George Harris
Kansas City Star
Reader Advisory Panel 2008

For Obama supporters there should be no satisfaction in the report released today.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower concluded that Sarah Palin violated state ethics law prohibiting public officials from using their office for private gain.

Republicans dismiss the report as political, but a panel of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats agreed to release the report.

It's not surprising that a government official would use her power to advance a personal grudge.

And it's not surprising that Governor Palin would deny to Alaskans and to the nation that personal matters were a factor in her decision to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Nor is it surprising, really, that Palin would refuse to cooperate with an investigation after she had said she would.

And it's not really too shocking that Governor Palin would go around the country claiming that Senator Obama is the one who can't be trusted. Maybed I'm too jaded to care about any of this.

What is sad is that John McCain selected this woman to run as his vice-presidential candidate and he built a campaign around her as it became obvious that she was unfit for the office. Even as he breyed "Country First."

Give him the benefit of the doubt that when he selected her he didn't believe the Troopergate charges, as naive as that seems. Maybe his staff conducted an incompetent screeing, too.

But later he condoned her attempts at cover-up and sanctioned and repeated her intimations that Obama was somehow invidiously associated with a domestic terrorist.

Sure, McCain and Palin both said (one with a wink) that the issue was whether Obama was being truthful about his connection to William Ayers. But they both knew that they were stoking flames of hatred toward Obama and that they were trying to brand him as traitorous.

Today, finally, McCain attempted to restore some of his honor by rejecting a woman's statement at a rally accusing Obama of being an "Arab"...code for terrorist. This is the John McCain I used to admire.

It's the McCain who rejected hatred toward Mexican immigrants, even those illegally here.

It's the John McCain who made the mistake of lying for personal ambition in campaign 2000 but publicly admitted it and moved on.

John McCain could have engaged in an extended, thoughtful campaign against Democrat Obama by talking about national defense, the war in Iraq, and economic turmoil, with or without the many town hall meetings McCain wanted and Obama rejected.

But he didn't choose to do this.

The country will move on. The next president will fight terrorists somewhere. The economy will revive. But can John McCain, if miraculously elected, ever make a large segment of the populace believe that he has enough honor left to admire.

After a long and interesting life with much service and sacrifice, John McCain's legacy will be tainted by his willingness to allow an unworthy surrogate to suggest that an opponent is a traitor.