POLITICAL MALPRACTICE IN AMERICA

OK. This is one of those posts in which I won’t be talking about medical malpractice, per se.  But I am keeping it related.  Because today I have to vent about political malpractice.

There are no true standards of care that we make politicians in this country follow.  Sadly, we’ve come to expect the worst from our politicians, and find solace when they turn out to be not quite as unethical, dishonest, (you fill in the blank) as we suspected.

But this Weinergate thing got me thinking.  And if you are not familiar with the story, here it is in simple form, courtesy of CBS New York. Essentially, Rep. Anthony Weiner, a brash, outspoken product of NYC who might have been its mayor, sexted lewd comments and photos to women not his wife, got caught, lied about it, then fessed up at a teary news conference.  Many from his own Democratic Party, and almost everyone Republican, are calling for his resignation, based on the poor judgment Weiner showed during this titillating affair.  Maybe they’re right.

But then the “flippin” Palin emails started reaching the public, years after they were requested. And that jogged my memory, back to a dark time in American political history:  when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate in a presidential election.  To say McCain properly “vetted” Palin is to engage in fantasy.  Yet he chose her for what might have been the second most important job in America, vice president. Even allowing McCain the benefit of the doubt regarding the selection process, Palin soon proved herself to be a the silly political dilletante many suspected her to be, and a distraction to the McCain campaign, to put it generously.  Yet McCain hung onto her, as he continued to stonewall the American public regarding his medical history and cancer prognosis, a failure in transparency that continues to this day.

What if McCain had somehow won the election, Palin and all?  And what if he became physically incapacitated or died?  Sarah Palin would be the leader of the free world.  Could this scenario have failed to cross McCain’s mind, and that of his supporters?  In other words, was it a foreseeable event?  Obviously, it was.  And therefore, it was negligent, and worse, for McCain to continue his campaign with Palin as a possible VP.  It was reckless and stupid and selfish.  It was political malpractice of the worst kind, the kind that might have resulted in the starting of world wars and the attendant mass incinerations of human beings, for starters.

So how come no one has asked for John McCain’s resignation?  Could his actions have had more serious consequences for his constituents and his country?  Do you really have to think about that?