Gubernatorial Sex > People Losing Their Homes

David Paterson admitted today that both he and his wife have had extramarital affairs, both at the same time when they were going through a rough time in their relationship.

I understand why he would come forward and say this. He's a politician, so at some point someone would probably drag this into the spotlight, and by being forthright with the information he sets an example of honesty that, after recent events, the state of New York sorely needs. So as not to be the butt of too many jokes.

But seriously, why do we even need to know? As long as he does a good job as Governor, I genuinely don't care what he does in his own time. It's not illegal, it doesn't put anyone's life in danger, and it has no bearing on his job! Who are we to judge someone else's private life? Who are we to look into someone else's relationship and use it to determine their fitness for a given profession?

There was a comment left on the New York Times website that was great. It was written by Vivek Chandran and is as follows:

"If say my wife and kid got run by a car .. and I rushed them to hospital.. I’m looking for the best doctor to ensure that my wife and kid get the best medical care possible. Once I find the best doctor .. I do not ask him for his credit history, whether he is gay or straight or whether he has had an extra marital affair. I only look for competence. Similarly I expect only competence from my janitor, my garbage collection person, the baggage handler at the airport, the grocery clerk. When all of us as people do not look for morality but competence in all our transactions with other people .. why do we looks for morality just in the Governor .. who is a provide of another service for all of us."

I literally copied and pasted that, so all errors, grammatical or otherwise, were made by the original poster.

Also, some infidelity statistics for you (taken from various internet sites via Google):

-22 percent of married men have strayed at least once during their married lives.
-14 percent of married women have had affairs at least once during their married lives.
-50 percent of Americans say President Clinton's adultery makes his moral standard "about the same as the average married man," according to a Time-CNN poll.
-17 percent of divorces in the United States are caused by infidelity.
-Affairs affect one of every 2.7 couples
-Ten percent of extramarital affairs last one day, 10 percent last more than one day but less than a month, 50 percent last more than a month but less than a year, but 40 percent last two or more years. Few extramarital affairs last more than four years.
-75% of men and 65% of women admit to having sex with people they work with. (I include this because Paterson admits to having an affair with someone who worked in a different department at the NY Capitol)
-Percentage of marriages that last after an affair has been admitted to or discovered: 31%

Bottom line, someone's private life and relationships have nothing to do with their ability to do their job.

I think we should pay attention to how many people lost money because of the collapse of Bear Stearns. Or how when we were concerned about Spitzer's little whore problem, one of Bush's cronies was spending over $200 billion to bail out predatory banks and lenders?

But no. We are much more concerned about what's happening in someone's pants.