Kerry's So-Called Female Problem

You may have already heard - either through the miserable Drudge Report (I don't link to sludge, sorry) or through a number of other, mostly online venues - today that rumors are going around that John Kerry has been involved with a woman either in the not-too-distant past or currently.

From what I've been able to read, there are certainly not enough details to determine whether this is true or not. More unfortunate is that Wes Clark is being faulted as the leaker of the tale.

My take on it is this: I still do not believe that a politician's entire private life is ours to pilfer and plunder as we wish. Human beings err and politicians are human beings.

There are exceptions. You can't yell "uphold family values" every two seconds and then expect me not to notice when you've had 3-4 families in the last 10 years (think Gingrich, think George S. Will, think so many of the GOPers). You can't be a fire-and-Brimstone former minister like Gary Condit who really faulted Clinton during the Lewinsky matter and not get noticed when an intern to which he appeared to be personally linked comes up missing (although it appears that he had nothing to do with her death).

To this day, I do not think it was our business to parade the Lewinsky matter through the media day after day. Monica may have been far younger than Clinton, but they were both consulting adults. And if Mr. Kerry has been involved with someone, that's a matter between him, his wife, and this other woman.

Does it speak to character? Yes. But we all sadly have blips in our character.

But I'd rather have someone lie to me to protect an affair than lie to me about everything from deficits to the reasons for wars. The latter is far more than a character flaw.

What may be more telling is the timing of this "bombshell". How convenient that this is disclosed during the first week in this president's 3+ years in office when he's actually taking real and consistent heat. And that Drudge is the first major outlet to divulge it seems strange since Drudge is (dis)credited by many as being an avenue for Karl Rove (Bush's brain) to smear people. Drudge will print anything outrageous and from the most scurrilous and despicable of sources.