<p>Because so many male politicians have sleazy sex lives, it gives cover to other male politicians to behave likewise. After all, a lot of those men have continued in public lives despite the really sordid stuff they did (Clinton, Spitzer, Ted Kennedy). </p>
<p>If a woman ever did anything remotely like what those guys did, she would be branded as a tramp, a harlot, etc. etc. and would never have her reputation rehabilitated.</p>
<p>Schmaltz, I appreciate the empathy for a possible geeky hs nerd who couldn’t get no respect and now has power and sex appeal. How that explains him being unable to content himself with his beautiful new wife, I don’t get. I’m happy for any hs geek who comes into his own in our new Geeks Rule world (or powerful politicians rule, or whatever)… but I’m not giving him a pass on having zero ethics/morals - as regards his treatment of his wife.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that no attractive woman ever looked at him until he became a politician. It’s possible, but I have no reason to believe that. Separating IQ from good judgment, he’s probably intellectually smart (I can’t see Jon Stewart being friends with an airhead), confident, ambitious, and in excellent shape. They’re not Pamela Anderson, but stop by any CC “top college” and you’ll find lots of good-looking smart girls who like that kind of guy. I am partial to wiry nerds myself, and there are a lot of great boyfriends/husbands to be found in that bunch.*</p>
<p>Married couples have all kinds of arrangements/understandings that would shock their best friends if they knew. The infidelity side of the story is not a concern for me because I don’t know what was going on between Weiner and his wife, there are no kids involved, and he’s never campaigned on a “family values” message. The insane recklessness side is another matter.</p>
<p>*This one, of course, turned out to be a narcissist who’s out of his mind, but that doesn’t mean no cute girls are interested in the type.</p>
<p>I think he needs to go. For the simple reason that he is just plain stupid.
What year are we living in? In 2011 ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you put in an electronic devise can go viral! And unless you are 10- you are just plain ignorant to think anything different.
I don’t want stupid people making important decisions. Not to mention lying people making important decisions.
Bad character is revealed in a variety of ways. Let’s just say I don’t want him in the exit row on my next flight- I am sure in an emergency he would look out for #1 and leave the rest of us to fry.</p>
<p>
Yes, I can see where having a wife and the appearance of being a family man helps him. I just cant understand how Huma Abedin didnt figure out his true character - and if she had, why marry him???</p>
<p>TutuTaxi…I would not be too quick to assume about the wife. There are men who have lies and secrets and these behaviors are not apparent at first. I am assuming she did not know this about him when she married him or that he would continue online liasons once married, in any case.</p>
<p>I wish we all (i.e, the voting public) could get over the whole sex thing and judge our politicians on the basis of their actions that matter. </p>
<p>When I get on an airplane I have absolutely no interest in what the pilot’s sex life is like. I just want him to be the best pilot who will not fall asleep and will guide the plane to a safe emergency landing in the Hudson river if needed. He could be cheating on his wife with all the flight attendants for all I care. Or posting explicit videos on the internet. Just not when he is flying the plane.</p>
<p>My only problem with Weiner is that he did not come clean right away when the news broke and instead kept digging himself into a greater hole. And that he was stupid enough to think that he could get away with it. Yeah, he did engage in morally sick behavior, and he does creep me out because of that, but that is between him, his wife, his six or more twitter ‘friends’, and his blackberrry or other device that he used for that stuff. If I were his constituent I would focus on how well I think he could do his job going forward.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Keeping</a> the Internet Devoid of Sexual Preditors Act of 2007](<a href=“http://www.weiner.house.gov/issue_display.aspx?id=83]Keeping”>http://www.weiner.house.gov/issue_display.aspx?id=83)</p>
<p>From Weiner statement:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“I wish we all (i.e, the voting public) could get over the whole sex thing and judge our politicians on the basis of their actions that matter.”</p>
<p>I wish that, too, but given that we don’t live in that world, I need politicians who can operate under the current rules. No one can be effective when he’s embroiled in a sex scandal, so bringing sex scandals upon oneself inherently makes one ineffective at the job.</p>
<p>^ Hanna I agree which is why I edited that post to add my last paragraph. It was stupid of him to do that and to expect not to be discovered or not to have to admit it right away when discovered, or for that matter not to resign.</p>
<p>I could not believe this when I read it. Something I would have expected to have to caution my 8th grader about doing. Really sending a picture of himself in his underpants–real life is crazier than the cartoons. </p>
<p>You would think the public humiliation of all of those who have been caught in this kind of stuff would serve as deterrents.</p>
<p>And I agree with Soozie. I have know a number of wonderful women who married what seem to be wonderful men, who apparently cannot resist the temptations of sex when they appear. You can’t hover over your spouse’s life for every second, so most of us really cannot with 100% certainty know exactly what they are doing when they are away from us. Especially those with jobs or projects that take them away from home often and for extended periods of time. There is an inherent trust that has to be there, or you can drive yourself nuts. If you find out your spouse is engaging in cruddy activities, you then have to decide whether it is truly worth the disruption of life to divorce him and scramble for what;s left in the scuffle. I know women who have done this and though it may sound satisfying, many of them have ended up living hard lives thereafter, and the children took, while the cheat resumed life as usual. A good friend of mine with 4 kids dumped her husband when she found out he was dallying. He married the other woman, has two more kids now and the family business is probably going to going to pot after this generation. The second wife is actively involved in it and I doubt it’ll go to the kids of the first marriage. Oh, and the first wife, my friend lives in an apartment and has a much lower standard of living. The kids initially had nothing to do with Dad, but now spend a lot of time with him as he has jobs, money and vacations and fun for them which mom does not. I frankly think she made a mistake dumping him. He is weak, always has been and if she handled it right she could have been in control of the situation which the second wife now is. The guy never had an original thought in his life.</p>
<p>The worst part was that he had to be put against the wall to confess that he sent it himself. What a rabbit with tail under his belly, just pittiful, pains to watch that anybody in a world could have blackmail our congressmant into anything, this guy is definitely would comply, what a lier, coward, not hesitating a minute to mess others’ reputation for the sake of his own dirty desease. Ugghhhh, he is even ugly…,he has nothing…</p>
<p>I don’t care about my pilot’s or any politician’s consensual sex life.</p>
<p>I care about their relevant skills. I care about their judgement. These guys, caught in these juvenile sex scandals, show no judgement. I maybe shouldn’t care about how they treat their family members - subjecting them to humiliation - but I do. It tells me quite a bit about them, some of it possibly relevant. There are, you know, moral dilemmas in governing this country of ours. I’d like to think the folks making decisions have a functioning moral compass.</p>
<p>“There are, you know, moral dilemmas in governing this country of ours. I’d like to think the folks making decisions have a functioning moral compass.”</p>
<p>This makes all the sense in the world, but looking at history, I don’t see much of a relationship between moral leadership in a national crisis and personal moral uprightness or sexual fidelity. I compare FDR to the first Mayor Daley, who made all kinds of rotten decisions when faced with moral dilemmas at the office, but went home to his wife every single night and took his kids to Mass every Sunday. Even going back to the era of royal rule, the few kings who chose to be loyal to their wives (such as France’s Louis XVI and England’s George III) do not stand out as being more considerate/sensitive towards their subjects, much less more effective political leaders, than other kings. Personal and political lives seem to be all over history’s map, so to speak.</p>
<p>“When I get on an airplane I have absolutely no interest in what the pilot’s sex life is like. I just want him to be the best pilot who will not fall asleep and will guide the plane to a safe emergency landing in the Hudson river if needed. He could be cheating on his wife with all the flight attendants for all I care.”</p>
<p>You really don’t want a serious scumbag flying you around, no matter how technically proficient they are. Very few accidents are purely a result of lack of skill, but a combination of factors. Leadership, listening to others, treating people with respect, commanding respect yourself, is critical. If someone is a scumbag, messing around with flight attendants on his crew, viewing porn, making others uncomfortable with his actions…you are far more at risk than with a straight shooter. You don’t want one of the pilots having sex with a flight attendant in the bathroom (happened at one airline I worked for), leaving porn around the cockpit (making women feel uncomfortable), getting distracted by pretty flight attendants, not watching as they fly into a thunderstorm (I was a witness to that one). It’s not that people have to be morally perfect, but anything goes is not adviseable.</p>
<p>It’s the same thing for a senator. Even if he votes in the direction you like, do you really want someone who is an arrogant liar, blaming everyone else, making up stories, with a total lack of judgement representing you? Sure, you may not expect them to be perfect in their personal life, but doesn’t it speak to their charachter to be such a creep?</p>
<p>I don’t care about one’s sex life at all- if they have an open marriage, for example, or one engages in some unique fetish and all relevant adults say fine, I say all the more power to you. </p>
<p>But I care about integrity and good judgment. </p>
<p>If you lie and cheat toward those you are supposedly closest, whose wellbeing you are supposed to take care of, I imagine you do the same to advance your own career in a myriad of ways. Such people lack integrity and good character, period. </p>
<p>If you are stupid enough to send around questionable photos of yourself, get your girlfriend pregnant, make up stories that are easily refuted and so on…it suggests you lack good judgment skills to be in a leadership role. </p>
<p>Sadly I think politics attracts more than its share of narcissists.</p>
<p>I also don’t want my pilot – or my government leaders – to be self-destructive risk-takers.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I pretty much agree with vicariousparent. While I can judge someone’s moral compass and the wrongs they engage in and the affect on their families…I think the main thing as a constituent is the lies and cover up when it was discovered. Once someone lies, all trust is broken. Further, given their public position, this also uncovers pure stupidity to take such risks which are bound to be discovered. So, the lying and lack of judgement would affect me as a constituent, much more so than transgressions in their personal lives with their spouses and their sexual lives. I don’t condone those things but those don’t truly concern me as much even though I do want to say “ew” in this case too. But once a public person lies to their constituents and reveals purely dumb acts of judgement, it does make their public have valid reasons to no longer trust them in office.</p>
<p>I totally agree with whatever4. Especially because their stupid choices and actions affect not just them, but those around them. </p>
<p>Last thing we need is more narcissism running amok.</p>
<p>busdriver, thank you for making those points about airline pilots. Now I will have to worry about one more thing when I fly.</p>