John McCain Speech defending Obama Administration Personnel

For those of you who are not familiar with Michelle Bachmann's ad hominem attack on a certain member of the Obama Administration, here is some background:
For a while, there has been a member of the President's administration that has had family members that have been loosely (if not questionably) tied--to the nearest of my understanding--to the Muslim Brotherhood. As an American, it is a right in my opinion to ask questions. However, Michelle Bachman went one step too far in my opinion, claiming that the government has "sold out" to the "radical Muslim extremists." From the interviews I have seen, at best these claims are made by talking to an unnamed official in the FBI. The News Media (When it does its job) then contacts the FBI and finds out that they (the FBI) is pretty much as stymied at the News Media doing the investigating is.

With that aside, and pretending for a moment that there is a question or two that needs answering, the way to go about such an investigation is certainly not to play it out in the public arena until all the facts are gathered, nor is it to go about in an ad hominem sort of way. If you want to question it, fine. You'll notice that most of the Fast and Furious investigations have played out in the public eye through members who are NOT Congressmen, unless asked for comment, instead of making a broad brush stroke and painting everyone as guilty, they present--as any lawyer, or law official would--a case. These claims have not proven to hold water yet, and even if they are, the public eye is simply not the place to air out these attacks unless solid proof is behind them. Enter John McCain.

For those of you who do not know, John McCain was the 2008 opponent of President Obama. Throughout most of the aftermath, despite saying we should get behind our president, John McCain has repeatedly come on television to blast President Obama for any number of things. However, this changed today.

Before I go on let me preface this by saying John McCain says in his speech that he knows the woman in question, and knows her to be an upstanding citizen. Many other Republicans say the same thing; this claim is limited to a handful of Republican Representatives and Senators: for the moment, John McCain is in the majority of ALL Legislators defending this administration official. It should be noted that, for the most part, I find McCain to be polarizing--though certainly not to the degree that President Obama is, nor to the degree that other certain Republicans are. But there is one thing jumped out at me from his speech was this, and I totally agree with him on this:

"Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person. This is about who we are as a nation, and who we aspire to be. What makes America exceptional among the countries of the world is that we are bound together as citizens not by blood or class, not by sect or ethnicity, but by a set of enduring, universal, and equal rights that are the foundation of our constitution, our laws, our citizenry, and our identity. When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it.

“Our reputations, our character, are the only things we leave behind when we depart this earth, and unjust attacks that malign the good name of a decent and honorable person is not only wrong; it is contrary to everything we hold dear as Americans."

Indeed, Mr. McCain, you are spot on. I do not know if I have mentioned this in my blog before, but, as Dave from Thoughts Aloud knows, I am more concerned with issues at hand rather than petty (and at times bloody) mudslinging. John McCain is right: we should stick to the issues at hand. I have no issues with John McCain as a person any more than I have issues with Mitt Romney, nor with President Obama. What I do have issues with is their policies. I yearn for the days leading up to the Civil War when two Presidential Candidates (Lincoln and Douglas) crossed the country in a style of Lincoln-Douglas debates emulated by most debate classes (though I care not that one of the issues at hand was slavery!).


 If the debate was anything like how today's modern version of such formats are, they formally debated and discussed the issues at hand, rather than dragging each other through the mud. It is this standard that we should live up to, not calling people "Specious" claims that John McCain identifies in his speech. Might these claims hold water at some point? Perhaps. But before all the evidence is gathered, before all the investigations are complete, please please PLEASE refrain from attacking ad hominemly each other.

I yearn for the day where campaign ads are once again positive, highlight the policies of the other, and yes, attack each other--over the policies and substance each brings to the table, rather than highlight and cast doubt on how the tax returns are missing. This is what I long for. Well said, Mr. McCain, well said.