Cheaters Go Long

It seems that in politics there will always be an opportunity to go deep for a long pass and get back into the game.  My first exposure was the Ted Kennedy event - scandal? - in which he drunkenly ran his car off a bridge killing his young lady friend who was not his wife.  In recent times the stunning success of President Clinton to cheat on his wife, lie about it, and remain not only in office but embraced by public favor. New York Governor  Eliot Spitzer, caught whoring with his pants down (but his socks on) surfaced several years later on CNN, and then with a show on Current TV.  And now John Sanford, former Governor of South Carolina,  as the Washington Post headline smirked, "Hiking the comeback trail".  Sanford told whoever needed to know that he was walking along the Appalachian trail when he was actually in Argentina with his lover.  His wife understandably left him.  Sanford is running for the seat in Congress that years ago was the first step in his political career.  He is thought to have a good chance of winning, and has attracted top contributions.  What to make of this trend?  Should we congratulate ourselves that we can forgive transgression?  Should we be ashamed that we are so voyeuristic that we want to see more of these men in hopes they will titillate again?  Should we accept the fact that no one is perfect and sins of the flesh don't diminish political abilities?  Do we have a threshold for forgiveness?  Let's await the fate of John Edwards, former North Carolina Senator and Secretary of State John Kerry's pick as his running mate in the 2004 Presidential race.  Remember, Edwards fathered a "love child" and then paid his campaign aid to claim the child was his.  This dirty laundry aired while Edwards' wife lay dying of cancer.  I do not believe that voters will choose him again.