SEN. AL FRANKEN, ETC.

One of my favorite jokes was Republicans pull their shades and draw their drapes at night but probably don't need to.  Democrats don't pull their shades and draw their drapes at night but probably ought to.   But things have changed, and it turns out that Republicans are at least as sex crazed as Democrats, if not more so.

The joke was ruined during the call for impeachment of President Clinton by Idaho Republican Representative Helen Chenowith who, it turned out, had a 6 yr relationship with a married man.  The charge was led by Republican Representative Henry Hyde who had a 5 yr “youthful indiscretion" when he was in his 40s.  Of course these individuals found excuses claiming their cases were different.  The story continues.  When I turned 40 I thought I was middle aged.

Democrats are really bending over backward and going after former comedian and current Sen. Al Franken who 6 yrs ago had a picture taken in Afghanistan of a pretend grope (his hands weren't touching her) of a woman's breasts as she was napping while wearing a flack jacket.  Who would do such a grope?  It would be like groping a wall.  I think it was kind of funny, but it is the type of thing that, if you have to explain it, you might as well not bother.

At any rate Franken, the “groper,” has effusively apologized for the not-funny joke.  She also said he French kissed her without her permission which is more serious, but he has apologized for that too although he says he remembers the incident differently  The woman who brought up the incident has forgiven him, but certain Democrats say that is not enough as he has committed a crime.  Give me a break.  Well the woman involved has now got her revenge.  If it should turn out that Franken is expelled from the Senate, women will have lost a strong male advocate for women's rights.  That's the way these things go.

Personally IU think they should go after the "major league" sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump and Judge Moore.

Why was the picture released anyway?  I wonder if someone was trying to blackmail him, but no matter.

I am certainly not a member of the current "hook up" generation.  In my day, the man-woman thing involved the giving of subtle hints.  As I have Asperger's Syndrome, I was never good at guessing what people were thinking.  When I thought I had a "hint" figured out, it turned out that I was wrong.

I probably never would have gotten married except I had people coach me.  On my first wife, there was a woman who was bound to get me married and a physicist graduate student who was not married.    They gave me some suggestions that I couldn't believe, but they worked.  On my second wife, I was coached by a woman I was interested in but who was "taken.  She too gave me some suggestions that I thought would be repelled, but they weren't, much to my surprise.

When my second wife died of a stroke, I was on my own.  There was a woman I was interested in who had a stroke and was learning to talk again.  I was trying to help her, and we became fond of each other.  Several times I did things that I thought had ruined our relationship, but I guess she was interested in me which helped getting over these faux pas.

Democrats are going after Bill Clinton* again and saying he should have resigned.  I feel that his case is quit different.  I don't understand it as the young woman came onto him so it was a consensual relationship as she admitted.  There was a hazard to his marriage, but it was a matter for his wife to decide.  There were those who were upset that Hillary didn't get a divorce., but the Clinton's worked it out  Whatever happened to "Until death do us part?"  I have covered all this before (See the references.).

But I feel there is something disturbing about women saying that it is immoral for a powerful man  to have an affair with a young woman of 22, even if she came onto him.  They talk about the young woman as if she is a child.  At what age are women grown up?   It's as if women have a fatal attraction for a powerful man?  Is that true?  Was my problem that I wasn't rich or famous (It aklso helps to be handsome.)?  If anyone told me that I was still a child at 22, I would have wanted to bust them in the nose.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/08/politicians-and-sex.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-still-with-us.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/10/some-men-have-it-most-dont.html

SOME MEN HAVE IT, MOST DON'T

I'm 85 yrs old and , believe me, some men have IT, but most men don't.  I'm in the latter category.  No pretty young woman ever passed me and flipped up her blouse to show her bra strap.  In fact most women look straight ahead with a frozen gaze when they pass me going the other way.  But I know men who get a cheery hello and a nod.

As a young man, I had two male friends who I saw each have a couple of women actually fight over them, complete with slapping, brawling, hair pulling, and yelling, the works. One of the men I thought was ugly, but he had IT somehow I couldn't detect but women did.  His only real trait was to be sarcastic to women.  May women felt they had to change his mind?  No women ever fought over me.  I had a young scientist working for me.  Once a month we used to go out to lunch together and women from 3 to 83 would come up to our table and talk to him.  He had IT, but none wanted to talk to me.

I guess I was a prudish young man, and it must have stuck out all over me.  I recall being with a group of fellow geologists in a bar in Deadwood, SD, where all were propositioned but me.  It happened again in a bar in Ironwood, MI.  I lived in "sin city, of Zurich for five months and was never propositioned.  I was in Juarez, Mexico, with a group of geologists.   Even procurers could tell I wasn't a sale. As we walked down a street, the others were propositioned in various ways, but, for me, they said "razor blades, nice Gillette razor blades."  I wasn't the only one with a beard.

You want to know some man who has IT?  Bill Clinton has IT.  Women who were prepared not to like him said they felt his power upon meeting him.  My own wife said she felt it just watching him on TV.  Based on my life's observation, I think he never raped a woman, but some might have decided after the fact that they needed to think so for their self respect.

I knew Bill Clinton was a womanizer before he was elected, but I thought he wanted to accomplish things so much that he would keep his pants zipped.  I was wrong.  Being presented with a pretty young woman of 23 passing him and flipping her blouse to expose her bra strap was like handing a martini to an alcoholic. He couldn't resist.

I'm surprised that so many women think that it is unfair for a 40ish year old man to take "advantage" of a young woman who wants to be taken advantage of.   Didn't their mother's warn them?  Me they could resist.  Her mistake was bragging about the affair to a woman friend who blew the whistle.  With Jack Kennedy, they didn't Kiss and Tell.  Maybe it says something about how vulnerable women feel with men who have IT.

I think Donald Trump, a womanizer to be sure,* doesn't have IT, but he does have money.  Women have a saying, "You can never be too thin or have too much money."  Many parents want their daughters to marry a wealthy man and be unhappy in comfort.

* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3202153/Donald-Trump-AMAZING-bed-claims-former-Penthouse-Pet-presidential-hopeful-secretary-track-spotting-sexy-magazine-spread.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/donald-trump-history-women-adultery-objectification-article-1.2604073
Etc.

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S BUSINESS INTERESTS

If you watch any news programs at all, you will see how the news media wants to destroy the Clinton  family Non-Profit Foundation. if Hillary becomes president (and even want her to Do It Now).  As the Clinton's do not get any monetary benefit from the foundation, the cause is to destroy any emotional benefit the Clinton's get from guiding a Non-Profit Foundation in their name.

The news media seems unconcerned about Donald Trump becoming president and not doing anything to separate him from his For-Profit Business Operations.  Does the news media really believe there are no conflicts of interest for a president owning far flung business operations while he is president?  Is it really all right for a president operating far flung for-profit business operations while president but not all right for the president being associated with a Non-Profit Foundation?  I find this to be weird.  I think our country has its priorities  all screwed up.*  Even if such a president doesn't do things to favor his companies, do we really want a part-time president?

Let's say that the news media becomes concerned about Trump's business operations after all and would Trump's business operations be put in a "blind trust."  Is a blind trust with his family running it really all right?  Perhaps, but the news media doesn't like the idea of Chelsea Clinton, Hillary's daughter, remaining on the board of their Non-Profit Foundation.

Some suggest that the Clinton Foundation be folded into another Foundation like the Gates Foundation.  Well The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, has done the equivalent of this and donated billions of dollars to the Gates Foundation.  So their is some justification for doing it.  But I believe he sits on the board of the Gates Foundation.  I'm not sure the Gate's would like to have Bill Clinton on their board, but maybe it could be worked out.  Would this give the Clintons the same emotional rewards?  Would this satisfy the news media?

An update after writing the above.  It seems like the Clintons are in the process of folding up their foundation, or most of it.  The Gates Foundation won't take it because the Clinton Foundation is a active foundation, i.e. they actually distribute medications (e.g. AIDS and diarrhea) and things whereas the Gates foundation is a grants (pass-trough) foundation.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-does-this-mean.html

INDIVIDUALS VS GROUPS

For a long time I think I have seen a difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.  Republicans tend to like the "self made man" whereas Democrats think of "groups."  It used to be that Republicans nominated the "self made man" for President .  Think of Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan.  All of these came from humble beginnings.  Although the Republican Party is considered the party of the wealthy, Democrats used to favor wealthy people to nominate for President.  Think of Roosevelt and Kennedy.  True there were Truman and Johnson who came from humble beginnings but both were accidental presidents with Truman acceding to the Presidency with the death of Roosevelt and Johnson with the assassination of Kennedy.

More recently, things have changed with the Republican Party nominating wealthy men such a George H.W. Bush and George Bush as well as Mitt Romney with Donald Trump probably the most wealthy of all, whereas the Democrats have gone with men of more modest beginnings like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  While Hillary Clinton may be wealthy now, she did come from modest beginnings.  (I'm not sure how to classify Michael Dukakis whose father was a physician but as of Greek heritage, they were certainly looked down on by the Boston Brahmins) The sampling size is small so maybe it is just a coincidence.

But look at the two candidates for president now.  You have the individual Donald Trump who says, "believe me, I am the only person that can save you "and Hillary Clinton who wrote a book called
It Takes A Community To Raise A Child and has the current motto of Stronger Together as she runs for president.  People say she is stealing the Stronger Together from Reagan although she has long preached this concept in her book.

Who will win?  Will it be the women, African Americans, Hispanics, and the LGBT or the angry American white males?  We'll know in November, probably.

MONICA LEWINSKY - AGAIN

So Monica Lewsinsky is in the news again.  You know, the young woman who flipped her blouse up so that womanizer Bill Clinton could see her bra strap that left him salivating.  Clinton survived his affair with her and being only the second president to be impeached, but Monica hasn't fared very well.  Didn't her mother ever tell her the "The woman always pays?" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky)

What I would have done in a similar situation, I really don't know.  I have a saying that "Untested Virtue Is No Virtue At All,"  and I never had pretty young women come on to me.

I heard a large excerpt of what she said, and it was pretty good so far as it went.  She didn't say she regretted getting a President impeached and ruining the last years of his presidency.  But the acts themselves were not all that bad (Though what they did sounded ugly in print, apparently they never had intercourse.).  Her real sin was that she had to blab about her affair.  It used to be that women kept their mouths shut if they managed to have a affair with the President, but she just had to tell an enemy of the President.  Today is different, women tell.

I knew from the beginning that Clinton was a womanizer, but I thought he wanted to accomplish some things enough that he would keep his pants zipped.  In this I was wrong, it was like handing a recovering alcoholic a martini.  Irresistible.  And there were those other woman who couldn't forgive Hillary for not divorcing the SOB, though I suppose there were others who understood and who also had remained in a marriage in spite of infidelity.

At the time, there were others with Salvic names in the news, like Ted Kaczynski who didn't like modern technolgy and bombed technologists.  I put Lewinsky and Kaczynski in a poem called "the Balkenization Of America (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-balkanization-of-america-poem.html).

For awhile it was lots of fun.  In case you have forgotten, for example there was Henry Hyde*, who led the impeachment hearing in the House, who had to admit to a multi-year "youthful indiscretion in his 40s" with a married woman.  And then there was Rep. Helen Chenowith of Idaho, a viscous critic of Presidnet Clinton's behavior, who admitted to a six-year affair with a married man ( "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it." ).**  Dan Burton had to admit to even fathering a child out of wedlock.***  Lastly, there was Rep. Bob Livingston incoming Speaker of the House who resigned even before he took office due to four known affairs, one within the last three or four years.**** 

*  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hyde
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Chenoweth-Hage
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Burton
**** http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/livingston121998.htm

THE BALKANIZATION OF AMERICA (POEM)

Lewinsky,
Kaczynski,
I don’t want either agin'st me.
With bombs, technologists does he blow?
In a biblical sense, did the President this young woman know?
Is blowing up people now just swell?
Is it all right to kiss and tell?
Did the President deflower this innocent virgin?
Or was it right to stop the technology burgeon?
What gives with these confusing Slavic names
Who play all those weird and dangerous games?

1998


A very young American Olympics skating gold medalist at age 15 is
Tara Lipinski, which brings to mind a couplet:

How can anyone so short and slight
Do figure skating so out of sight.

Also Monica Lewinsky’s mother’s maiden name is:

Marcia VILENSKY.

PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS

The Speaker of the House John Boehner says he will sue the president because of all the executive orders he is issuing.  Though it does seem as if President Obama is keeping the country running by Executive Orders, It turns out he is a piker.

At 4 yrs and 3 mo. into his presidency (March), President Barack Obama issued 175 Executive Orders.*  At this rate (3.4314/mo.), he will have 329 Executive Orders beating his predicessor George Bush (#43)  with 291.

And there are four Presidents in the 1,000 or more Executive Order Club club: Woodrow Wilson with 1803 (first member), Theodore Roosevelt with 1081, Calvin Cooledge with 1203, and Franklin Roosevelt with 3522 (the champion).  There are two honorable mentions with more than 900 Executive Orders: Herbert Hoover with 968 and Harry S. Truman with 907, making four Presidents in a row with at least 900 Executive Orders.  Then things dropped off markedly as Dwight D. Eisenhower had "only" 484.

Since Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan is the champion with 381 followed by Bill Clinton with 364, both recent records probably safe from Obama.

I believe Jimmy Carter had the most of one-term presidents with 320.

So based on number of Executive Orders, I think it will be hard to make a case that Obama has been making an execessive amount; however, I presume the case will be made that his Orders are more meaningful. 

  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order

WIRING OF THE BRAIN

Particularly since my wife died, I have been reading quite a bit about how the brain works and how you can change it.  But even in the case of Noah who has had one side of his brain removed, who is a good example of this, in which actions and thought usually done by the right brain are now done by the left (or is it vice versa, no matter).  In my wife's case, I think she could have recovered from her first stroke except something happened to destroy her will to fight her condition which makes it very hard when all the initiative had to come from someone else.  She really had to want to get better, but couldn't manage it.

But it occurs to me that one reason we don't understand Muslims, especially conservative Muslims, is that their brains are wired differently from ours and some may even believe in martyrs getting 72"virgins" ( apparently wives actually in heaven).*  Do female martyrs get 72 virginal men (husbands)?

And it is the same in the U.S. where the religious right is able to maintain all sorts of screwy ideas like raped women don't get pregnant and are obsessed with controlling women's bodies almost as much as Muslims.  And conservative Republicans really believe that all poor people are lazy, the government is coming to get their guns, and reducing taxes and getting rid of regulations will always improve the economy.    No showing of the facts will dissuade them as their brains are wired to believe this sort of thing. (Though personal income taxes were greatly reduced as were regulations under George W. Bush, we had economic disaster..  Both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton raised taxes a lot and we had the best economic climate of my long lifetime.)

We are also witnessing in this country a significant part of the government that is quite willing to go against the will of the people, even their own constituencies, on issue after issue: on background checks for gun purchases, on the minimum wage, and on a track to citizenship for long-term illegal immigrants, just to name a few,

It is even true on a national basis.   For some reason as a nation, our brains are wired to root for the mob (presumably the underdog).  We have done this with Egypt, with Libya (even giving air cover to the mob), with the Ukraine.  We actually also did this with the Taliban against the Russians.  When we don't like the mob, we will enter into nation building as we did with Iraq and are doing with Afghanistan.  And we have learned, or I hope we have, that the road to democracy is extremely difficult for people who have no history of democracy or suffered under a long-time dictatorship.  I wonder how you could have a real democracy in Iraq when 80% of the people are of one religion (Shiite) and 20% of another (Sunni) who hate each other.  Even in the U.S., a lot of people believe that a Muslim, say, cannot be president though there is nothing in the constitution that says that presidents must be Christians.

As I have said in a recent post to my blog, I think eventually we will look on Guantanamo Bay as a dark period in American history: http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/06/guantonimo-

and-franz-kafka.html.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houri

MONICA LEWINSKY STILL WITH US

We all remember Monica Lewisnsky and her affair with President Clinton 18 years ago when she was 22 (It was also not her first affair.).  Now 40 yrs old and a nice looking lady and after 10 yrs of silence has published an interfiew in Vanity Fair where she says he took advantage of her but that it was consensual (sic).*  As I remember the story, she was walking ahead of the president and flipped her blouse up to reveal her bra strap.  We all knew that Clinton was a womanizer and this was like handing a martini to a recovering alcoholic.  You could say that a man old enough to be her father should have known better, but they had oral sex in the Oval Office, but apparently not intercourse.

I learned long ago that I didn't want to know too much about the messy lives most people live.  Back in the days of another womanizer, President Jack Kennedy, the women kept quiet.  This is a new age and women don't keep quiet about their affairs.  The big problem was that Monica blabbed about the affair and blabbed to the wrong person who started a political campaign against the president.  I believe it when Clinton said that he didn't have sex with that woman, because I believe sex to him meant intercourse, but that was a fine point with the public.  At any rate this exploded political outrage and Clinton ended up being impeached though not convicted.

Though I knew Clinton was a womanizer, I thought he wanted to accomplish certain things so much as president that he would keep his pants zipped, at least during his presidency, but he couldn't do it and as a result failed to accomplish much of his agenda.  In addition, there were bad things going on in the world, and this affair distracted politicians from doing their jobs.  To some extent we are still paying the price for this distraction.

I'm surprised that so many women had sympathy with Monica Lewinsky at the time and feel that President Clinton took advantage of a girl, a child of 22.  I am reminded, however, that age 22 is considered an adult with the full privileges of voting, drinking alcohol, and smoking.   It is hard for me to understand that a woman of 22 doesn't know that she is not supposed to have an affair with a married man.  Apparently, it is accepted by many women that it is all right for a "girl" of 22 to pursue a married man, even one old enough to be her father, if he is powerful.  Now I know my problem with all the women that told me to "get lost."  I just wasn't powerful enough.

I do entertain sympathy with Monica Lewinsky today.  She has never been able to hold a permanent job and has not achieved a marriage that she says she wants.**  She has paid a high price for the sins of long ago.

The Clinton-Lewinsky affair seems to have subsided, and I think most people greet her interview with a yawn.  At least Clinton is highly regarded.  I can't believe that this old problem will have any political value.  There are women who hold it against Hillary for staying with this womanizer though there are many other women who oppose divorce, and admire her for staying married as they put up with philandering husbands and stayed in their marriage.  It would seem, viewing former President Clinton's current popularity, that Hillary did the right thing.

* http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-speaks
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky

PRESIDENTIAL MANAGERIAL STYLES

It is pretty clear that politicians don't like Obama's managerial style.  I'm amazed they don't seem to know what it is.  His management style is what I imagine that of Warren Buffet's is.  Buffet buys good companies and keeps the management in place and let's them continue to run their companies.  So if Obama is the CEO of a conglomerate (sounds reasonable), he lets his CEOs run the ball.  In this case it is Senator Harry Reid, leader of the Senate, and Representative Nancy Pelosi, now minority leader of the House.  He let them run the ball on what is called Obamacare (actually the PPACA), it was the same with Dodd-Frank, and also with the recent government shutdown and near disaster of the debt limit.  I haven't followed other victories as closely so I don't know how much they were involved in getting of other successes such as of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Though the PPACA is much more conservative than I like, it is a beginning

The problem with this managerial style with politicians is that they all have egos that won't quit.  They all think they are God's gift to humanity.  They all want to talk to the Big Boss and are frustrated when they have to settle for talking to their CEOs.  This is true of Democrats of the President's party as well as the opposition Republicans.  And it is also true of the media.  Somehow the media can't get enough access though it seems to me they have a lot.  At least after the fact, they like the former President  Bill Clinton style better (My memory is that when he was president, the Republicans did everything in their power to screw him.).  The glad handing, good ol' boy, type of politician. The thoughtful, introspective type of politician is not as much fun.

The Republicans rolled him so often because he is by nature a compromiser, but finally he caught on and said, "No more!"  He didn't realize for a long time that the current crew that controls the House, in particular, views compromise as a sign of weakness.

POLITICIANS AND SEX

One of my favorite jokes used to be that Republicans are the kind of people who pull there shades and draw their curtains but probably don't need to.  Democrats are the kind of people who don't pull their shades or draw their curtains but probably should.  Democrat Grover Cleveland, for example, was elected President even though he had fathered an illegitimate child.*  He is the only President to have been elected twice to non-consecutive terms, and he actually won the popular vote three times.

This joke was ruined during the impeachment process of President Bill Clinton when it was found that there was this woman Republican Representative from Idaho, Helen Chenowith,** who thought Clinton should be impeached for his sexual indiscretions, but who, it turned out, had an affair with a married man for six years.  Of course this paragon of virtue said her case was different.  Fortunately, she had taken the pledge to serve only six years as a Representative and at least kept that promise.  Then there was Republican Representative Henry Hyde*** who had a five year "youthful indiscretion" in his forties (sic) but led the charge to impeach the President anyway.  So this sort of thing is bipartisan.  But these scandals are long ago.

At the present time, we have four political scandals going.  The worst of them in my mind is Democrat Bob Finer, mayor of San Diego, who has been accused of sexual harassment by 14 women at the time of this writing.****  He first claimed his problem was that he was of the "old school", presumably when sexual harassment was permitted.  But this is a very old school as sexual harassment goes back to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and has been "clarified" a number of times since.  In 1980, now 23 years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) produced guidelines to enforce Title VII to define and enforce sexual harassment and they were expanded to educational institutions in 1984.****  One wonders where Mayor Finer has been all this time?  It is no surprise there is a growing effort at recall building.

Perhaps the second worst case involves Republican Mark Sanford when he was governor of South Carolina.*****  He disappeared from sight and left word he was on the Appalachian Trail, though it turned out he was in Buenos Aires.  He eventually admitted having an affair with a woman by the name of Maria Belen Chapur and reimbursed the state for funds used in a visit to Buenos Aires that included a visit with Mrs. Chapur.  The state claimed other financial indiscretions also.  His marriage ended  in divorce, and he now says he is engaged to Mrs. Chapur.  After spending some time in seclusion, he ran to regain his old seat in the House of Representatives First District and was elected.

Next on the list is the sexting by Democrat Anthony Weiner who resigned his House of Representatives seat over the matter and has admitted to doing more of it since he took treatment.*****  So far as I am concerned, this is a case of knowing more than I want to know about a politician's private life including pictures of, um, Weiner's wiener.  But he is the person who put his graphic pictures of himself and dirty texts on the internet where privacy is limited.  And if women were offended by his emails they could simply block them.  So far as we know, he has not met any of his contacts.  Well, this is all too sad because Weiner is not only taking his own political career down but may take his wife's professional career down with him.  She has not shown signs of wanting a divorce action which bothers many women.  Also it is an interesting marriage of a Jew to a Muslim.  I find that his career as a representative was much better than many give him credit for.  It certainly appears that Weiner's compulsive exhibitionism (of all kinds) has ruined his chances for election as New York City mayor.

Last on the list is Eliot Spitzer who resigned from governorship of New York in 2008 over his meetings with upscale prostitutes from the Emperor's Club VIP (since shut down) that cost from $1,000/hr to $5,000/hr and as much as $31, 000/day.******  Much normal prostitution involves trafficking, and the people are forced to enter prostitution and cannot leave, therefore a form of slavery.  Upscale prostitutes are a different matter.  They are in voluntary commerce, able to earn as much as $50,000 in a weekend.  It is a completely different matter and not much different than the common practice of someone marrying a spouse for their money.  So far as I am concerned, it is a matter between Eliot Spitzer and his wife.   Five years later, a contrite Spitzer is running for Comptroller of New York City and has begged forgiveness for his prior indiscretions.  He has gained a certain amount of sympathy because he is running for a lower office than he previously held (Weiner, however, is considered to be running for a higher office.) and is said to have a 19 point lead in his race.

Many sexual indiscretions by politicians are forgiven and some are not.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland
** http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/chenoweth091198.htm
*** http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/hyde091798.htm
**** http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/14/san-diego-mayor-banned-from-hooters/:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment
***** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sanford
****** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/14/eliot-spitzer-poll_n_3756115.html