Strange Bedfellows Indeed

As a regular visitor here at ISBL, you all know how much I loves me some politics; hell, even as a not-so-regular visitor here, you'd have to know I loves me some politics. In fact, I've even had people suggest I run for public office--well, not people so much, as those pesky voices in my head. But I digress.

I think: Me? Public office?

Then I think: Me? Liberal Homosexual, Pro-Choice, Anti-death penalty? In South Carolina?

Yeah, not gonna happen.

Then I hear about people like the Youngs, Andrew and Cheri. He's kinda nebbishly hot, or nerdly lukewarm; she's kinda uptight Stepford wife-ish. You've heard of them no doubt? He's the one who pretended to be John Edwards' mistress's baby daddy, even though he was already married and the father of three. He even took a chunk of John Edwards considerable wealth for announcing to the world that he had cheated on his wife and fathered a child--something, by the way, that it took John Edwards years to do.

But the Youngs are all over TV now, promoting Andy's book, The Politician, in which he basically trashes both John and Elizabeth Edwards, while painting himself and his wife as the proverbial "good people."

Um, Andy? You announced to the world that you cheated on your wife and fathered a child. Not exactly "good people," my friend. And, um, Andy, you took a healthy paycheck from the real baby-daddy for your lie; again, not "good people".

And you say you did it because you loved John and Elizabeth Edwards and, oh yeah, you hoped that John would become president and you might get some cushy cabinet post or ambassador-ship for your lie. Not.Good.People.

And, Cheri, honey? You don't come off so sweet either. I mean, you knew about the affair and kept it from your friend. You knew about the baby and kept it from your friend. You moved the mistress into your own home so she could hide her pregnancy and never told your friend.

Yeah, you're "good people" all right.

And then we have that other adulterer, Appalachian-Trail-hiking-Argentinean-woman-mounting-impeach-Clinton-because-he-cheated, Mark Sanford. And the lovely Jenny.

Jenny has a book, too; it's called Staying True. In it, the lovely Jenny With The Coal Black Heart, says that Marky asked her for advice on how to handle the media when word got out that he was schtupping a South American woman. He asked her if she thought he should follow his heart to Argentina and live forever with his soul mate. She does write that she wished he'd kept those thoughts to himself, but she heard him say the words and she stayed.

True.

Jenny Sanford discovered the affair back in January 2009 when she "happened" across a letter Marky had written to the mistress. She says she felt "gut-punched all over again" but she had to have known something was up when she was going through his papers in his desk. But then she learned of other, ahem, dalliances with other women when Marky gave an interview to the Associated Press.

The lovely Jenny says that Marky had admitted just the one affair up until that point, but now that the news was out, he wanted her advice on how to handle it. She doesn't write about any advice she gave him; but she stayed.

True.

And the lovely Jenny also talks of the days after the affair story broke, and how she had her attorney draw up a contract under which she would not reveal the affair if her husband would stop seeing his mistress. She writes that the governor refused, but she stayed.

True.

This is politics in America, people. A dirty business.

People lying about having affairs they never had, and people having affairs and then lying about them. People using the immorality of others to further their own political agenda, either for money or power; people using their friendship and trust of others to ask then to put their own lives, and marriages, and families, at risk; people who seeks to put their marriage into a contract of what they will and will not say, in exchange for a little fidelity.

Yeah, I loves me some politics, but I don't love many politicians, or their spouses.
Democrat or Republican.

It isn't about service for people like the Edwards and the Youngs and the Sanfords, and others, it's about greed and power, and living a life not being held accountable for your actions. Now, I'm not saying that all politicians are corrupt or immoral or just plain stupid, but the percentages do seem to get higher when you run for office.

So, I'll stick to writing about politics, and keep my sense of self-worth, my ethics and my morality close to home.