Sweet Jesus, what is with the latest batch of cheating Republicans? I get the cheating. That's downright cliche in politics. But what's with all the wussiness?
First we had to endure Mark Sanford's weepy bouts of adolescent public mooning--followed by the news that, in the later stages of his Tragic Love Story, the governor repeatedly sought his wife's permission regarding when and under what conditions he was allowed to visit with Soul Mate Maria.
Now we learn that John Ensign--whose catting around I had originally hoped might be so boring as to not merit prolonged public attention--had his daddy pay off his mistress and her husband to the tune of $96,000 last year.
I'm sorry. Ensign is 51-years-old. He has three children of his own. He is, not to belabor the obvious, a United States Senator with a fair amount of influence and responsibility. So when he gets caught banging a staffer whose family then decides they deserve a bit of "restitution," what does he do? (Well, first he sought the counsel of colleague Tom Coburn--but that's a blog item for later.) Mr. Big Swinging Dick goes running to Mommy and Daddy to protect him from the mean people. What a pathetic creature.
Men who cheat are tiresome and almost invariably deserve a liberal helping of personal grief.
Men who cheat and then behave like sniveling children are ridiculous and deserve heaps of public ridicule.
It's almost enough to make me nostalgic for the swaggering, unapologetic cheaters of yore.
--Michelle Cottle