Ok, the McCain "affair" story thing

I find myself divided. On the one hand, as Jon Stewart expressed last night on Larry King Live, I'm so weary of smear politics. And after liking McCain, then thinking he'd turned into a joke, but respecting his genuine heroism...I'd lately come back to (mostly) liking him again.

There's still no chance I would ever vote for him--the Democrats would have to nominate someone who, with no exaggeration, I thought was the Antichrist for that.

(And what are the odds on Scott Baio getting the nomination?)

At least, however, the thought of John McCain in the oval office doesn't currently scare me to death the way, say, Mike Huckabee would (the man doesn't believe in evolution, thinks the bible is immutable truth and the constitution is "a fixer-upper."). If McCain names Rudy Giuliani his running mate, I could really relax.

But like a lot of people I think, I was really hoping that this election might turn on issues that are actually important to people. And here's something I believe to the bottom of my toes: Outside of "Beltway insiders" and (some-alas, too many) reporters, most Americans don't care who their elected representatives sleep with.

Or do, but are able to separate it from their job performance. There may be some things wrong with Americans, but I really don't think of us--most of us--as that hypocritical. But then, hypocrisy is, as ever, the crux of it.

Because even as all of the above is true, it's also true that I agree with Mark Evanier's correspondent, Jeremy Morris. I don't care about the "affair," if indeed one was conducted...except inasmuch that it may show McCain's talk to be a little more crooked than he contends.

Say what you will about President Clinton--and I could say a lot, both bad and good. But after the '92 campaign, it's not like we elected him without knowing there was at least an average change he liked to dally with the ladies.

And I think anyone who got on a moral high horse during that incredibly stupid impeachment has lost any right to cry foul when the events of their private life, alleged or otherwise, become public sport.

But I also agree with Mark:

If [McCain's] doing improper things to help out lobbyists, that's the sin, whether he's in bed with one financially or literally.

Emphasis mine.

So like I say, I'm all over the place.