Adultery May Be A GOP Family Value In 2008

[kpete]

Wednesday :: Jun 21, 2006
Adultery May Be A GOP Family Value In 2008
by Steve Soto

Now that the New York Times has decided to spend 2,000 words on the state of Hillary’s marriage, and David Broder has decided that the issue, rather than her capabilities, is the “elephant in the room” for the national media, how long will it be before the same national media writes about the marital track record of three leading GOP candidates for the 2008 nomination?http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/008013.php

WASHINGTON MONTHLY
High Infidelity
What if three admitted adulterers run for president and no one cares?
By Steve Benen
..............
Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP's favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history.
...................
McCain was still married and living with his wife in 1979 while, according to The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, "aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich." McCain divorced his wife, who had raised their three children while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, then launched his political career with his new wife's family money. In 2000, McCain managed to deflect media questioning about his first marriage with a deft admission of responsibility for its failure. It's possible that the age of the offense and McCain's charmed relationship with the press will pull him through again, but Giuliani and Gingrich may face a more difficult challenge. Both conducted well-documented affairs in the last decade--while still in public office.

Giuliani informed his second wife, Donna Hanover, of his intention to seek a separation in a 2000 press
conference. The announcement was precipitated by a tabloid frenzy after Giuliani marched with his then-mistress, Judith Nathan, in New York's St. Patrick's Day parade, an acknowledgement of infidelity so audacious that Daily News columnist Jim Dwyer compared it with "groping in the window at Macy's." In the acrid divorce proceedings that followed, Hanover accused Giuliani of serial adultery, alleging that Nathan was just the latest in a string of mistresses, following an affair the mayor had had with his former communications director.

But the most notorious of them all is undoubtedly Gingrich, who ran for Congress in 1978 on the slogan, "Let Our Family Represent Your Family." (He was reportedly cheating on his first wife at the time). In 1995, an alleged mistress from that period, Anne Manning, told Vanity Fair's Gail Sheehy: "We had oral sex. He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, 'I never slept with her.'" Gingrich obtained his first divorce in 1981, after forcing his wife, who had helped put him through graduate school, to haggle over the terms while in the hospital, as she recovered from uterine cancer surgery. In 1999, he was disgraced again, having been caught in an affair with a 33-year-old congressional aide while spearheading the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0607.benen.html

[Imalittleteapot]

1. That family value only applies to

Democrats. The party of hypocrisy doesn't care what their guys do.

[Skidmore]

2. We may very well have to remind them that it is an impeachable offense.

[swimmernsecretsea]

3. Let's play make-believe

And just imagine how Rove would have handled this one. Whisper campaign? Sure. Embarassing photos on a flyer tucked into the windshields at a supermarket? That one too. Then, the big guns—a series of frightening commercials showing how these candidates are anti-family.

Back to reality: we wouldn't have Rove. He'd make us ill.

[AndyTiedye]

7. And Legions of Repub Pundits On Every Network Echoing the Charges

That is the part we cannot do, because THEY own the news.

[unschooler]

4. Eeewwwww..... What 33-yo would want to touch NEWT GINGRICH?

Please excuse me while I

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[RedEarth]

5. Right wingers forgive fellow republicans for their

scandalous behavior

[brentspeak]

6. I'm no fan of McCain and Giuliani by any means

but neither of them are the "holier-than-thou" types. Gingrich deserves to be raked over the coals for his hypocrisy, but McCain and Giuliani's private affairs shouldn't be made an issue.

[ulysses]

8. hell with that.

They belong to the party that pioneered the personal attack. I've been made, by gay DUers, to see the virtue in not attacking, say, Limbaugh on the idea that he might be gay even though the hypocrisy issue is there, but this adultery rap is too much. McCain and Giuliani get to get it too - they're not going to have the same consideration for Democrats.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

9. Repukes forgive their sins, but not their enemies

its ok for them to commit sins like divorce, adultery, drug use, & when they are called on it they are being attacked by the liberal media - just look at Rush & Hot Tub Delay.

He missed Denis Hasert sp? - he had a big time affair too w/

Cindy Snodgrass - broke up her family - his defense was youthful indiscretion - he was over 40 at the time

Also, the lowest divorce rate is Mass. & one of the highest is Tx.