Speaking of Character, who here can say that they ?

I am a married mother in her 30s, a home owner, and a business woman, quite the poster child for conservative mary sunshines everywhere. 15 years ago I was in high school, heavily using drugs and alcohol, and had different hair colors once a week. I was also suspended from school at least once a semester and had a truancy officer tailing my ***, asking my devout, orthodox Jewish parents (who nearly disowned me) questions.

And I agree with you, what you do and who you are now is more of a reflection of who you are now, rather than what you were 15 years ago.

The past SHOULD stay in the past.

I believe I can honestly say that I have not done anything in my past that I would be ashamed of or that someone could twist and use against me. That said, I am not a politician and would say I have lead a relatively boring life. But don't try to say that everyone has something in their past they are ashamed of because it is just not true.

I personally think both candidates, as well as Barr and Nader, are honest, good hearted people and I am glad about that. I try to look their policy proposals and their overall outlook and ignore what the other people say about them. I think that although the candidates themselves are good and honest, the campaign people and party people are often the opposite.

If everyone based their opinions on the candidates like I do I think we would get more of what we expected instead of the sort of things we get now. The voters always get what they deserve, whether they like it or not.

It is this character assignation that the press revels in the prevents qualified candidates from seeking office. There are few, if any, that can pass the scrutiny of the media, unless of course they are the far out left wing socialist, and now add to that non-white. Then you get a pass.

Country First, not last!

McCain/Palin '08

First of all, you don't lower your standards because "everybody does it." I had somewhat of a wreckless past, but I knew many many kids I went to school with who were straight edge and rose above it. Lowering the standard to accomodate those who have broken it is unfair to those who have kept it. A life of integrity doesn't begin when you start to pursue office.

With that said, even though I'm not voting for him, I don't hold Obama's past drug issues against him at all. I'm against his policies.

We all have made mistakes, but owning up to the mistakes and correcting them goes a lot further then pretending like no mistake was made.

Is this a veiled attempt to justify a 20 year relationship with a xenophobic church, if so you failed.

Good points...

I find it rather odd that McCain's first marriage and Obama's hard drug use should be cast upon them today.

I do not think McCain is a bad father or Obama a dope head.

I do think that these men are very different people and that helps polarize the election.

Crazy, can we simply pick both of them and go on? We have so many issues in life to deal with....

There is not a person on here that has not done something they are ashamed of or should be ashamed of. We have all made mistakes and have regrets and anybody saying anything to the contrary is just plain lying.

why does it make a differance if you have a criminal record or not? If you did bad things and didn't get caught, isn't that just as bad as someone who did bad things and got caught?

No politicians have character, not even the founding fathers.

obama 08