Why must everything be either right or wrong. Is there nothing in this world that can have elements of both?

I mad the mistake of watching the news channels for a couple of hours the other night. The two big stories were Wesley Clark’s comments on John McCain and Joe Horn shooting and killing two criminals in his own yard.

Let’s start with the latter. Joe Horn shouldn’t have shot those guys. He shouldn’t have left his home, just like the rather wise 911 dispatcher repeated to him. However, this man is no murderer. But to watch the debate unfold on the news shows there were only two options being debated. Either Horn was a racist and a cold-blooded murderer, or he was a patriotic, gun-toting American who is getting a raw deal.

Neither is true. Joe Horn is someone who panicked and did something foolish. It resulted in the death of two human beings. However unsavory these men may have been, and they were quite bad men, they didn’t deserve to die. I remember the day this happened. I remember thinking that nothing good could come of it. Especially since the dead men were people of color. They are latinos with very dark skin. In other words, they look black. So of course the demonstrators had to come out on both sides in force.

Why? Two guys made a bad choice, to rob someone’s home. Another guy made a worse mistake, he went and shot them. No winners here.

On a news show on Sunday, General Wesley Clark was asked a direct question about the war record of John McCain. Clark replied that he didn’t think being shot down and living in a prison camp qualified someone for Presidency.

Guess what? He’s right! It doesn’t! In no way did he demean the service record of McCain. In no way did he question his patriotism. He said something that was a bit insensitive and it sounded a bit mean. But it wasn’t wrong.

On come the rhetorical battles of the news shows. Either Clark must drop out his political activity and crawl into the same whole as Jeremiah Wright, Clark is a dastardly, evil man for impugning a man that paid such a heavy toll for his country and Obama must step up and once again apologize for someone else .... Or ... Clark, of course, is the "true patriot" for his dissent, blah, blah, blah.

How about this, Wright, I mean, Clark was factually correct. John McCain’s war record, although admirable on so many levels, in no way qualifies him to be President, just like Bob Dole. However, what he said was a bit insensitive and in actuality PART of what makes McCain the type of individual that would make a great leader is his war record.

It reminds me of when Obama said those "elitist" things in San Fran a few months back. They weren’t all that horrible, but they definitely showed the guy is a bit of a jerk. Many of the things he has said and done since then have proven the point.

Why can’t we just accept that no person involved in any election is going to be all right all of the time?