On infidelity and going for office

[Tab]

News reports now have Ted Cruz with five extramarital affairs.

My personal take: I don't much care what you do in your personal life as long as it doesn't affect your professional life, but if you're going to make family values your centerpiece then you're up for grabs. Politicians that didn't put their families front and forward and stayed to that ideal, I have no problem with - even a lot of respect. But if you're going to talk family values out of one side of your mouth and kiss your mistress out of the other side, in my opinion you've blown any good will you had and should be out of the race.

[SheilaT]

1. Exactly.

I am not paying a lot of attention to this story, and it may well be totally bogus, but it's pretty astonishing how many "Family Values" Republicans turn out to be hypocritical scum.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Yeah, hearing some reports the story might be bogus...

but it's kind of like the gay bashing guys getting caught, far too many of them are railing against things they themselves are doing off camera.

Hard to have any sympathy whatsoever.

[monmouth4]

3. I wonder what his daddy thinks of all this....oooooeeee..n/t

[merrily]

5. Who knows what Daddy's been up to?

[awoke_in_2003]

12. My grandfather was a Methodist preacher

He told me the ones that preach the loudest are trying to cover up the sound of the skeletons rattling in their closet.

[monmouth4]

13. I've heard similar sayings. LOL..n/t

[merrily]

4. I am not speaking as a saint. However, I do think that affairs say a lot about character, what an

oath, like the oath of office, means to you, and so on. If you lie to your spouse, whom you love dearly or did once, why would you hesitate to lie to voters whom you've never even known personally?

Also, if you are in the midst of an extra-marital affair, it WILL affect your job performance to one degree or another. You WILL be distracted to some extent. The idea that there is some impenetrable wall in someone's mind between work and the rest of his or her life is silly. That is simply not how humans operate. If you're kid is sick, you're distracted, period, at home, at work and while you are with your affair. If you are juggling to placate and hang onto your extra marital affair while hoping to hide if from your spouse and everyone who might inform your spouse, you're distracted everywhere.

As far as the hypocrisy, which candidate for POTUS claims not to be pro-family values or pro-adultery? That's another false dichotomy, IMO.

[kcr]

7. I agree

And thing is, as long as marriage holds its place of significance in society, things like affairs will matter whether we like it or not. And politicians know this going into it, so it's really stupid to have one. In addition to the pain it causes a spouse, it shows such a stunning lapse of judgment because of that.

I don't agree on your last point. Not all candidates run on the Christian right wing family values message that I thought OP was talking about.

[UTUSN]

6. my sig line sez it with a twist

Last edited Fri Mar 25, 2016, 10:09 PM - Edit history (1)

As a veteran of defending Bill CLINTON, here's the deal.

* Problem with CHARISMATIC LEADERS (like Bill, JFK, whomever): We're "in love" (as Bill says) with charismatic leaders. Problem is, the REAL thing we're all ABOUT is OUR DEMOCRATIC AGENDA. So, when our charismatic leader f***s-UP, we SPEND ALL OUR ENERGY DEFENDING HIM instead of spending our energy WORKING TOWARD OUR AGENDA. It's all just PERSONAL.

* Perhaps, when Bill f***ed up *AGAIN* we should have ditched him and let GORE take over and there would not have been Coup-2000.

* It's OUR DEMOCRATIC AGENDA that matters, that needs our energy - NOT defending some reckless dude.

[Ilsa]

8. I think Ted has the hubris required to

attempt a presidential run with an affair (or several) in his personal history.

I almost feel sorry for Heidi cruz. I don't know if she was an injured party. And she may have mental health issues. She may have chosen Tex, but she didn't choose to have depression or any other MH issue.

Melania is lovely. And she can disrobe in front of a camera if she wants. But I understand that this part of her personal history is offensive to many voters. This isn't Europe. Not everyone wants her past history for a FLOTUS. I know I don't. This was a choice she made, and it doesn't jive with a lot of American values. Even if I liked Trump, her choices would put me off.

[Visionary]

9. Yes it matters

It matters to me because it can provide potential blackmail material. Somebody could try to coerce an unfaithful president by threatening to release video proof of their affair.

[So Far From Heaven]

10. My take on infidels.... (not a mistake there)

From Collins English Dictionary:

Word Origin and History for infidelity Expand
n.
c.1400, "want of faith, unbelief in religion; false belief, paganism;" also (early 15c.) "unfaithfulness or disloyalty to a person" (originally to a sovereign, by 16c. to a lover or spouse), from French infidélité, from Latin infidelitatem (nominative infidelitas) "unfaithfulness, faithlessness," noun of quality from infidelis (see infidel ).

I can't stand infidelity. It shows you to be weak and capable of hurting ANYONE, even the one you love.....

Who gives a shit if it's 'going for office'?

[NightWatcher]

11. It's more about having (possibly exploitable) skeletons in your closet