As Joe noted below, a day devoted to talking about the adultery of a Clinton superdelegate isn't what the Clinton campaign needs right now. More from ABC. Why? Because it reminds people of big, public, political adultery scandals, like Monica, and makes people potentially less likely to want to go there again in terms of putting the Clintons back in the White House. It doesn't matter if YOU think Ken Starr was a witch hunt. A lot of Americans were kind of fed up with all sides during that business, and any talk of adultery may remind them that Camelot wasn't all fun and games, or rather, too much of it was. Jacki Schechner, who is now blogging with us, delved into the Monica-thing a few days ago on her blog here.
As an aside, one of our readers mentioned that it doesn't help Obama that the news is now not about his Mississippi win. That's true. But I think this hurts Hillary more, and here's why. The media would most likely downplay Mississippi anyway - it's a majority black state, not many delegates, Obama was expected to win anyway, doesn't really advance his delegate lead over Hillary that much, blah blah blah. But, I think Spitzer hurts Hillary, the challenger, more than the front-runner. Why? Because the news cycle is about Spitzer rather than her. Hillary needs to shake things up, to change the dynamic somehow, if she's going to get the superdelegates to switch away from the current front runner, the guy with the most elected delegates. You can't do that when the news is focused elsewhere. And worse, when it's focused on adultery, an issue that just invites the media, and 3rd parties, to ridicule you. Imagine Jay Leno and Jon Stewart. There aren't a lot of jokes you can make about Obama and adultery, but the Clintons? This doesn't help her.
UPDATE: Joe just pointed out to me that the Washington Post article includes Clinton-oriented Spitzer jokes that are already coming out of Leno and Letterman, as I suspected would happen:
Jay Leno joked Monday night that Spitzer's scandal "means Hillary Clinton is now only the second angriest woman in the state of New York." David Letterman offered a Top 10 List of excuses Spitzer might cite, including the No. 1 excuse: "I thought Bill Clinton legalized this years ago."
This is why this scandal will hurt Hillary more than Obama.
GOP Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), when asked on CNN if Senator David Vitter (R-Louis.) should resign after allegations that he paid a DC hooker for some extra-marital adultery:
I don't know what it is that he has apologized for, and until it's clear that there's some kind of crime that was committed, that was of such a nature that he should resign, it seems to me that talk is a little premature.
Well, actually, Senator Kyl, we know exactly what David Vitter apologized for. He apologized for frequenting hookers here in DC while married, and prostitution in DC is illegal. As for adultery, that was traditionally a crime in this country, and certainly is a big Biblical crime (Leviticus says you should surely be put to death).
So it's time to go back to Senators Vitter and Kyl.
Call Senator Vitter's office: Washington, D.C. 516 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4623 Fax: (202) 228-5061
Ask Vitter what exactly he was apologizing for - did he pay a prostitute for sex while he was married to his wife? And if he thinks his marriage is between him and his wife, then why was it okay for him to publicly speak out against the marriages of gay and lesbians couples, but it's not okay for gay and lesbian couples to speak out against the dangers of his marriage? Vitter said once that gay marriage was more dangerous than Hurricane Katrina. And what are Senator Vitter's views on adultery? Is it wrong? What are his views on prostitution? Should it remain a crime? And what is the proper punishment for a US Senator who is a criminal?
Call Senator Jon Kyl WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE 730 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4521 Fax: (202) 224-2207
Then we need to ask Kyl why he isn't sure if prostitution is a crime. Does Senator Kyl not think prostitution should be a crime? Does he think the crime of prostitution (and adultery) is enough to merit a "family values" Senator resigning. Does Kyle oppose adultery, does he think it should be a crime? If Senator Kyl is so fond of protecting the sanctity of marriage then why did he go on CNN this morning and defend adultery and a known adulterer.
Well this is going to be fun. The religious right is finally playing the "divorce" card, something our Joe has been predicting for over a year now. They aren't interested in gay marriage, they're interested in all marriages, YOUR marriage(s). And they won't stop until all of America lives under laws that reflect the Baptist view of life.
There are other moral concerns about Giuliani's candidacy that conservatives should find troubling. He has been married three times, and his second wife was forced to go to court to keep his mistress out of the mayoral mansion while the Giuliani family still lived there. Talk about tap dancing. Also during that time, the mayor used public funds to provide security services for his girlfriend. The second Mrs. Giuliani finally had enough of his philandering and, as the story goes, forced him to move out. He lived with friends for a while and then married his mistress. Unlike some other Republican presidential candidates, Giuliani appears not to have remorse for cheating on his wife....
One more question: Shouldn't the American people be able to expect a certain decorum and dignity from the man who occupies the White House? On this measure, as well, Giuliani fails miserably. Much has been written in the blogosphere about his three public appearances in drag. In each instance, he tried to be funny by dressing like a woman. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan, who loved a good joke, doing something so ignoble in pursuit of a cheap guffaw? Not on your life.
Very interesting that Dobson leaves the door open, above, for Republican candidates who cheat on their wives. Per Dobson, it's okay so long as you have "remorse" after the fact. Well, gee, thanks Rev. We'll all make sure to go and break every commandment and then some, then simply say "oops, sorry" and get your blessing for president. Jesus, do these people stand for anything?
Now watch Giuliani in drag making out with Donald Trump (really).
Rudy Giuliani, one of the most pro-gay politicians in America, is now pulling a Mitt Romney and trying to pretend that he's really not THAT pro-gay. You see, like John McCain and Mitt Romney before him, Giuliani is busy re-inventing himself for the Republican presidential primary - an event in which only Neanderthals pass the virtues test put forward by the extreme right that now controls the Republican party. So Giuliani, a staunch defender of gay rights, is now suddenly against civil unions for gays - even though he's been for them, forever.
Sorry, Rudy. You're an adulterer. You cheated on your wife - which wife was that? - blatantly, flagrantly, publicly. And now you want us to believe that you're the great defender of marriage. You don't get the right to defend other people's marriages when you can't defend your own. How serious a moral crime is adultery, Rudy? Well, since you're doing this flip-flop in order to curry favor with America's Taliban, let's check the Bible, the King James version, to be precise (it's the version my people use), and see what God has to say about adultery:
Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Hmmm... surely put to death - now, no one is suggesting that you and your lover need to be put to death, Rudy, but the Bible makes it pretty clear that adultery is a big no-no. The kind of no-no that disqualifies you from suddenly, a few years after that adultery, becoming the great moral defender of marriage.
Let me quote that Biblical passage again, Rudy, just to get it straight:
the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death
Yeah, no ambiguity there, Rudy.
In the secular world, I did a little Google search on "Giuliani" and "adultery." It turned up 125,000 results.
No ambiguity there, either.
You committed a moral crime that the Bible says is worthy of death. And now you want to turn around and sell yourself as the great purveyor of moral virtue in the very area, marriage, where you committed such a grievous offense.
It doesn't work that way, Rudy. You don't get to judge other people's marriages when you can't keep your own zipper zipped. You cheated on your wife, paraded your mistress in public, and now have the audacity to pass judgment on other people's affairs.
You're an adulterer, Rudy. You don't get that right.
