Feet of Clay

[kladner]

First, a recent column by Mark Morford of SF Gate on hero worship-
http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2012/...-are-perverts/

Intro-

The greatest military leader in a generation. The greatest cyclist of all time. The greatest college football coach and assistant on American record. The guy who does the voice for Elmo for the past –whatnow? – 28 years? Jesus, really? Him too? One by one they fall, one by one they fail to live up to ridiculous or impossible standards, fall prey to undue pressure and temptation, are revealed to have kinkier tendencies, human frailty, addiction to fame or money, are too easily drunk on lust or power or culturally frowned-upon deviance in inelegant or sometimes illegal proportions.
Who is immune? You? The president? The pope? The dorky Christian NFL quarterback who thinks Jesus really gives a damn about his pass completion percentage? Nuns? Trees? Dogs?

Then, from Frank Rich of New York Magazine-
http://readersupportednews.org/off-s...or-superheroes


Intro-

The carnival has moved on, but many are still mystified why David Petraeus abruptly abdicated his seat of power after a mere marital lapse. Even some Republicans who once flayed Bill Clinton over Monica were magnanimous to Petraeus, seeing no reason why his disloyalty to his wife should sully his reputation as a loyal patriot. So what was the real story? Benghazi? Classified documents stashed in Paula Broadwell’s mess kit?
I adhere to a less sexy explanation. Once the country learned that the man in charge of guarding the nation’s secrets was too inept to hide his own, his directorship of the Central Intelligence Agency could no longer pass the laugh test. Petraeus will always be remembered as the Spy Who Trusted Gmail.

[ewmayer]

The "this is the guy who'll be in charge of key national cybersecurity programs?" angle of the Petraeus story was what first got my attention ... being a poor pop-media-minion, I didn't give a flying damn about who porked whom, as long as it had nothing to do with Petraeus doing his job. But of course the e-mail stuff had quite a lot to say about that.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

The "this is the guy who'll be in charge of key national cybersecurity programs?" angle of the Petraeus story was what first got my attention ... being a poor pop-media-minion, I didn't give a flying damn about who porked whom, as long as it had nothing to do with Petraeus doing his job. But of course the e-mail stuff had quite a lot to say about that.

Sexual peccadilloes are distractions and cover, and they don't concern me except as such. I only make exceptions for public figures who ride the morality horse, condemn others, and then are exposed in their hypocrisy and hanky-panky. That's just karma.

What goes around, comes around.

[Brian-E]

Originally Posted by kladner

Sexual peccadilloes are distractions and cover, and they don't concern me except as such. I only make exceptions for public figures who ride the morality horse, condemn others, and then are exposed in their hypocrisy and hanky-panky. That's just karma.

What goes around, comes around.

I share this view 100%. If people are not causing others any harm, their private lives are no concern of mine ... except where they are setting themselves up as some sort of moral guardian of the straight and narrow and are then shown to be complete hypocrites.

Here's a British member of parliament who seems to fit into that category.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/16/tory-anti-gay-marriage-section-28-supporting-london-mp-exposed-as-a-love-cheat/

Conservative MP Bob Blackman, who recently suggested David Cameron should resurrect Section 28, previously had an affair behind his wife’s back for 11 years, according to his former mistress.

For those unfamiliar with Britain's Section 28, it was legislation introduced in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher's government, and not abolished until the early 2000s, making it illegal for local government authorities - under whose jurisdiction schools, for example, would fall - from mentioning homosexuality in any kind of positive manner.