3 ms·

Should politicians' sexual behavior be private?

3 points by Jun8 15y ago

Jun8 15y ago
tl;dr Since Weiner's sex life is private his only wrongdoing in this affair is because he made the Democrats lose a valuable candidate for NYT Mayor. The wrongness of this essay goes to the heart of the matter, I think. When the (similar) Strauss-Kahn affair surfaced recently the overwhelming French response was that he was tricked and that this was his private life anyway. One aspect of why people were angry with Strauss-Kahn was that he got himself out of the presidential race, and caused Le Pen to get more votes. This is, in essence, exactly what this essay says for Rep. Weiner. I find such an "us vs. them" mentality abhorrent, where when someone from "our" camp screws up we get more angry with them for making "us" look bad rather than what they did. Politicians should be held to a higher standard in their private lives than normal people, if you cannot handle this (or don't want to) then don't go into politics. Things that can be deemed OK (and legal) for normal people, i.e. sending a shirtless photo of yourself to a woman on Craigslist, having sex with a prostitute (e.g. in Nevada) are off-limits for politicians. Another interesting point is that such behavior in these men (they are almost exclusively men) are not isolated incidents: Strauss-Kahn had a history of aggressive women groping, Weiner was sexting with six women, etc., so we can't write it off as a momentary lapse of reason. This is exactly "broad generalizations made nowadays about the sex and powerful men" that evidence shows to be true again and again and that Bader calls bullshit, because he's blinded by his political agenda.
bediger 15y ago
Of course it should! That way, they're more, um, pliable, when the FBI or NSA gets hold of evidence of some 2-sigma behavior on the part of a Senator or Congressman. No? Well, why do you think that FISA rubber stamps every single warrant request they get? Why does the US Congress not get outraged over 4th Amendment violations like the NSA dragnet wiretaps? Why does the Black Budget just get bigger and bigger without any question?

3 points by Jun8 15y ago

Jun8 15y ago

tl;dr Since Weiner's sex life is private his only wrongdoing in this affair is because he made the Democrats lose a valuable candidate for NYT Mayor. The wrongness of this essay goes to the heart of the matter, I think. When the (similar) Strauss-Kahn affair surfaced recently the overwhelming French response was that he was tricked and that this was his private life anyway. One aspect of why people were angry with Strauss-Kahn was that he got himself out of the presidential race, and caused Le Pen to get more votes. This is, in essence, exactly what this essay says for Rep. Weiner. I find such an "us vs. them" mentality abhorrent, where when someone from "our" camp screws up we get more angry with them for making "us" look bad rather than what they did. Politicians should be held to a higher standard in their private lives than normal people, if you cannot handle this (or don't want to) then don't go into politics. Things that can be deemed OK (and legal) for normal people, i.e. sending a shirtless photo of yourself to a woman on Craigslist, having sex with a prostitute (e.g. in Nevada) are off-limits for politicians. Another interesting point is that such behavior in these men (they are almost exclusively men) are not isolated incidents: Strauss-Kahn had a history of aggressive women groping, Weiner was sexting with six women, etc., so we can't write it off as a momentary lapse of reason. This is exactly "broad generalizations made nowadays about the sex and powerful men" that evidence shows to be true again and again and that Bader calls bullshit, because he's blinded by his political agenda.

bediger 15y ago

Of course it should! That way, they're more, um, pliable, when the FBI or NSA gets hold of evidence of some 2-sigma behavior on the part of a Senator or Congressman. No? Well, why do you think that FISA rubber stamps every single warrant request they get? Why does the US Congress not get outraged over 4th Amendment violations like the NSA dragnet wiretaps? Why does the Black Budget just get bigger and bigger without any question?