Bill Clinton (D) had Monica. And Gennifer. And Paula. And possibly others.
Larry Craig (R) had a bathroom stall in an airport.
Gary Hart (D) (for those that remember back that far) dared the press to follow him, so they did. And caught him engaged in some Monkey Business.
Gary Condit (D) had Chandra Levy.
A few members of Congress (D) and (R) have had problems keeping their hands off their pages.
Then there are various other extramarital affairs:
Representative Tim Mahoney (D)
Representative Vito Fossella (R)
And, shockingly! John Kennedy had Marylin Monroe (and potentially several other women), and FDR had Lucy Mercer. Plenty of other past presidents also likely had paramours.
And now, only the latest in a long tradition of politicians fiddling about with “a little on the side,“ comes South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R).
And the media, the blogosphere, and blog commenters have a field day. “He’s a family values Republican!“ As if there are no “family values” Democrats. And the left-leaning media and bloggers rejoice in the “hypocrisy” of the right-wingers. As if no Democrats ever have done exactly the same thing.
Party affiliation is not the issue. What every one of these “scandals” illustrates with precision and clarity is that, Democrat or Republican, our elected representatives and “leaders” are, despite their press releases, simply human after all, and therefore imperfect and fallible. And almost never able to fully live up to the superhuman expectations and imagery developed by their media relations team or voters.
On either side of the aisle, schadenfreude is an ugly thing.
Reader Comments:
Transgressions are gute! The people do not care about personal actions of leaders. It is more important that they be free than to worry about the integrity of leaders. Think about it—if frauleins could not be a part of the slut patrol in local mall, it would be a disaster.
Idl-Sanford’s wife knew about the affair two weeks ago and promptly threw him out.
When the reporter met him at Atlanta airport after he had just gotten off a plane from Buenas Aires the cat was out of the bag.
He had no choice but to “confess” to the waiting press.
This is infidelity thing is spreading like the swine flu.
And the term “swine” is very appropriate.
Although I do agree the Republican swine are deemed more disgusting than democratic swine.
But that might be due to the fact that we are a bit desentisized to the Democratic variety.
Why did Sanford so eagerly, voluntarily break this ‘news’ to everyone? Something’s up there, I’m telling you.
Why is always “big” news when done by a Republican and “no” news when done by a Democrat? Betrayal of trust has to do with individual morality—not political party. For every GOPer, one can find a DEM who screws around on their wife or has a gay lover in secret.
Ironically, the number one adulterer Bill Clinton, while President of the US, has never received any grief from the media or his own party. Can you imagine a President getting BJs from a young intern in a anteroom outside the Oval Office? The DEMs should have immediately demanded his resignation. Without sounding religious, I am not, it is morally reprehensible that Clinton got a DEM pass for his acts. If Bush or anyother President had done the same thing, I would expect nothing less than his/her resignation. It speaks volumes about the standards and values of US citizenry.
The odd thing about Sanford is that he just jumped-out & told the world what he did. It doesn’t seem like anybody pushed or pressed him. Very suspicious—- Why would anyone come home one day & tell wifey: “Hi honey! I just had an affair with another woman! She was great too!“
UNLESS they’re shooting for a ‘book deal’ or a Hollywood script, or to fill a lifelong dream of being a soap opera star.
Use your brains, people!
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