The Other McCain

by Smitty (h/t The Corner)

I don’t disagree with what Senator Coburn says in Politico:

In explaining why he wouldn’t support Gingrich, Coburn specifically targeted the ex-speaker’s three marriages as proof that Gingrich “doesn’t know anything about commitment to marriage.”

“His life indicates he does not have a commitment to the character traits necessary to be a great president,” said Coburn, who also noted that Gingrich is a “super-smart man.”

Coburn’s comments follow criticism of Gingrich from his second wife, Marianne, who recently told Esquire that there is “no way” her ex-husband could become president.

Furthermore, Gingrich’s opportunism on NY-23 and the GZM seem to put him somewhere around Pat Buchanan in the realm of hit-or-miss talking heads.

Still, how do we deal with a guy who’s been married three times? That’s not immoral under Sharia law, and we shouldn’t have religious litmus tests for elected leaders, am I correct? Fred Thompson is rather high mileage, yet I voted for him in the VA primary in 2008. Am I inconsistent in apply moral tests for leadership capacity?

Let me say that (a) we all screw up, and (b) actions subsequent to the screw up, i.e. repentance, are crucial to ‘redeeming’ the figure. Or ‘restoring honor’, if you will. Sure, we blow it, but patterns of indiscretion should diminish sharply over time, or we’re not learning.

How is leadership compartmentalized? Can a man be an overgrown teenager (Bill Clinton) and still be of use in public office? Does non-command of the wedding tackle make a lousy Commander-in-Chief? What about alcoholism or other addiction? I want to say that the best leaders limit their major flaws to hubris.

Having served in the military, I recall being offended that uniformed officers are held to higher standards of conduct that elected officials. To what degree does the act of winning an election constitute a publicly issued pardon (Alcee Hastings)?

Here is something of a conclusion: let us be as forgiving as genuine repentance allows, but, more importantly, strive to diminish the importance of individuals in running the government, so that the negative impact of personal failings is reduced.  Oh, and Senator Coburn would make a far better President than His Newtness.

by Smitty

Hot Air casts the bread on the water, quoting the Daily Caller:

Not shy about his position on a wide range of issues, would this critic-in-chief consider a run for commander-in-chief in 2012? Bolton didn’t reject the idea out of hand.

“[I]t is a very great honor that anybody would even think of asking. I’m obviously not a politician. I’ve never run for any federal elective office at all and, you know, it is something that would obviously require a great deal of effort,” he said. “What I do think, though, and what concerns me, is the lack of focus generally in the national debate about national security issues.

I’ve been a tremendous fan of the man since he was the US Ambassador to the UN.

Now that I’m almost nearly sort of rather a small time blogger, I’ve even had the pleasure of meeting the man:

I thought it a bit too silly to point out the John Bolton for SecState group on FaceBook to the Ambassador, as that seemed just a bit too ‘groupy’ of a move.