Jack Ryan Drops Out of Illinois Senate Race

That's the word this afternoon and lest you think I'll gloat, you may be disappointed.

Yes, I did feel a certain delightful glee over one of the high and mighty Republicans (so often the ones who write the moral code in their desired image rather than the way they typically operate) being caught with his pants in a cage chair in a kinky club.

But I really do believe that what two consenting adults choose to do in the privacy of their relationship is really up to them. Ryan wasn't propositioning other men's wives to do this - as GOP Congressman Henry Hyde once did before he sat over the impeachment of Bill Clinton - but asking his own wife during their marriage. She said no, and the matter was apparently dropped.

It's more than that though - and my partner today reminded me of it when I chuckled about Ryan in front of him. Nobody really wins when sleaze is substituted for real issues in matters as important as the governing of a city, state, or country. It's wrong when the high and mightly GOP does it, and it's wrong with Democrats and third parties use it.