The newest political scandal, at least according to the Huffington Post is that not only is John McCain a gambler, but the media has not grilled him on the issue. Author Stephen Rose declares that McCain is close to being a compulsive gambler, and is questioning why no one in the media has confronted him on the issue. Apparently, the idea of betting $100 on a throw of the dice in Mr. Rose’s eyes is easily correlated to the idea of gambling with the lives of American soldiers:

But what most sticks in my craw is the plain proof that the man is close to being a compulsive gambler, certified as such by at least some of our mainstream media, and no one to my knowledge has directly confronted him on the subject.

McCain is a documented craps player. He has been known to play craps on impulse for 14 hours at a stretch.

Matthew Yglesias notes, “The McCains own eleven houses and spent over $200,000 on ‘household staff’ in 2007 so I suppose he can afford tens of thousands of dollars in gambling losses every year. At the same time, you wouldn’t want someone to enjoy ‘playing against the odds’ with the country’s public policy. The fact that McCain seems to think there’s some kind of ‘betting strategy’ that can turn craps into a winning game also raises some questions about his math.”

How serious is the gambling urge for McCain? What does the love of craps say about his “realism” regarding actual battles and conflicts? Would McCain be willing to gamble with human lives?

Almost one fourth of all Americans have visited a casino in the last year, with over two thirds participating in some form of gambling (including state lotteries) in that same time frame. Presumably Stephen Rose would believe that those Americans are at risk of gambling the lives of their children in order to satisfy their gambling urge, of course a rational thinking person would know that to be utterly absurd.

Mr. Rose’s argument seems to stem around the fact that craps is purely a game of luck, as opposed to poker which is more of a game of skill. As someone who plays in a friendly poker game once a week, I can certainly attest to that, as we normally see the same 2 or 3 guys winning, with those rare exceptions of someone getting, ahem… lucky. Poker is the rare exception when it comes to skill vs. luck in gambling however.

A quick look at the gambling odds shows that although craps is purely a game of luck, your odds are better than playing the slot machines, Roulette and many other popular casino games. The house has roughly a 1.4% edge against a craps player betting the pass, or don’t pass line, compared to a 15% edge a person playing the nickel slots. Considering my grandmother has been known to play the nickel slots for hours on end, I can only consider myself fortunate that she never once gambled with my life as a child.

Moving past this ridiculous accusation that the media should take more notice of McCain’s gambling habits, lest he gamble with the lives of Americans, the Huffington Post should call for the media to confront Barack Obama on his past cocaine usage. Cocaine use can cause irreversible brain damage, and Obama’s past may actually disqualify him from holding a nuclear launch key.

From the Nuclear Weapon Personnel Reliability Program:

(2) Drug Abuse

(a) See definition 15. in enclosure 2. It is not the intent of this Directive to automatically render ineligible for the PRP any individual who, before the effective date of this Directive, has disclosed pre-Service drug abuse, or who has not yet been asked to make such disclosure, and who is currently certified for PRP duties after having been formally screened in accordance with then-existing guidance. Further recertification of such individuals for future PRP status shall be in accordance with this Directive, except that previously disclosed and considered drug abuse and pre-Service drug use not required previously to be disclosed, shall not be sole grounds for denial of recertification or for mandatory decertification.

(b) Except for the category of individuals identified in subparagraph B.2.a.(2)(a), above, or otherwise provided in this Directive, any pre-Service use, admitted or otherwise discovered, of illicit drugs such as heroin, heroin derivatives, cocaine, “crack,” phencyclidine (PCP), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy,” or other “designer” drugs, amphetamines, barbiturates, or other narcotic drugs not prescribed by proper medical authorities, and anabolic steroids shall render an individual ineligible for admission to or retention in PRP duties. The individual shall not be certified into the program or shall be permanently decertified, and those actions shall be made a matter of permanent record.

Having an admitted cocaine user holding the key to our nuclear arsenal is not of any importance to the Huffington Post however, they are more concerned about the man who bets $15 on a throw of the dice.

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Barack Obama, Election 2008, Features, John McCain, Liberals, Politics