimes has trouble remembering things and falls asleep in public. This should not prevent him from controlling a nuclear arsenal.

This (the contrast between BO's credit card debt and what he is already doing financially for his children's college yearsillustrates as opposed to the McCains' credit card debt and confusion about property tax) is another illustration of a point I have made before. It goes like this:

I don't know what BO's academic rank at Columbia was, but let me assume that he was at the 98th percentile. So I ask an obvious question: other things being equal, who would you rather see in the White House -- the guy whose class standing was near the top ((8th percentile)? Or the guy whose class rank was 894th out of 899th?