Reckless John Disses America

****UPDATED BELOW****

Barack Obama is right in saying that "people's families are off limits and people's children are especially off limits." The major public issue raised by the revelation of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter is not about the daughter, whose personal life is none of our business.

The central public issue is not even about Gov. Palin herself. (Although it is certainly worth noting to the public that her statement said that she and her husband are "proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby, which plainly indicates that the daughter had the choice that Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain want to deny to other women.)

No, the huge public issue raised by this and other revelations in the days since Friday's startling announcement of the selection of Alaska's governor as the Republican vice-presidential candidate is about John McCain.

The campaign said on Monday that McCain knew about the pregnancy when he selected the grandmother-to-be. That is very hard to believe. Indeed, McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt later would only say that McCain knew "last week," leaving unclear whether that knowledge came before or after the selection.

If, as seems highly likely, John McCain did not know about what was an "open secret" in the Palins' hometown, it is a further indication of just how reckless the Republican nominee is.

It becomes more apparent by the hour that Sen. McCain chose someone to put in the position to become president of the United States knowing very little about her. He had met her only twice. The vetting of her done by his campaign was extremely hasty and cursory. It was revealed by The Atlantic on Monday that there was not even an FBI background check done on her.

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There is, of course, a serious issue about whether Gov. Palin is qualified to be president. But the issue on which Democrats and the media ought to be focusing is less whether she is fit to be president than what McCain's know-almost-nothing-about-her selection says about his fitness to be president.

We already know where having the sort of president who makes snap judgments on the basis of looking into eyes and fancying that he is seeing souls gets us.

The selection of a vice-presidential nominee by whim puts the lie to McCain's "Country First" slogan.

By being so careless (and care-less) in selecting a person he would put a heartbeat away from the presidency, Reckless John dissed America and showed that the accurate slogan for his presidential bid should be "CAMPAIGN FIRST."

It's Reckless John, Stupid!

****UPDATE****

The McCain campaign has now dispatched a team of operatives and lawyers to Alaska to find out more about the person he chose to be his running mate. This is a sort of mirror image of the invasion of Iraq that Bush undertook with McCain urging him on.

In the case of Iraq, they searched for evidence of WMD after choosing to enter a war based on the untested belief that such evidence existed.

In the case of Palin, McCain is searching for disqualifying evidence on Palin's background after choosing her to be a possible president on the untested belief that such evidence does not exist.

It's a hell of a way to run a country, as the past eight years have so painfully demonstrated.

I repeat: It's Reckless John, Stupid!

{Historian Robert S. McElvaine is Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts & Letters at Millsaps College. His latest book is Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America .}

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Comments

[AdamEve]

You Liberals would not know a leader if your life depended on it.

It is absolutely AMAZING. You talk out of both sides of your mouth, you havee no moral backbone, and no personal values. When you have no personal values, you make decisions based on the moment, and you speak unttruths when it fits your situation. You cannot even be honest with yourselves.

Remember what our partents always told us? "I would rather you not hang around some of those friends of yours, they do not have the values we have? Well, apparently, Barrach's parents didn't teach him that lesson. He got involved heavlily with drugs, befriended a terrorist , and an unsavory developer. How come the media speaks nothing of these people Barrack has befriended? I
If you are a Liberal, can you answer these questions without hesitation? If you can't,, you are definitely a Liberal. If you can, then you are conservative. Simple enough, right? (1) What are 3 of your families values?
(2) Who do I give credit for my lot in life?

If you can not answer these immediately, it is because you enjoy ddiscussing negative things (thus playing the victim) and you live life based
what is in your best interest.

[Yola]

This would be funny, if not so sad.

[libbygirl]

If this is an example of John McCain "the maverick", then I'm very, very, afraid for our country if he is elected.

[eden4barack08]

"Shoot first, ask questions later", absolutely not what we want in a leader, and exactly who McCain is.

[Eurozone]

Even when electing McCain/Palin this saga will not stop..every single detail will be investigated by journalists and while the country is digging his own grave..it will be to late to find out the Russian will be on our doors...It's time we make sure Obama is elected president asap !!
If not we are all going down....

[zedthewizard]

finally, someone brings up the choice issue. although, i agree the bristol palin should be off limits per se. sarah palin's faulty mindset and policy choices for other human beings aren't. bristol palin made a choice in the context of a supportive family. many young women's choices don't have that attribute. it also illustrates that abstinence education doesn't always work. sex education in school can complement and substitute the education provided at home when necessary.

importantly, there has to be an acknowledgement that sarah palin believes that when it comes to her family and her daughter's choice it is familiar. but, sarah palin wants government to prevent everyone else's family and daughter's choice to be pre-determined under any circumstance so, then it is societal.

to we all have to seem so nice we will continue to accept and live under a weight of hypocrisy that is just to bold. as bold as sarah palin's selection. we just can't live with it, the weight is to heavy and she is to heavy.

[histryteacher]

You're gonna have to get your thoughts on screen a bit faster, professor -
you're already about 2-3 days behind on these multi-blogged points.

[histryteacher]

You're gonna have to get your thoughts on screen a bit faster than this, professor -
you are about 2-3 days behind on these multi-blogged points.

[lewes17266]

Why then is homosexual sex "on the table?" Is that not a personal matter?
Why are these double-standards acceptable? The Religious Right enlarges certain sins and cries out and falls down in anguish over them and invokes God and manipulates Christians by telling them how to vote and which sins are big and which sins are little. The Right has undermined democracy with its misuse of scripture and with its hatemongering and fearmongering. Does premarital sex not anger their imaginery vengeful God who sends terrorists and storms as punishment?

This makes me sick.

[blaqntelligence]

The same group of hypocrites that stood publicly and prayed for rain during the Democratic convention.
Hurricane Gustav had other plans.
I believe in God and the God I know has nothing to do with this wickedness.....

[MPinFlorida]

John McCain has a history of extreme recklessness (check military history/plane crashes). He will likely lead the world into WW III if elected. We must vote against this man. This is a shockingly precarious situation that we have gotten into.

Obama/Biden is the sane choice, the only choice, in 2008.

[fignozzle]

AMEN!
i hope EVERYONE reads this story..... my favorite line.....

we already know where having the sort of president who makes snap judgements on the basis of looking into eyes and fancying that he is seeing souls gets us.

[lincheryl]

He says Maverick, I saw hothead.

[Dap]

Dear Mr. Mcelvaine,

Eloquently expressed, seems You and I are in the exact same stream of consciousness on this one. It's not about Ms. Palin at all, it's about John McCain's ability to reason properly, his judgement is in serious question. Agape (Love in fellowship of our shared fragile humanity)

[Innisfail]

Yes, but...McCain's judgment leads us directly to Palin's judgment (only an old man's heartbeat away from the presidency).

[Dap]

Let me be frank and clear about this, it's the person at the top of the ticket which is the *FIRST* concern, the priority, where the buck stops, that's what's relevent and of utmost import.

No, President McCain, = *No* Vice President Palin (heartbeat away or not) Is that clear enough for you?

[6bd]

With acknowledgement by the Diebold voting machine company ( now renamed) that votes are indeed dropped....I am frightened that Sarah may well one day be our Commander in Chief. I can't sleep.