Candidate's youthful indiscretions should not be held against them.
condi ricecakes said 04/04, 11:11 AM
"I remember with affection the unruly passions of youth," John McCain said Monday in Meridian, Miss., where he organized an off-base toga party and frequented strip clubs.
IamFry said 04/07, 05:20 PM
First off, I don't hold your example against John McCain. Indeed, I'm no stranger to either one, and I don't believe that engaging in such activities is INHERENTLY wrong, or indicative of a warped personality, though it certainly CAN be... and those activities are certainly not fitting of a president (though I'm sure Bill managed to sneak into a few), but McCain's not engaging in them any more; that's the bottom line.
But this debate isn't about John McCain, it's about pardoning bad behavior with a 'statute of limitations' defense.
The first problem I have with the "youthful indiscretion" excuse is that it can be used to dismiss the behavior of people of adult maturity (remember Rep. Henry Hyde's "youthful indiscretion"- he was 45!), and sometimes, it is used to dismiss an act that can be indicative of a pattern of behavior that may NOT be corrected.
I'm not saying that past transgressions should not be overlooked, I'm simply saying that the fact that something happened a long time ago shouldn't automatically excuse it; what matters is what happens to the person between then and now, not how much time passes.
Comments
Add Your Comment
John McCain's campaign manager has to protect him from himself. If he is allowed to banter on about visits to strip clubs in his youthful days the campaign trail will close it's gates forever on John McCain. Actually, I rather hope he sticks his foot repeatedly into his mouth so we as a nation can elect a man that will bring about positive change to the United States of America and all of it's people.
dem97 | 08/27/08
Report Offensive CommentPost A Comment
Please keep it clean. Bad words will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.
What you do as a youth has nothing to do with you performance as an adult other than learning from your mistakes.
lovejones | 04/07/08
Report Offensive Comment