photo credit: soggydan

Well, it appears that John McCain — famously self-righteous about his high moral standards, honor and honesty — may have had an affair with a lobbyist in 1999, just prior to his first bid for the Republican nomination.  Daily Kos has a run-down on the scandal here.

Now I must confess, I do like John McCain.  He’s the only Republican for whom I would possibly vote, and the damage to his reputation from this is incalculable, as is the damage to his campaign for the Presidency.   In comparison to Barack Obama and his long marriage and young family, the divorced and unfaithful McCain loses the moral high ground in its entirity.  Against Hillary, I think it definitely destroys any advantages he had over her.

But you have to wonder why the hell these people do stuff like this.  If normal people can’t keep their own infidelities secret, then why do politicians assume they can do it?  Particularly with so many people — not just the press, but staff, opponents, opponents’ staff, the public, etc. — watching them all the time.  It was inevitable that something like this would come out eventually.

It’s my belief — call it Jeff’s Axiom — that there are no such things as secrets.  Once someone else knows a bit of forbidden information, it passes from person to person like a virus until it’s revealed to the world at large.   The fact that John McCain could keep this under wraps for 9 years is surprising, but what’s not surprising is that the moment he locked up the nomination it came out.  McCain and his staff should have known and predicted this would happen.  The fact that they didn’t shows that they’re really not going to be up to the task of campaigning against Barack Obama (or possibly Hillary Clinton), with an energized Democratic movement behind him (or her).