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Obama: Not "Man" Enough?
According to Sylvia Welsh at Huffington Post, Obama is not man enough to be president because, get this, he hasn't cheated on his wife.
A choice quote:
Barack Obama may be the only male politician of any significance in the
past, say, one thousand years who is faithful to his wife. Does anyone
doubt Obama's fidelity? Now that it's near certain he will be the
Democratic nominee, I've been trying to sort out why I don't think this
is a good thing.
Now, I think that what goes on between a husband and wife is their own business. Yes, even the Clintons.
I am deeply troubled, however, by the sexist nature of this piece. As if being faithful to one's spouse makes you weak, ineffective, and not ready for the presidency. Is that what makes a man? Is that what makes an effective president?
The New York Post also had an opinion piece about how Obama could be the first woman president because he is trim, dresses well, and isn't a tyrant.
Sexism has reared its ugly head on more than one occasion in this campaign, and I know that Senator Clinton has received the brunt of it. It's deplorable.
But it's disingenuous to say that Clinton is the only one who has faced sexism from the media during this campaign.
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Comments (83)
Maybe, once you, be you man or woman, go black, you never go back.
I'm going to hell.
May 27, 2008 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's almost as bad as when I said "would it be inappropriate to say that Barney Frank is gay for Hillary?"
May 27, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh my god. That column is despicable! On so many levels.
First of all, fidelity is a sign of strength, not weakness. And it is horrible to suggest otherwise. I know plenty of men who have never cheated on their wives, and they are strong men. Does she think Bill Clinton was more manly because he had a lot of sex with a lot of women? I think he was a weaker human being because he couldn't keep it in his pants, and the fallout from that lack of self control cost this country dearly.
How dare she glorify that!
Secondly, she talks about how his unwillingness to attack Hillary is weak, how he shrank. What the fuck is that woman thinking? Does she realize what the reaction would have been if he had been aggressive toward her, a black man being aggressive toward a white woman? It would have been ugly. And Clinton would have played up her victim status even more than she's doing now. Obama has walked an incredibly difficult tightrope this primary, and I have to admire him all the more for it.
As for Sylvia Welsh, I just... oh, fuck it. I'm just going to sit here and bang my head on my desk until my brains seep into the keyboard.
May 28, 2008 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
When did Bill Clinton have "a lot of sex with a lot of women"? Do you come from one of those cultures that encourages small families and sex for procreation only?
May 28, 2008 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know about Phoebe, but I come from one of those cultures that values fidelity to one's wedding vows.
That's not to say Bill's infidelity is any of our business. However, romanticizing it is rather disgusting.
May 28, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I asked about where she got the idea that Bill had a lot of sex with a lot of women. From what I understand he didn't even have intercourse with Monica in their short fling with meetings every 2 weeks. In fact I haven't heard of him having intercourse with anyone during the 90's (presumably Hillary's an unmentioned exception), and that was with a lot of court ordered testimony. I did hear of one rumored romantic link in this decade, but then people do like to chit-chat about Bill.
So again, when did Bill have "a lot of sex with a lot of women"? Inquiring minds want to know.
May 28, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Listen, I don't know - or care - who all he's had sex with. There was Monica, Gennifer with a G and at least two others whose names escape me that came up at various times during his presidency. Four plus your wife counts as a lot for a married man in my book. And I'm one of those crazy people who counts getting a blow job as getting sex.
All of which is completely beside the point. I was responding specifically to the referenced article which specifically criticized Obama's presumed fidelity to his wife. The article basically argued that fidelity was a sign of wussiness, and the logical inference than is that infidelity must be a sign of manliness.
I was responding specifically to this batshit crazy article, not trying to make any particular judgments on anyone's sexuality. I would be perfectly happy to know absolutely nothing about any of the candidates' sex lives. As far as I'm concerned, how people conduct their marriages is none of my business.
But when psychologists who purport to be feminists start going off on Obama because he seems to love and respect his wife and family, well... it's batshit crazy. I just don't know what else to say.
May 28, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gennifer was an old old short fling. The 2 others didn't exist. Monica did. If you're going to repeat Republican lies, how about go finding a Republican forum to hang out in? Helps to keep the players straight.
May 28, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fine. Whatever. The others - trailer park chick, that beauty queen turned actress, the state trooper deal - those were all smoke no fire. And somehow, Monica and Gennifer don't count because they were short flings because ... what? it's not infidelity if it doesn't include X orgasms spread over X months or years? Fine. Whatever. Discuss it with your divorce lawyer.
All of it's beside the point, which you are conveniently ignoring.
May 28, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gennifer was sometime in late 70's/early 80's. Monica counts for 10 blowjobs. That's it.
It's not beside the point because much of the reason this stuff keeps coming up is to beat up on the Clintons. Why did she stay with him? Well, 10 blowjobs over a few months counts for a lot less than "a lot of sex with a lot of women". When you repeat these Republican lies, you're building up misimpressions that hurt my candidate. I'm sure you'd be bothered if I started claiming Obama had a lot of extramarital affairs we don't know about, wouldn't you?
May 28, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, if you don't want this stuff to come up to beat up on Clinton, then talk to her "supporters."
Here's the first line of Welsh's column: "Barack Obama may be the only male politician of any significance in the past, say, one thousand years who is faithful to his wife."
So, right off the bat, she's referencing Bill Clinton's infidelity. (No, she didn't reference him by name, but he did get the most infamous blow job in history and obviously counts as one of those politicians of significance.)
Welsh is attacking my candidate with an outrageous, twisted argument that glorifies male infidelity. And I am defending my candidate.
The fact that you ignore all of that and choose to fixate on my highly subjective "lots of women" comment tells me you're not interested in a serious conversation. Because I don't care about Bill's escapades or lack thereof. I have never either applauded or criticized Hillary for staying with the marriage. It's none of my business. A marriage is a highly complex creation. No two marriages are alike, and no one outside of a marriage can judge how its working or not.
I will, however, judge harshly anyone who tries to argue that showing respect toward women is a sign of weakness, and that's exactly what Welsh has argued.
May 28, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
"serious conversation"? No, I'm interested in smacking down the Monica/bimbo eruptus thing that keeps popping up. That's my job.
I do agree with you that bashing fidelity and praising carousing as the manly thing to do is perverse. But get used to this - Maureen Dowd is certainly breaking out her Obambi ginzu knives as we speak. And often it's the so-called "progressives" that are worst at this kind of thing. Ask Arianna. All of this Edwards haircut, metrosexual kind of stuff is just part of their nasty toolkit.
May 28, 2008 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? If my wife gave some guy 10 blowjobs, I'd divorce her 10 times over, and she'd do the same to me. ONLY 10 BLOWJOBS?!?
Seriously, I don't judge his presidency by his sex life - it's irrelevant to the job. But as a husband, he is absolutely deplorable.
May 28, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Better than 20 blowjobs, no?
May 29, 2008 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
PS - an old friend of mine in California told me the Kennedys used to have some wild parties out in Malibu, Jack, Bobby, Teddy. I don't know if the girls were specifically hookers or some kind of groupie/social hangers-on, but it didn't matter - they were part of the entertainment, and the press turned a blind eye. I'd imagine 10 blowjobs or other types of sex was par for a weekend. Whether the blowouts in Martha's Vineyard were so wild, I don't know - I have heard mention that being married to a Kennedy was a bit difficult. I know everyone loves the Kennedys and all, and we shouldn't say bad things about them, so maybe we should go back to the Clintons. How could Hillary stay married to Bill all those years?
May 29, 2008 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are going back to the old uninformed argument that "sex" only means "intercourse". Believe me...IT DOES NOT! One of the main reasons that I can't stand Bill Clinton is that he gave the impression to younger Americans that it's not sex unless you have intercourse. That's a bunch of shit! My thinking has always been, if you are doing something that you should protect yourself with a condom---it's SEX! Yes, that means putting a comdom on that cigar if he intended to stick it in his mouth afterwards.
May 28, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I said I didn't even know of Bill having intercourse outside of marriage other than an old fling with Gennifer Flowers. I referenced his fling with Monica, oral sex twice a month for 5 months, and noted that I didn't know of any other sexual relations he had outside of his marriage other than some recent NY Times innuendo.
Do you?
If not, please put an end to this lie that Bill Clinton "had a lot of sex with a lot of women". It demeans all of us, not just the Clintons.
(And do you really think there's a danger from that cigar? Do you wear antiseptic gloves when going to public washrooms?)
May 28, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
In truth, one extramarital affair is a "lot" when you're married.
If there wasn't a condom on that cigar it is absolutely a carrier if bacteria/virus/disease if present.
Though I haven't reached the paranoid platitude of wearing gloves in public bathrooms, as a nurse, I do wash my hands too often.
May 28, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh God, and 3 is a big number when you're 3 years old.
May 28, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha! Is that it? Reduced to an insult, how predictable is that.
May 28, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
How am I supposed to respond when you say "one...is a lot"? This isn't murder, it's an affair. Even in Victorian England this wasn't that unusual. What should we do, bring back scarlet letters?
May 28, 2008 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
So that makes it okay for a man to cheat on his wife?
May 28, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, I'm not going to argue with you people about someone's affairs. They have marriages, the couple can figure it out themselves. I'm just saying 1 short fling in the nineties without even sexual intercourse is not "a lot of sex with a lot of women". Get over it. You're repeating Republican sound bites. You've been implanted with nonsense and 10 years later you still can't shake it.
May 28, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gennifer and Monica.
Two to many.
What about Paula?
May 28, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
When was Gennifer, Brainiac? How many times? Do you giggle when you see a breast on TV? Are there any grownups around here I can talk to?
May 28, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you saying Clinton had sex with Paula? Quick, call Ken Starr, you can save his reputation. What exactly was the sex he had with her?
Remember Bill's "distinguishing characteristic" Paula claimed? How come the doctor didn't find it?
10 years of Republican bullshit and you people are suckered like the day is long.
May 29, 2008 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
probably she got the idea after all the jokes about "president's day sale, all men's pants half off,"
or "when asked the question 'would you have sex with bill clinton?' 50% of american woman said no and 50% said never again."
in this one instance, I would say comedy does not contain a nugget of truth in it.
May 28, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
At least they're funny jokes.
May 29, 2008 2:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
May 28, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, mageduley, how many times have you had sex out of marriage? How many times have you gotten excited looking at someone besides your spouse? Any foreplay or dangerous leading conversation? Any problems in your marital life? Any lulls in sexual activity, say due to drink, working too hard, incompatibility? Do you get secretly excited watching a hot character on TV, or do you share it with your spouse? Any lurking in the supermarket? What magazines do you have hidden in your bottom drawer?
May 28, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah yes, the old strawman.
May 28, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
He is so good at setting those up. Unlike you Des, I gave a direct answer to your question "When did Bill Clinton have "a lot of sex with a lot of women"?
Please see upthread.
May 28, 2008 10:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I looked upthread and didn't find it. Surely you're not using a reporter's phrasing of "a string of affairs" as some kind of proof. That'll put you off in World Net Daily land.
Make it clear - name the women and approximate years. Or something factual. Should be very simple. I'll start it off for you:
Monica - 1995-1996 - 10 times sex
Gennifer - early 80's/late 70's - 1 or 2 times sex
Okay, those are the 12 times I know from the last 30 years. Your turn.
May 29, 2008 1:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am not going to ascribe to your goalpost moving. The article I provided was an interview with Hillary herself. "String of affairs" and her liking her husbands infidelity as an "addiction" rules out the possibility of only 2 minor flings as you are trying to characterize them. I am not going to go batshit crazy looking for examples for you des, just for you to set up another straw man (See! Obama supporters are just like the republicans trying to pry every little piece of dirt). Not gonna go there. The record speaks for itself.
May 29, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
The "string of affairs" could be 2, could be more. You don't know. It's a reporter summarizing Mrs. Clinton's words. Maybe she thinks 2 is a string. Maybe there's a 3rd. Maybe there's 1000. You simply don't know.
"Infidelity as an addiction". Again, you take this as proof of something. Some people think 10 sexual partners in your life is a lot, some people think it's little. It varies greatly even in American society. And in this case, maybe Hillary isn't even talking about sex, maybe she's talking about Bill's roving eye, getting too friendly with women. Maybe she's not. So much psychoanalysis around this couple. But the fact remains, you simply have no idea outside of 2 confirmed how many extra-marital sexual partners Bill Clinton has had.
But when did Bill show up drunk to pick up 15-year-old boys at an intern dormitory? When did he do meth with hookers? When did he sit in bathroom stalls tapping his feet with a wide stance? When did he parade drunk with a floozy in a Washington park fountain? When did he pay $5000 to have a hooker waiting for him?
May 30, 2008 1:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Des, (and everyone else)
Can we please get over the one/some/loads differences here, and just accept that Bill Clinton was a brilliant and yet deeply flawed man? The tone of the discussion is strikingly "either/or", and that's exactly the sort of simplistic dichotomy that's straight out of the Republican talking points.
May 28, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course he's a flawed man, but only 20% of the flawed man his enemies have painted him to be. Yes, he messed up with Monica, but the public spectacle was his enemies' fault. Even as an example of marital improprieties he's not that bad from available evidence. No dancing drunk with a girl in a fountain, no hiring $5000 hookers, no meth or hanging out in bathroom stalls to meet strange men, no picking up underage boys from their dorm room, no leaving a girl in a wrecked car. For all the opportunities he must have had, I'd say he managed to keep it in his pants pretty well, and don't see why he should be the poster child for infidelity.
May 29, 2008 2:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because Bill was the first black president, that's why.
May 29, 2008 3:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree completely. The writer has internalized her rationales for Bill Clinton's behavior to such a degree than she's gone off the deep end.
May 28, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sad, Sylvia. Just sad. I hope you're doing better work for NYU than you're doing for HuffPo.
May 28, 2008 4:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
You can't prove a man's been faithful to his wife, you can only prove he's been unfaithful. Like with Gary Hart - "catch me if you can". Unless he's been wearing an electronic ankle bracelet with video surveillance. (One of the funniest true stories I heard was the female Siamese Twin who got pregnant without her sister's knowledge).
And the DC Madam conveniently killed herself before revealing all those names. Reminds me of a Cheech and Chong skit:
""Remember me? From upstairs at that party? I found out I'm pregnant." "Oh....that's too bad..." "I think I'm going to kill myself." "Hey, you are a good sport!"
May 28, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Des,
We know you're using the content of your article "To stuff or not to stuff" from your blog at e-stuffus.blogspot.com
But this is not the time for an elderly man to fantasize.
May 28, 2008 9:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know the neat thing about plants? They can go fuck themselves.
May 28, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Go back to the muck from whence you crawled!
May 28, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm an ape, we came from trees.
May 29, 2008 2:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Little girls don't grow up believing that the Wicked Witch in fairy tales is part of the happy ending. It's the Prince Charming. Ms. Welch has the wrong cognitive associations.
Maybe Ms. Welch hasn't obtained her own sense of strength as a feminist and can't be self reliant, trustworthy and honest. So she cannot accept the same from others.
How she can promote sociopathic behavior to an audience as a feminist psychoanalyst is beyond me.
May 28, 2008 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was happy to see the comments to that stupid article told the author it was a stupid article.
Aside from the stupid sexist attacks against Obama you have to love the description of "Axelrod, the Karl Rove of the Democratic Party" Why of course he is, just like Hillary said Obama used Karl Rove tactics. Makes sense in reverse speak. They not only didn't make up scandals against Clinton, they didn't use the very real ones old or new.
People who say Obama's calm composure scare them scare me. Wonder if they ever read article like this one in Salon. They interviewed many experienced military officers and leaders about which of the three candidates they wanted handling an emergency. I heard an interview with the author of this piece, he wanted to just compare Obama and Clinton but his editor insisted on including McCain.The author thought that would ruin the story, they'd all want McCain. Well no, they were sort of scared of him in that role. Imagine, they wanted someone who was calm and composed and got cooler in crisis.
An amusing excerpt for the author of that article to consider
I regret that it is not enough to assure the author that Obama can be president without having an affair. Of course if he did it probably wouldn't have been with gabby young girls or women he tried to force and he might not report details of his sex life to her. In fact he looks very familiar to me and people wonder how my son got that tall slim build and is the only left hander in our family. My son also uses a lot of hand gestures, is very calm, composed and gracious and is against dumb wars.
Ms. Welsh doesn't know what a real man is.
May 28, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hear Obama really packs in the ladies, that was the outcome of Axelrod's testing research. Has them swooning over him. Hope he knows how to just say no.
May 29, 2008 3:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right. He's the official poster boy for the Marital Fidelity Foundation. How dare anyone suggest otherwise.
Are you sure you guys aren't supporting the alternate universe Clintons rather than the ones who inhabit our dimension?
May 28, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ms. Welsh's Stockholm syndrome?
May 28, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Old paradigms die hard. The old definition of manhood - silent, strong, aggressive, belligerent, over-sexed, the classic "alpha male" - may be one of the oldest and most persistent. Even some women subscribe to it apparently, against what one presumes to be their interests.
Obama represents the overturn of many stereotypes; this may be the one least missed. We'll know soon enough how successful he is at it.
May 28, 2008 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
And tomorrow is the day that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. You know, young girl with the audacity to challenge the accepted order, breaking into the all boys' club. May 30, seems like only yesterday, my it's almost 600 years now. How time flies. Anyway, don't freak out. Next month will be especially poignant as Benazir Bhutto's birthday coincides with the summer solstice.
May 29, 2008 2:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good point, Minjo.
Our media and our public discourse are anti intellectual, anti common sense, and anti honesty. No wonder we have the government we have.
May 28, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why are we arguing on this? Sylvia was way out on a limb on this one. Ignore and go on.
May 28, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for this. The willingness of some Clinton supporters to adopt rhetoric of machismo while decrying sexism is disturbing to me. While I greatly respect and appreciate the fact that Hillary has managed to take the woman-as-CIC issue totally off the table, I don't want to hear she has more balls than the other candidate.
May 28, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Don't cry sexism if you are going to exhibit it yourselves, I say.
Oh, I replied to you in the Puerto Rico thread re: the preemie caps.
May 28, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Some" Clinton supporters or "one"?
May 28, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given that this isn't the only case that's been shown, I'd say "some."
It shows a certain dishonesty to post that something is only one isolated case about several things. They add up.
May 28, 2008 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Missed the "balls" reference the first time - yes, you're right, "some".
May 29, 2008 2:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Huffington Post publishes some useful stuff, but some of the most execrable garbage as well.
May 28, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary said that the Monica thing was the most painful event in her life. What have we come to when women, supposedly women who want a better life for women, promote heart breaking affairs by husbands as a sign of being "man enough"? Apparently Henry VIII is their ideal. Old white feminists are my age, gender and color. But I gotta say that it's probably a good thing that we'll be dying out before too long. Let's hope that the next crop have some brains.
May 28, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you. Dr. Sylvia, for completely and thoroughly nullifying the Hillbots' "sexism" charge and exposing it for the sore loser whining that it is. Well done!
In the new spirit of gender unfriendliness your column heralds, let me be the first to label you a worthless, blithering dingbat.
May 28, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Welsh's post is the self-rationizing of a doormat bragging about the superior quality of the mud that's been wiped on it.
May 28, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wasted 10 good minutes of my life reading that crap on HuffPost. Dr. Sylvia reasons with all the subtle intelligence of Ann Coulter.
May 28, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pshaw. You're not a real man unless you've done it doggie-style with three greased midgets and a donkey in an airplane bathroom.
I advise against greasing the donkey.
May 28, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
And you denied the relationship with the donkey before when I brought it up.
Men are pigs. Never trust them.
May 29, 2008 4:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
At least one person has asked Michelle if it's OK for Barack to break his No Smoking Vow
May 28, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy shit, are you actually comparing smoking to cheating on your wife? What the fuck?
May 28, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something to do with cigars, I'm sure. Google it.
May 29, 2008 3:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's fidelity is a plus to be respected. However my concerns with is he "man" enough is more about his fighting/campaigning style than his sex life. Say what you will about Hillary, but she fights her own fights & says what she believes. Obama is more likely to leave it to his surrogates & campaign to suggest Hillary exit the race or that Michigan & Florida should be split 50/50 or that Hillary is advocating Obama's assassination by referencing that RFK was still campaigning in June. I hate that he tries to retain that implausible deniability that he is not responsible for what his surrogates are advocating. Puh-leeze. I respect people who speak for themselves rather than hiding behind Axelrod's skirts all the time.
May 28, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
"rather than hiding behind Axelrod's skirts all the time"
Nice use of sexist imagery there.
Obama is hitting back against McCain plenty hard, but he has always been - wisely - careful about fighting back against Clinton. He doesn't believe in bloodying a fellow Democrat.
Also, nobody of any significance has ever said she was advocating his assassination. Nobody. So stop with that strawman.
May 28, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's "fidelity" can be just so much charade. We don't know, so give it up. Many people were surprised by Jimmy Swaggert and others. I wasn't. People are hypocritical and people enjoy sex. Often their partner isn't enough. So they do the obvious thing and find other sources, and cover it up. This has been going on for thousands of years. You can call it passion, desire, horniness or a number of other names. It's a normal human condition. You can try to channel it or limit it or otherwise deal with but it's not going away. It's genetic, it's in our deep subconscious. In some cultures sex outside of family is perfectly accepted. Even in American culture a small amount of extra-marital activity is perfectly normal.
May 28, 2008 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's the biggest pack of BULLSHIT I've ever heard. If I caught any of my married friends cheating on their wives, I'd punch them in the fucking face. What the fuck is wrong with you? It's not normal, it's not OK, and a blowjob is absolutely equal to sex. A marriage is a contract - the same standard applies to men and women, gay and straight. It's called "cheating" because it's unacceptable, you bucket of human slime!
May 28, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt any of your married friends will tell you if they are cheating on their wives. I bet they already know you will punch them in the fucking face if they reveal something like that to you.
May 28, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, and people think I'm unhinged. "punch them in the fucking face". Well, with friends like that...
You know, there are a million reasons for people to be together, walks on the beach, kids, shared humor, similar interests, growing old together, compatible lifestyles, unbridled passion, look good together, green card, working for a common cause, arranged marriage, unwanted pregnancy, childhood sweethearts, self-destructive attraction, convenience, economically trapped, Stockholm syndrome... Perhaps who strokes whose genitals is only one part of a huge complicated equation called "life". Some of the most content people have been divorced once or twice. One estimate of American infidelity has it at 50-70%. Don't worry, by happy.
Here are a couple of articles to unwind a bit with - with or without your partner:
Frenchmen don't get caught
Is anyone faithful anymore?
May 29, 2008 3:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Whoa, guilty until proven innocent. Nice Des.
May 28, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's just say I wouldn't toss him an eight ball, a hooker and the keys to my car and just walk away. "Trust, but verify" I think is how it's diplomatically put. He may be perfectly faithful, he may be a rake. Not my business, but I wouldn't bet my house on anybody's fidelity. Try All the King's Men:
"Jack, there's something on everybody. Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption. He passes from the stink of the dydie to the stench of the shroud. There's ALWAYS something."
Even on the honest judge.
May 29, 2008 2:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Then I guess there are a lot of insignificant posters on TPM and elsewhere.
Hiding behind axlerod's skirts is not about sexist imagery. I'm saying he wants his mommy to protect him from the bullies rather than fighting his own fights which speaks to his immaturity rather than his gender. If a female candidate displayed that same lack of assertiveness I would have disdain for her as well.
And as I previously noted, he has not been careful about attacking Hillary through surrogates. He just distances himself so he can appear above the fray and lets other people do the dirty work. Some would admire that. I find it rather shady and unprincipled.
May 28, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just want to let everybody know, for historical reference, that this was the day Audie Murphy died in a car crash.
I just automatically think of May 28 as Audie Death Day, in case that ever pops up in conversation and it seems inexplicable to you.
So don't freak out or make a big deal out of it if I bring it up.
May 28, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
And tomorrow May 30 is the day that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. You know, young girl with the audacity to challenge the accepted order, breaking into the all boys' club. Wow, seems like only yesterday, my it's almost 600 years now. How time flies. Anyway, don't freak out. Next month will be especially poignant as Benazir Bhutto's birthday coincides with the summer solstice.
May 29, 2008 2:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is that what you think the author said?
I think she thinks Obama's going to get his ass kicked by McCain.
May 28, 2008 10:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
In all modesty, you really can't get much more manly than me, and I've never had an extramarital affair.
May 28, 2008 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me, too, unless you count that thing with readytoblow.
May 28, 2008 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
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