What exactly is "wrong" with Senator McCain adopting and raising a child? What about this personal life decision is "fair game" (which implies it was a despicable move)?

I'm not a McCain supporter in this election, but this is just a ridiculous thing and not deserving of the scorn he is getting on this message board.

MCCAIN is putting his personal life out there in these ads for public consumption!

The personal life of a presidential candidate is fair game and can speak volumes!

There are those of us who don't agree with the point he is trying to make in this ad (and others) and are going to say so even if it may seem hateful to some. Sometimes the brutal truth hurts! It all needs to be aired out regardless.

We're electing the most powerful person in the world here. Not the homecoming king!

Whether or not this adopted child is McCain's illegitimate child, DNA tests can be done easily. But McCain is no Nicole Smith. This is none of our business if John and Cindy both love the child to pieces.

Even if this child were illegitimate, she is as worthy as any child born by married parents such as Chelsea.

1. I probably wouldn't vote for McCain since I haven't supported any of his positions except the agreement that torture is unacceptable. So you start from a false assumption.

2. I was simply defending him from the hateful observations people were making about his personal life. Those first posts – which were the only ones on this board at the time – are simply uncalled for. We should be above attacking someone as an individual even if we disagree with them politically.

The US economy, health care, education system, foreign policy is at a very great risk. It is the time to elect a president who can solve this problems and who can really bring a change to the USA. To bring a real change we should have to have a president who can inspire americans to bring change because with out the people the president can do nothing. The role of young peoples, in this case, is very crusial.

I beleive that OBAMA have the above qualities. I heard many peoples saying he is very inspiring after they listened to his speech for the first time. It is really important to have a president who spend all his life working for the public. After Obama graguated from university, he could have become a lawyer and got lots of money, but what he did not do that. He worked in a community service for years.
He taught the constitiution for many years. It is very important to have a president who had studied and taught the constitution. Obama is a person who have international thinking. He lived in Hawaii, where there are many cultures. He lived in Indonesia. All this enables him to have international thinking which is very essential for a president.

Obama can bring a real change. Most people agree about this including John Kerey and Colin pole . May God be with Obama.

To Steve:
Thank you . I couldn't have said it better.

The Armed Forces however is an all voluntary group. The brave people who enrolled in the millitary made the conscious choice to put their lives on the line for the benefit of the United States. I was in the military. I signed a contract with the United States that I would forfeit my life for the benefit of my country.

I know the distinction is completely lost on people such as yourself but you cannot compare the life of the unborn with the life of a volunteer in the Armed Forces. One has a say, the other does not.

If you'll re-read my post, you will see my comments are directly related to the hateful people who attacked John McCain personally in the first 5 or 6 posts. Obviously I hadn't even seen any of the posts made afterwards, some of which may have valid political content. But those first few posts were not political opinions, they were just hateful personal attacks on John McCain and his family – which have no place in American discourse.

While I would prefer people who make decisions about the fate of our country based upon personal spite and hatred sit out elections, of course there is nothing I (or you) can do about that.

The irony is you assume I am going to vote for McCain, something that is highly unlikely.

Can an American not defend his fellow American when he (or she) is unjustly attacked yet still disagree with them on policy and the direction they would take the country?

I would hope so.

"Me, I am not racist! I adopted a baby whose skin is an even darker shade of brown than that of the people (Arabs and Persians) I advocate killing."

This statement is bewildering. What are you trying to say Mrs. McCain?

I have adopted two children from Bulgaria, one in 1998 and one in 1999. My wife and I had to fill out a million forms, undergo repeated examinations, send medical records, police records, financial records, yada, yada, yada in order to get the necessary permission. Much of this was for the Bulgarian authorities, but some of it was to convince the State Department that they should permit the child entry into the United States.

Did the McCain family not have to do ANY of the paperwork we had to do? This seems inconceivable to me. Did John McCain not ask about the notarized forms releasing medical records, police records, and financial records he would have had to sign?

Either Cyndi McCain pulled a heck of a fast one on her husband, or she was being less than truthful in describing the arrival of the child.

Not a man I want as president.

IT ONLY TAKES A FIRST GRADER TO FIGURE OUT MCCAIN IS OUT OF TUNE WITH THE U.S. PUBLIC.

HE'S GOTTEN ALL THE GLORY AND RESPECT HE DESERVES. N.H GAVE HIM HIS ONE AND ONLY WIN JUST AS IN 2000.

HE'S FOR THE WAR. PERIOD. CITIZENS OF US ARE TIRED OF WAR AND THE ECONOMY IT HAS RAVAGED. LET THE IRAQIS FIGHT THEIR OWN BATTLES. GET OUT OF THERE.

FINISH UP WHAT WE STARTED IN AFGHANISTAN AND BRING THEM HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES.

No way, Joe. We're not going to allow a gang of rednecks and confused Americans like yourself elect ANOTHER anti-woman, anti-science liar like McCain.

We're gonna vote, and it won't be a Republican criminal that ends up as president.

Why don't you, Joe, blow your fascism out your ear?

Far-right anti-abortion nutcases could care less about the lives of alive and breathing human beings. "Love 'em until they're born."

Now he's using his adopted daughter for political purposes. I wonder what the true, likely cynical, purpose of the adoption was in the first place, John, you calculating lizard.

Can we assume there were no children in the US available for adoption at the time?

Kay, Las Vegas, NV January 11, 2008 12:52 pm ET

I would be much more impressed if he had adopted one of the millions of American children waiting to be adopted…charity begins at home, John!

____________________________________________________

Did you consider the conditions that orphans in this country live under versus the conditions that orphans in poor countries like Bangladesh live in? Why is an American child more valuable or desirable than one from Bangladesh? I think that is just an ignorant statement, that he should've adopted an American child first.

I am in the process myself of adopting a child, an American child, after practically raising her myself for the last 3 years, so I speak from experience. American children in need of adoption are in foster homes or children's home where, I am sure, they are much better cared for than those children in Third World nations. The story says they got the baby from Mother Teresa's orphanage. Why don't you slam Mother Teresa while you're at it, for not working in the US, or in Albania where she was from. No wonder the people in the rest of the world see Americans as arrogant and unconcerned for others outside our own little bubble.

-proud to be an adoptee & mccainite

As an American I'm ashamed that Mrs. McCain would think so little of the welfare of an orphan that she would bring her home without any preparation on the part of herself and her husband to the special emotional needs of transracial adoptees.

Now to use her as a pawn in his election – shameful.

Mr. McCain would be better suited seeing to the needs of the 115K American foster children who are available for adoption, instead of using his daughter to jump on the celebrity boat of international orphans.

McCain has many positive points, but this has dropped him down in my eyes.

Although claiming to be very christian, for some reason the soouth is very unforgiving (very un-christian).

The Republican sleaze machine is really something else. For THAT, we should definitely be ashamed as a society.

Too bad McCain didn't choose to highlight the moral standards of the Bush Twins when he was running in 2000.

Their antics in Austin and Waco are the things legends and reputations are created from!

Why is this relavant? Because the unborn has no voice. That unborn child is the product of two people, the father and the mother. Far too many abortions are done for no other reason than convenience.

There are cases inwhich an abortion may be medically required, for instance if the life of the mother is in danger. In this light abortions should be done very rarely. To have an abortion because the child poses an inconvenience is simply shameful and will forever be a black mark on our society. If the child is an inconvenience then put it up for adoption, don't kill it.

What I find most hypocritical about the whole discussion is that there are laws making it a crime to assault, harm, or murder an unborn child. Scott Peterson was found guilty of murder of Conner Peterson, an unborn child. People were outraged that Scott Peterson would kill his wife and in so doing kill his unborn child and at the same time dismiss abortion as if it were no different than having a tooth removed. The mindset is disgusting and we as a society should be ashamed.

Like Cade and his ilk ... according to him McCain can't do anything right ... and
as for McCain defending his family??

He did! But the God-fearing, good Christian voters of South Carolina , being so perfect as to cast the first stone, believed Rove's lies and voted for Bush ... the same ones who loudly applaud Huckabees quote for women to submit graciously to their husbands...

Now Rove is telling Obama how to campaign ... the sleeze factor just keeps getting worse.

It amazes me how many people still believe the politicians that stand there, and tell them only what they want to hear. How many times do we citizens have to be told one thing, only to have another happen, before we realize that character and honesty are really the main things we should be looking for? So yeah, smooth-talking politicians seem very "presidential", my argument is that they seem presidential because we let ourselves be duped by their promises. Promises that folks who actually UNDERSTAND our system, know can't possibly be accomplished. I'm leaning towards to guy who gives it to me straight, even if he's not 40 years old with a gleaming white smile and perfect hair.

McCain was viciously smeared last time around by "uniter" Bush so he pre-emptively strikes to make sure that doesn't happen again.

And all he gets from you is scorn for loving and raising a child, for being "too old," for not having an "acceptable" marriage, and for not defending false and indefensible attacks four years ago. Oh, and not explaining his stance on immigration enough – which I've personally heard him explain ad nauseum for the past year (hint, if you don't like comprehensive immigration reform, I guess you're not going to vote for him . . . beat your head against a wall often?).

If you're all that cold-hearted, judgmental, and just plain stupid, do us all a favor and sit this election out.

Doesn't it strike a strange chord that the McCains would make such a major life decision (not to mention the life of the adopted child) without ever having discussed it first.

Media...where is your critical eye here?