Patterson is sworn in, admits affairs

Where the white women at?

 

Really, must everything be so black and white in your world? I mean, maybe it does have bearing on his fitness for office, and maybe it doesn't. If it's part of a pattern of "cheating" or not keeping promises, then it could have a bearing. Or (less likely) if it's part of a pattern of prioritizing the nooky-nooky over all else, it could have a bearing.

Then again, it may be his only failing and one he is able to either compartmentalize or overcome.

You can't sit here and say either way for sure. Time will tell.

 

Or it could be that he and his wife were for all intents separated at the time as they went through a bad patch in their marriage, and each found comfort in the arms of others. As they've said.

 

Could very well be. But I'm not going to rubber stamp that as fact and say everyone lives happily ever after under a perfectly fit governor, and neither should anyone else.

 

So he thought they were on a break?

 

In Fenian's world as long as the guy was a good democrat, he could be screwing the family dog and all would be fine.

 

And what's more, I think Paterson could just claim he thought they all were his wife ... sorta like my friend, the Stevie Wonder fan, asked to defend "Ebony and Ivory." He said: "Somebody led Stevie into the wrong damn studio."

 

I see where you are coming from, in a way. To me, I just don't agree with the whole character thing, in terms of a politician's private life as opposed to their public life. I believe a pol should do two things. 1. Obey the same laws that I have to. 2. To not be a hypocrite in terms of implemeting public policy with his own private life (i.e. Larry Craig voting against gay rights, but getting caught toe-tapping in the bathroom).

I agree that Spitzer should have resigned because he got involved in something illegal. Not only that, but he was preaching morality prior to his getting caught (crowing about his arrests). Patterson's announcement is also a story, in the context of Spitzer's resignation. So we agree on that point.

To me, though, what a pol does in his private life is none of my business as long as it doesn't affect him doing his job or the public's taxpayer dollars. That's where the whole character thing gets messed up. There is a segment of the population that, rather than discuss the complex issues of our country, prefer to discuss a pol's sex life. And the media, who love a good scandal, eat it up. And when a member of the media does do some legwork and come up with a complex story on an issue (like poverty), the public ignores it because of their five-second attention span. That's why, in my first post, I dismissed all the Patterson talk as just another politician/sex brouhaha.

Breaking a promise about his private life, to me, is different than breaking a promise in public life. That's one reason why Spitzer got into so much hot water (there was that Client 9 thing too). Spitzer constantly bragged about taking down criminals, and it came back to bite him on the derriere. Bush 40 got in trouble after his 'read my lips, no new taxes,' speech because he had to raise taxes. Livingston got in trouble, and started whining, when he got caught in his own affair. Had he not been cheerleading for Clinton's impeachment, it wouldn't have been such a big issue. Instead, he got caught red-handed, and quit as House Speaker.