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OK, John Edwards is a philanderer. That's slightly disappointing on a moral level but not all that surprising. I'm British, we're very much used to our politicians having affairs and even having children in those affairs. According to some figures I saw a few months back, about three-quarters of married people (male and female) will have an affair at some point in their married lives so in that respect, it's slightly naive to expect that politicians should have a private life beyond reproach. Moreover, it's almost uniquely an American expectation. Here, politicians may or may not survive revelations about their adultery. Robin Cook's career survived and he went on to stun us all when "the gnome" resigned from the government on a matter of the highest moral principle (the Iraq War). John Profumo's career was finished although in his case, it was more a matter of national security (his mistress was also sleeping with the Russian cultural attache) but he spent the next thirty years quietly doing charitable work and was finally awarded the Order of the British Empire (the "Empire" is an anachronism) for that two years ago. The exposure of John Major's adultery came after he'd moved along to teh Lords and had no effect on him at all. In France, adultery isn't a big deal. The French expect private lives to be exactly that: private. Unless you're dismembering virgins, raping billy goats or something as extreme, the French simply don't care. Ditto most of Western Europe. Contrary to popular belief, adultery doesn't always end a relationship. Any number of wronged spouses forgive their cheating partners, patch up their relationship (sometimes involving counselling) and get on with their lives.
So, the fact of his affair, while morally disappointing (especially in light of his wife's illness) isn't hugely surprising and shouldn't really be a big deal. What about the lying? Well, the fact is, all politicians lie. Some do it more than others, of course, and what they're lying about makes a big difference. Bill Clinton lied about getting a couple of blowjobs, the Rethugs tried to impeach him for it and the public more or less said "Are you fucking kidding me?". Bill Clinton's lie about his private life was no good reason to drag the nation through an impeachment and should have remained between himself, his family and his god. Ronald Reagan's lie was about shipping arms to a terrorist group, that lie got people killed. For some reason, Reagan wasn't impeached over that but probably should have been. I'm cutting Reagan a little slack since it's fairly obvious that his mind was starting to suffer toward the end of his term. Chimpy's lies have dragged your country and mine into a war we can't hope to win (I'm not ignoring Blair's share of the blame, just that it's a little beyond the scope of this article), probably got people killed by exposing Valerie Plame (thus, also exposing her informers) and presided over the most nakedly corrupt adminisration since, well, since Reagan. Nor does he have the possible excuse of Reagan that his mind is going and yet, impeachment is "off the table".
All politicians lie. Whether that lie is important depends what it's about. Whether lying about an extramarital affair is important depends on your views of morality. On a personal level, I have more issues with John Edwards lying than with what he does with his penis. What he does with his genitals is a matter of indifference unless it's really extreme. If John and Elizabeth have affairs or enjoy the odd three-way, I don't care in the slightest. However, knowing that all politicians lie (yes, probably including Obama), I can't summon up much outrage over the lying either. Edwards isn't our nominee, he probably wasn't going to be the VP choice and any Cabinet position is almost certainly off the table now. His career is now pretty much over (barring a Profumo-like quest for moral redemption) so the question has to be asked, why are we still talking about this?
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