Ethics in Politics

One topic that is brought up almost incessantly in The Running Mate is ethics in politics, more specifically in elections/confirmations. The main character, Senator Charlie Martin, is forced to make several ethical decisions, first in the confirmation of his friend from war to the post of Secretary of Defense, and then in his own reelection campaign.
His friend up for confirmation, Sly Parkinson, was discovered to have abused dieting pills, and later female member of his staff. However, he was easily the most qualified person for Secretary of Defense being a brilliant military mind. The questioned posed by the situation is, should a person’s personal actions affect their job, and in this case even Parkinson’s good friend Charlie Martin had to say yes, and vote against his confirmation. The question gets a little stickier when you get into the less egregious sexual actions of people such as Bill Clinton and Newt Gringich. Did their actions affect their ability to do their jobs? Probably not. But did their action disqualify them from hold as high of offices as President and Majority Leader? That is where people get into arguments?
Another ethical issue that was addressed in the book is what information can you use against your opponent in a political campaign. Charlie Martin’s political opponent had a radio show in which at one point he condemned “partial-birth abortions.” Martin’s staff found out that his opponent’s wife actually had an abortion fairly late in her pregnancy. Martin debated furiously within himself about whether he should use that information in an add. It would be devastatingly effective and almost guarantee him the win, but it would also be very cruel. It was a difficult situation for both candidates that perplexes me still after thinking about it for awhile. I don’t know what I would do.