General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWas Paula Broadwell threatening Patraeus' wife?
Or did he have two lovers?
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)People don't wake up at 60 and start pulling shit like this.
malaise
(269,114 posts)What a mess
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Not 60.
I'm willing to bet Petraeus was effing anything that moved for the better part of the last 30 years.
HangOnKids
(4,291 posts)Anything in a swamp that moves is fair game. A military guy told me this.
DURHAM D
(32,611 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)I think the wife was ignored by everyone.
malaise
(269,114 posts)based on those photos or her body language on the Daily Show.
rocktivity
(44,577 posts)like a mistress scorned.
rocktivity
DryHump
(199 posts)Gin
(7,212 posts)He didnt make a very good spook.....
malaise
(269,114 posts)the story line is always the same
Inuca
(8,945 posts)he did a stupid thing, as so many other very smart men did.
malaise
(269,114 posts)Smart men think out the consequences and pass.
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)"Einstein had affairs with seven or so women while married"
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)he was, after all, who he was and in that sense felt he could do no wrong.
So perhaps Petraeus fancied himself another Einstein?
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)I think Patraeus fell victim to hubris.
Well, on second thought... yes, perhaps Patraeus saw himself as a military Einstein,
that's an interesting thought. A beautiful sex successful woman would be validation of that, yes?
or two or three?
I'm wondering how isolated into the ranks he was in the military.
I never heard of him until the Gulf War.
perhaps his foray out of the military, a known environment, was his undoing?
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Supervisor while attending and married her and I am cynical enough to think that was a ploy to gain a leg up in his military status. It wouldn't be the first time in history that that has happened.
I am sure he thinks he deserves this woman's attention and flattery and also that of other women. Drunk on power? Sure, why not?
Why are we even surprised? This is the oldest story in the world...
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)I'm not, particularly.
I don't feel particularly angry about it, either.
if anything, his and her situations really suck at the moment and I wouldn't trade places.
I'm wondering how much of this is really about her book, she just hit the best-seller list.
I'm wondering if her real issue wasn't Patraeus per se, but her rising journalistic star and Patraeus's association.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Another ambitious woman might want to encroach and she fought back to keep her status in his hierarchy. But if you are saying that she has a lot to gain financially from this revelation, well, then it makes sense. She's gonna sell books! She'll get a screen rights contract for her story! Endless speculation will ensue as to who in Hollywood will play her in the movie! Who will play Petraeus? Ca-ching!
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)I watched her, she's done several interviews this year.
She talked about the need to capitalize on her window of media opportunity.
I don't see why she'd be so possessive of this man
because he's already married, 37 years of commitment,
and she has her own nest, family, etc.
The media adrenalin rush makes more sense to me,
that she would be angry and possessive about IT.
But no, she was already gaining financially, professionally
I doubt she wanted the current situation.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)The "other woman" always has a certain amount of glamor, people want to know what she had that he wanted, etc. I can see how she would rather be the "other woman" than the "wronged spouse." It means yet another man lusted for her. That makes her the "winner" in a certain way...
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)The ten years after Clinton.
Broadwell may be finished, careerwise.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)She has her book and will have her screen rights. She'll have lots of money. She can do what she wants professionally.
Her private life is a different story. Read Anna Karenina. She may end up without her kids which would be a real tragedy.
OR, she may go on to other things. It's a new world for women nowadays. We are not stuck in the old paradigm where the woman is ALWAYS the victim. We'll see...
Cirque du So-What
(25,959 posts)a child was born from the union of Albert Einstein and a prostitute? Nice kid, but a fucking know-it-all.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,959 posts)I'll be in town all week.
Chiyo-chichi
(3,584 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)Too often women get denigrated during affairs and the man isn't blamed. That isn't right.
But in this case, it's important to remember that it always takes two to tango.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)The FBI wouldn't have "stumbled" onto the connection with Patraeus if it had been his wife who called them in. And do you really think that the wife of the CIA Director would have called the FBI? That seems illogical to me.
The unnamed woman who called the FBI about the threatening emails wouldn't necessarily have to be another lover, either. If Broadwell was nuts enough to send threatening emails, she could be nuts enough and deluded enough to simply perceive that the other woman represented a threat to her relationship with Patraeus.
malaise
(269,114 posts)There are too many power driven nuts around - male and female.
Why do people not know that truth will out - powerful people rarely get away with affairs.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I'm not sure I agree with your second statement, though. I'm sure plenty of powerful people - not necessarily pols - get away with affairs. We don't know how many of course, because they get away with them.
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)Assumed that she was competing for Patraeus.
It's sure an interesting attitude for an extramarital affair, though,
especially since she had her own husband and kids. Really possessive.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)considered her "turf," that of mistress to the Great Man. Petraeus certainly didn't think this thing through. He must have known that there would be women falling all over him because he was powerful and here he was already deeply enmeshed with one and another coming onto him.
Does any of this surprise him? If so, he is much more stupid than I thought he was....people fight over access to the powerful...and other men do the same thing...
Whisp
(24,096 posts)would she want Mrs. Petraeus to think those threatening whatever words were from her Husband?
I don't think so.
It has to be another lover of Petraeus' or one that Paula Thought could be, wanted to be.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)I'm talking about adult, consensual sex...not bribery. I think Europeans are more understanding of human flaws, foibles and activities going on since the days of Genesis. Still ruled by Puritans or those with the best and most convincing imitations. Guess we need to reinstate Purity Pledges and chastity belts.
Indpndnt
(2,391 posts)He resigned because his affair was a security risk and that is unacceptable for anyone in the CIA, let alone the director.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)aletier_v
(1,773 posts)malaise
(269,114 posts)in some positions
aletier_v
(1,773 posts)DryHump
(199 posts)regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)Gin
(7,212 posts)Did he write the NY Times about the affair?....coincidence?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/10/paula-broadwells-husband-wrote-letter-nyt-affair-david-petraeus_n_2109455.html
Caroline-Vivienne
(117 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Pay attention, 007.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)not so much. Geez, they have mistresses if they can afford them. Lucky dogs. We're stuck with toe tappers and cigars and Monkey Business.