An Experimental Life

Apparently not.

According to the latest ad from the McCain campaign, it seems that McCain thinks that teaching young children how to avoid sexual predators is a bad thing, and character assassination is perfectly honorable.

From whence do I draw these inferences? The McCain campaign has been running an ad criticizing Barack Obama for supporting a bill, when he was in the Illinois state senate, to provide age-appropriate sex education in public schools. As an example of what "age-appropriate" means, the bill states that age-appropriate sex education for kindergarteners would be teaching them to avoid sexual predators. Now, regardless of the bill's other provisions, this is the part which the McCain campaign chose to attack. Ergo, John McCain is against teaching kids about avoiding sexual predators.

On the character assassination issue: When questioned about the increasingly dishonorable tactics of the McCain campaign (i.e. misleading and/or completely false comments about Obama's record, positions, and past), a campaign spokesperson laughed condescendingly and said that if it was a question of honor, they'd be happy to compare Senator McCain's record to that of Senator Obama.

Let's look at honor, shall we?

Now, Senator John McCain has indeed, served his country with great honor, and especially as a fellow veteran, I respect his sacrifices. Anyone who belittles John's service to his country during the Vietnam era within earshot of me had better be ready to fight. When John McCain was early release from the Hanoi Hilton in Viet Nam--because of his father's high rank in the U.S. military--Senator McCain refused; instead, electing to stay with his fellow prisoners until they were all released.

Accepting the offer would not have--to my mind--been a dishonorable thing to do--After all, it wasn't like him staying made things better for anyone else there--but that he chose to stay and suffer with his comrades as an act of solidarity put him head and shoulders above most of us in terms of courage, honor, and sheer bloody-mindedness. If you have ever been a soldier, an airman, a Marine, or a seaman, and don't get choked up thinking about John's choice, you're not fit to wear your uniform. While I hope that I would have the courage to do the same in his position, I am ashamed to say that I probably would not have had the guts.

Past honor, though, cannot be drawn upon to offset the dishonor of the present. However much I respect the honorable, courageous, and yes, heroic past of Senator John McCain, that past does not get him a free pass to use smear tactics so dishonorable, so despicable, that even his past supporters, prominent members of his own party, and--of all people--Karl Rove object to them.

Honor is difficult to gain and easy to lose, and Senator McCain has not merely lost his honor, but thrown it away for a shot at the presidency. So yes, let's please compare the candidate's records when it comes to honor. I know who will win in that comparison, and it is not Senator McCain.

Back to the statements made by the McCain campaign. John McCain and his supporters claim to be for traditional American and small-town values, right? If we're to take their ads as indicative of where they stand on issues, then I have to ask--When did making things easier for child-molesters and breaking that commandment that says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," become part of our values? They're certainly not mine.