Finger Pointing

Consider the following report from The Nation magazine that refers to well documented events that occurred in 1991:

Just six months after being rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he interfered with federal regulators on behalf of a wealthy donor, Senator John McCain engaged in activities that may have constituted an abuse of his office for personal gain. In August 1991, McCain hosted a family reunion at the Bermuda Naval Air Station (BNAS) for at least seven days at taxpayer expense. McCain's entourage of eleven included his wife, Cindy, and several of his children. The trip took place as Washington was still dealing with the fallout from the Keating Five scandal, an episode that involved other improper luxury Atlantic-island trips for McCain.

The McCain campaign, and in particular its VP candidate have been on the campaign trail pounding rumor upon innuendo about the supposed questionable character of Barack Obama because he has served on the Board of Directors with William Ayers. Ayers, you will recall, was associated with the Weather Underground nearly a half century ago and alleged to have engaged in domestic terrorist activities at a time when Barack Obama was 8 years old or less and not even living within thousands of miles of Ayers. While we might point out that Obama was never associated in any way with Ayers’ youthful activities and has repudiated the philosophies and actions of the weather Underground, the absurd strategy of irrational smear tactics persists.
But a more proximate question is whether the country should embrace the leadership of individuals that are tainted, not by some greatly attenuated “guilt by association,” but rather by their own personal actions. McCain wants to dredge up history selectively. He would prefer that the public not focus on his own direct relationship with Keating and his wife’s dealings with Keating even after the banker’s fraud and criminality was exposed. And McCain would no doubt rather not have the public focus on his own disregard of ethical rules and constraints, as evidenced by the junket reported by The Nation.

Sarah Palin has been in the chair of Governor for less than two years and already has two formal sanctions from the Alaska Legislature for her ethical abuses of executive authority. Like Ted Stevens, her mentor and fellow Alaskan GOP Congressional colleague indicted last week, Palin passes off the sanctions as motivated by “politics” and overly aggressive prosecutors. No measure of ambition or aggression on the part of investigators could have yielded the results handed down unless there was substantial evidence to support the allegations of wrongdoing. The charges were well documented and no fabrication has been advanced or proven. The difference of opinion was simply that the actions of these public officials, in their own view, were either untouchable or did not constitute something that the public should consider wrong.

And therein lies the rub. When one starts to point fingers, as my father used to say to me, remember that there are three fingers pointing right back at the person doing the pointing. If you want to hold someone else up to standards, make sure that you can pass careful scrutiny yourself. McCain & Palin are clearly in no position to impugn Obama’s character, and to do so on such nonsensical and groundless charges is just plain knuckleheaded.