By now you have all heard the big news. Did he or didn't he? Does it matter?
We have eaten bigger scandals than this for lunch. But this really is not about us, it is about John McCain, the Republicans, Ethics, and Hypocrisy. And even more important: why was this story published now?

McCain does have a history with ethics, there is no doubt about that. He was a member of the Keating Five, and received a large sum of money in donations from Charles Keating himself. That was back in 1989.

Now we see that he did it again. The NYT article reports This happened before the McCain-Feingold Act was passed in 2002 and after the savings and loan scandal of the eighties.

That is important because he still takes money from Lobbyists. He accepted money From Jack Abramoff's former lobbying firm - over $100,000. It may be legal, but it certainly doesn't look ethical. It isn't in the spirit of the law that HE helped write and it is downright sleazy that this is the same firm that had good old Jackamoff.

And - it is something that Americans are tired of. We are tired of Republican corruption. Sadly, the media will not focus on this money stuff. They will focus on the titillation of a possible affair.

What I do find peculiar, and fair to ask, is WHY all of a sudden did Cindy McCain start showing up wherever John McCain went? Why the sudden attacks on Michelle Obama from Cindy? I think we have the answer now. The American Spectator reported last month that the NYT had this story, and that McCain threatened to sue if they went with it. I can only assume that the Times got a few more facts straight. We have yet to hear a denial from Mr. McCain himself. He has chosen to attack the messenger and wave his hero status as a deflector shield.

Something is going on. I don't think that this is your run-of-the-mill attack story. Despite it's foibles, I do respect the NYT. As an affair itself, it really doesn't have the Za Za Zooie. It happened 8 years ago. If aides were concerned about McCain and this woman, I believe them. This is where the question of good moral judgement does come in. It is the kind of thing that makes the social conservatives go nuts. It's the kind of thing that get presidents impeached. [see: Bill Clinton affair;] It is the kind of thing that prevents a nomination. [See: Gary Hart affair;]

Personally the in me is wondering what will happen next. The man does not look healthy these past few weeks. I have seen him on more than one occasion getting helped up on stage. I wonder if he is healthy enough to finish this campaign? This stress certainly won't help him. Will he bow out of the race? Who then - if this happens - will be the Republican nominee? Those are a lot of if's I know, but they matter. We have been barraged this past week with who can beat McCain in the General election... Hillary can't, Obama can, and back and forth. This affects us as well.

It is no secret that the republicans despise this man as their candidate. Heck, they seemed to despise all of their candidates. But the reality is this: they called themselves the party of morality, the party of family values, the party of fiscal responsibility. John McCain seems to have failed on all these fronts. In the end, the republicans have put themselves up on this pedestal, and now it is time for their party to make a decision about what they stand for. If John McCain's closest aides could not trust him to do the right thing, why should we trust him with the Constitution?

Put the sex aside for a minute and understand that we have a real problem here. Actually, thank the goddess' for the sex in the story, because the media will finally pay attention to the scandal. It looks like we have our own version of the blowjob.

See you inside.
:peace: and
Raine