Already some are attacking McCain's choice of Palin on the basis of how home-schooling and creationism biblical teaching have failed to prevent this pregnancy. Others are claiming if Gov. Palin had been a Mom instead of Mayor and Gov. for the last several years, this might not have occurred. But, these critiques of Palin's family problem have no bearing whatsoever on her competence to step into the role of President.

Similiarly, arguments that God is testing Palin's position on reversing Roe v. Wade and legal abortion, or that the sins of the daughter are not the Mother's, have no bearing on the Gov. Palin's competence to govern the United States. That said, voters will vote using all manner of rational and irrational criteria for casting their vote. But, the majority of voters will vote according to two criteria, political party, or whether the candidate is likely to maintain or improve their lot in life, or not.

I personally think voting for the candidate most likely to maintain or improve one's lot in life in America, is the only rational criteria to use. Voting for a political party in no way insures the best candidate, as the presidency of George W. Bush demonstrates amply with his less than 20% approval rating. Most Republican voters in 2000 and 2004 didn't know and didn't care that G.W. Bush was a failure in the oil business, the sports team management business, and got to be Governor of Texas on the basis of his last name and family wealth only. They voted for him because he was Republican and by all accounts, a faithful family man who had found Christ and been 'born again'.

And history repeats itself in this election. Sen. McCain was an average student and rule breaker when in school before the military. He graduated from Annapolis 5th from the bottom of his more than 800 student class. But, his father was a high ranking Admiral or soon to be one then, and his antics and rule breaking and poor academic performance were not going to be permitted to halt John McCain's rise if Dad had anything to say about it. Not dissimilar from former Pres. George Bush and his son.

John McCain's plane aboard a carrier was involved in causing the deaths of many on board that carrier in which a weapon was discharged on deck causing massive explosions of the other planes on deck. Footage shows McCain running from the planes and explosions, as any sane person would do. Whether McCain's actions had anything to do with that lethal day aboard the aircraft carrier, only John McCain knows for sure. The military exonerated him from any responsibility in the incident as he was exonerated for all his misdeeds and poor performance at Annapolis.

This is not dissimilar from the controversy surrounding George W. Bush's absence from military duty without leave as a pilot, which resurfaced during his 2000 presidential bid. His father too was a high ranking official in the Reagan Administration at the time.

Then, despite his many infractions of military rules and poor performance at Annapolis, McCain was given his commission and allowed to fly bombers over Viet Nam, where he was shot down and captured and tortured and where he cooperated with the enemy in making a taped confession of war crimes. There is no question that John McCain was horribly tortured and treated by the North Vietnamese and his refusal to leave his POW status behind before other prisoners who had been there longer, was the source of his heroism and the high water mark of his military career. It spoke to McCain's character in relation to his fellow prisoners upon whom he depended as his only link to the civilized world.

There was a change in McCain after he returned home for a long and very painful struggle to regain his physical strength and capacity again. He came back determined to not let the his treatment in Viet Nam impair his future. Perhaps it was his way of defeating his captors. But, it is clear that from that point on, John McCain was a driven man and he was not about to let anyone stand in his way from getting what he wanted.

This included his wife, who also suffered an injury and lost some of her beauty queen appeal as McCain engaged in an affair with another woman who would become his second wife. McCain has lied about this in public, and proven to have lied by official documents which demonstrate that McCain was involved with Cindy before his divorce. When confronted with this documentation in a taped interview, McCain said it was a long time ago, and his memory of it is not clear.

He did attend the War College after returning from Viet Nam and healing, where he studied the Viet Nam War and its implications. In the taped interview, it appears the only thing he learned there was that America must commit all its resources when it engages in War to insure swift and complete victory. We won't know if that lesson included use of nuclear weapons upon a non-nuclear nation's people until McCain becomes president, because that is not a question he is willing to answer directly.

Having married his second wife, a very wealthy woman, and upon seeing an opening in elected government, John McCain set about getting elected with the same drive and determination which helped him recover from his leg injury that threatened to impair his ability to walk. He spent vast numbers of hours and days knocking on doors in temperatures above 100 degrees, and it paid off along with help from his wife's contributions to his campaign funding.

For more than 2 decades, John McCain has served in the U.S. Congress, voting on trillions of dollars of spending packages and tax legislation, and never once, in all those years, did John McCain consider picking up a book or any formal education in economics. This caused McCain to misstep on the campaign trail this year when Tim Russert quoted McCain's statement made in Dec. 2007 and reported by the Boston Globe and other media at the time. The quote Russert asked him about was

"I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

Actually, I don't know where you got that quote from. I'm very well versed in economics. I was there at the Reagan revolution. I was there when we enacted the first -- or just after we enacted the first tax cuts and the restraints on spending.

By his own words in the Dec. Republican debates, John McCain confessed that his one academic area of achievement and area of human knowledge study was in warfare and hostile foreign policy. And his record demonstrates that this is true. He has not in 40 years stepped into any academic courses for continuing education in law, government, economics, sociology, or even political science. He has utilized, very adeptly, the strings of his Admiral father, the 100 million dollar wealth of his wife Cindy, and his experience as a war prisoner, as his resume for moving up in American politics and government. And he has learned a new trick along the way, forgetfulness.

Pres. Reagan had a medical condition that was responsible for his lapses in memory. Sen. McCain has no such excuse by all accounts, and he knew full well where Tim Russert got that quote from. Sen. McCain has backtracked on a number of his positions and statements since deciding to run for President. It is debatable whether McCain actually forgot how many homes he owns, or was feigning forgetfulness in order to dodge an answer that would make him appear to be out of touch with the American public which owns one home if any, these days.

Sen. McCain has, as of the last month, taken to only speaking in public with a script or note cards. The reason is that Sen. McCain's memory was seriously starting to be questioned as he committed one gaffe after another when speaking contemporaneously before cameras. Among those lapses in memory include:

• Referring to Putin as president of Germany


• He said Iran, a Shiite nation, is training and arming Iraqi al Qaeda, a Sunni group. Lieberman finally corrected him after 3 such public statements over the course of 2 weeks.


• He said he had walked freely through a Baghdad market without body armor highlighting how safe it was, when in fact, photos have him in an armored vest in that Baghdad market and surrounded by military personnel with weapons at the ready.


• His reference to the cap and trade system as not having mandatory caps.


• Saying he voted for every Katrina investigation bill, when in fact, he against at least two.


• His erroneous references to Gen. Petraeus as commander of Middle East operations, when, in fact, Petraeus has been the commander of only Iraqi operations. This from a candidate with a military history? Chain of command is something any Commander in Chief wannabe with a military background should never lose sight of, especially in public.

Then there are McCain's reversals.

John McCain had a long standing feud with Jerry Falwell before McCain realized his campaign was in trouble with the religious right, and mended the fence with Falwell thereafter, despite McCain's distrust of Evangelical preachers like Falwell.

McCain was opposed to off shore drilling before he realized that conservative GOP donors and investors had 100's of millions at stake in oil investments, and then, McCain reversed his position on the campaign trail to 'Drill, Drill, Drill'.

And there is a very long list of other reversals compiled at The CarpetBagger Report. It is one thing to reverse one's position in light of new or better information. It is quite another to reverse a position to pander to constituent voters in order to get elected. The former has the potential of becoming policy. The latter has leaves voters without a clue as to how the candidate will actually act once in office.

To be fair, some of the reversals listed at Carpetbagger Report are likely due to McCain becoming more informed on issues other than conducting war. His education outside the area of how wage war, leaves great room for growth and learning.

The one enormous difference between the Obama and McCain tickets is this. If Obama stays healthy in office, he continues to have Sen. Joe Biden's decades of experience to call upon. If Obama were not to complete his term, Joe Biden's decades of experience steps into the Oval office.

On the other hand, it is McCain who lays claim to decades of experience in federal government and foreign policy. If McCain, who will be oldest president ever elected and has fought off two bouts with cancer, should not complete his term, it is Sarah Palin who would step into the Oval office. And Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience, no federal budget and tax plan experience, and no experience whatsoever with Washington D.C. government.

In other words, Obama's ticket has decades of experience in federal government either way. McCain's ticket loses that experience almost entirely if something should happen to prevent McCain from completing his term.

Is this reason enough to not vote for John McCain. That is up to each voter to decide for themself. But, one thing is very sure, the pregnancy of Gov. Palin's daughter has no place in this race or as a criteria for deciding which candidate ticket is most likely to improve American's lives and that of their children.

Writer:   David R. Remer on September 2, 2008 5:06 AM