June 16, 2011: From presidents to congressmen, infidelity has run rampant on Capitol Hill. As such it was no surprise today that the Wall Street Journal defended John Edwards in part. Steve Simpson noted that “Being a creep is not illegal” with reference to the legal hot water that Edwards is in because of his mistress and a dying wife.
Being a man in Congress caught up in the mistress-mania was something that has been par for the course throughout history. But when Edwards deviated from the course by trying to cover up his misdeeds, he took a nose dive.
Edwards’s infidelity and cover-up and his wife’s forgiveness
Mr. Edwards cheated on his wife while she was dying of cancer, then he used over $900,000 given by two campaign donors to cover it up. In the process, he paid off an aide to pretend that he was the father of Mr. Edwards’s love child…
But being a creep is not illegal. So why is it government’s business? Steve Simpson: John Edwards Is Not a Criminal – WSJ.com
In many ways the question is not the sex tape or the campaign finance laws which Edwards may or may not have broken, but rather, why so much cheating on Capitol Hill?
If John Edwards has any consolation it is that his wife did forgive him when she publicly asked that the world see John as a loving dad and not a cheating spouse.
John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, and the presidential mistress list
While Edwards is trying to stay out of jail, Rep. Anthony Weiner is being forced to step down because of his sexting rather than keeping his post while he seeks treatment. Why is there so much cheating in politics? And what would have happened to the country if these men had been asked to step down or were publicly humiliated?
The presidents and alleged mistresses included:
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Lucy Mercer)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (Kay Summersby Morgan)
- John F. Kennedy (from his two secretaries to Marilyn Monroe with a host of ladies in between)
- Lyndon Johnson (Madeleine Duncan Brown)
- Daddy George Bush (Jennifer Fitzgerald talk Washington’s soup du jour)
- Bill Clinton (Monica Lewinsky)
- Barack Obama (totally unproven but short-term gossip about Vera Baker)
This column is not a debate on guilt or innocence, but a question about infidelity and forgiveness. If wives forgive their spouses, then the public should follow suit.
Why the witch hunts by the holier than thou who lap up sexual misdeeds?
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had a seedy affair. For many, however, Kenneth Star, the prosecutor, was even seedier in his desire to bring intimate details to the public’s attention. It seemed he had some prurient interest in reading every detail – and yet will probably never watch a sex tape. No need to in the name of justice, just keep demanding more intimate details and read with interest the president’s escapades.
The sexual politics of marriage in this country and in Europe
In America we demand squeaky clean politicians. In Europe wives look the other way and mistresses become almost a part of the family. They attend the funerals with the love children when the prominent Prime Ministers die. I once asked a former Prime Minister of Italy at a private dinner event if Belusconi’s mistresses would hurt his ability to govern?
The man laughed and said, “Why? Everyone has one.”
As Alec Baldwin recently said with reference to Rep. Weiner – “Let he who is not guilty….”
For a wrap up of stories about Sex on Capitol Hill, go to Sex in the Senate, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House
Copyright 2011 Rita Watson/All Rights Reserved