It’s become clear that running for public office is the most intrusive, privacy-robbing process in public life today. It’s worse than being the star of a hit situation comedy. It’s worse than being picked to be a contestant on Big Brother. At least on Big Brother it is your choice about whether or not you reveal every public and private sin of you and your family from birth to the present.
In today’s age of "gotcha" political reporting, you had better make your confessions early and often. Apparently John McCain was required to mention the following "terrible" aspects of Sarah Palin’s life when he introduced her on Friday: "And now before I bring my new running mate out I have to mention the following important things about her life, her husband was arrested for drunk driving at age 22, she was once cited for fishing without a license, her teenage daughter is pregnant, no, she didn’t fake her last pregnancy in order to cover up a previous pregnancy of her teenage daughter, and even though she is being investigated for an ethics violation by the State Legislature, there was no wrongdoing on her part."
Of course, on the flip side, Sen. Obama should have recapped Joe Biden’s embarrassing withdrawal from the 1988 presidential race for plagiarism and mentioned that he had given Joe a lesson on how to credit his sources whether they be John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr.
Eventually the only people who can run for public office will be celebrities who have been subjected to tabloid speculation and inquiry their entire public life. We don’t need the national media, we need the National Enquirer to vet our political candidates. All I can say is, I like Sarah Palin a lot more today than I did on Friday. She chose to step up and run for office knowing that all of this baloney was coming, along with the accusations that she is incompetent and stupid. She seems like a real person who is living a real life. What better kind of person could we have in higher office?
Charlie Wear's Notes 
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