I inadvertently left a category out of the Ethics Alarms year end awards for 2010, perhaps because it is such a discouraging one. I just remedied the omission, and added this:
Integrity Meltdown of the Year: Sen. John McCain. A sad spectacle indeed: since losing his run for the presidency in 2008 and having to face a strong challenge from the Right in seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate, the celebrated Arizona maverick reversed long-held positions in favor of creating a route to citizenship for illegal immigrants, reversing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and ending the low Bush tax rates on upper-income Americans. He didn’t change his mind because of sudden epiphanies of clarity, either. He just wants to stay in the Senate. True, McCain held fast to other principles, like opposing earmarks, but those were the ones his critics on the Right supported too. Integrity means being true to your core values even when it is inconvenient or unpopular. Once upon a time, that description fit Sen. John McCain. As of 2010, this was no longer true.
Ethics Alarms 
Why should anyone be surprised? The Maverick(TM) abandoned his disfigured first wife Carol after returning from Vietnam, to marry a rich and beautiful beer heiress. If that didn’t clue anyone into his selfish and opportunistic nature nothing else would. Of course, he gave Carol much material wealth as a settlement but given that he was marrying Cindy, that was small beer to him (pun totally intended).
I won’t even go into his bizarre behavior during the last Presidential campaign. Thoroughly cringe-worthy performance. And he put the country at risk with an incomprehensible choice of a sub-par running mate. All for the lust of gaining the Oval Office, all consequences be damned.