Do we really want a President operating our nuclear facilities?

It is the silly season, but this goes beyond to some kind of twilight zone. John McCain gave a speech at the NAACP convention, and authorized Dr. Ada Fisher (candidate for the House in North Carolina) to speak as official surrogate to journalists. Here is part of what she said:

‹áObama in his book about his father talked about his use of drugs. And I think it‰s disingenuous of people to vote for somebody for President when you won‰t allow a drug user in any secure or nuclear facility. Yet we as a nation, are willing to consider making somebody President of the United States I think that speaks very poorlyáBill Clinton said he smoked but he didn‰t inhaleáBut he didn‰t come out and flagrantly say he used drugsáand if that‰s going to be our standard God helps us in nuclear facilities and secure facilities who have this kind of history..and this nation must be very careful when it lowers the bar on who and what it will accept.” […]
“See, if you admit it, it should disqualify you. Otherwise, we‰ll have to let all those people who áapplied for jobs in these facilitiesáThere is a reason that those rules are there. I was a detox director for 16 counties in North Carolina , so I have a great understanding about what drugs and what they do to people. And I know that in moments of weakness, people tend to revert those things that they‰ve used in the past. I don‰t think it‰s disingenuous, I don‰t think its fair. If I ran for President of the U.S. and I had that history, I would expect people to look at that very carefully. We cannot have a nation high on drugs and have the Presidentá as an example.”

Now I’ve read Ada’s bio, and while she has some odd thoughts, she doesn’t appear to be stupider than a post, so I’ve got to believe that she’s purposely being stupid for political reasons (which is even worse).
First, I wonder if in her experience as detox director for 16 counties, she ever ran across a person having difficulties with alcohol. Ya think? Is it possible that someone could ever revert to using alcohol? Is it possible that we’ve ever had a President who admitted to using alcohol in the past? Oh, wait.
Second, when did it become a better qualification for President to lie about their past than to tell the truth?
And finally, when did President and nuclear facilities employees end up with the same qualifications? Does this mean that nuclear facilities will have to start employing 72-year-olds who don’t know how to get on the internet?
My view on qualifications for President is that whoever is President should have some real world experience. Nobody should be allowed to be President unless:

  • They’ve held several non-political jobs.
  • They’ve traveled abroad and they actively seek out new experiences.
  • They’ve enjoyed a wide range of cultural offerings, including music, theatre, art, literature.
  • They’ve had a close friend from a different race (or at least, from a different socio-economic background).
  • They’ve surfed the web and read a wide range of blogs.
  • They’ve inhaled.
[Thanks, Ethan]
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