Double Standards

If you are watching the news, you have undoubtedly heard about this governor from North Carolina who lied to basically everyone about going on vacation in the Appalachian trail, while he was really cheating on his wife with some lady in Argentina.
This story is getting a ton of coverage, and two things have stood out to me: first, that the guy at least had the decency to come out and admit what he did, rather than conjure up yet another lie to cover his tracks. I respect that. If you are going to be a spineless, disloyal and deceitful slime, at least own up to it.
But the second thing that stood out to me is what I want to rant about: the double-standard of American media coverage and culture (and of the North Carolina governor, apparently). This man admittedly had an affair, and got caught. Sucks to be him right now, but he certainly should have known this would happen. As a result of the controversy, he has resigned as the president of the Republican Governors association or something like that, but not as governor of his state. And that is what people are talking about, which is driving me nuts.
Granted, this guy cooked up some ridiculous story about a farcical vacation while he snook away to betray his wife and family, as well as prove himself to be a hypocrite of the highest order. So he is guilty of not covering his tracks very well, of lying and of cheating on his wife. Those three things only differentiate him from the vast majority of politicians in that he didn’t cover his tracks.
I can probably count the number of politicians I believe to be faithful husbands or wives on one hand (go Mitt!). The Bill Clintons probably outnumber the honest politicians 10 to 1. So the question that I am forced to ask myself is why people are giving this guy such a hard time. Why are they all demanding his head? Because he had an affair? If that was the case, then we would have to re-people American politics on a whole-sale basis. This is where the double-standard comes in. For some politicians, dalliances are permitted, and even (as in the case of Teflon Willie) admired. But for others they are a political death sentence, and I just can’t see any way that is fair.
My personal politics is this: if you get married, you have made a legal agreement to not have sex with anyone else. Period. In truth, I would love to see every politician who lacks the rudimentary common sense required to not trade your career for a piece of intern ass get kicked to the curb. But it is not going to happen.
I would also like to live in a world where it is impossible for people to criticize someone for doing something that they are doing themselves. You have these commentators and pundits who are up in arms, but my inner cynical prophet tells me that most of these wind-bags are only years away from their own affair scandal.
Stuff like this makes me tired, because people only claim to care when the affair is sensational, but when it is their own marriage, it seems that virtually the whole world thinks cheating on, betraying, harming, embarrassing, and debasing their spouses is completely OK, as long as you don’t get caught.
And that is the other thing: why should this guy resign? Does his affair somehow make him a less competent governor? Sure it is bad for his public image, but he is still the same guy he was before he decided to partake of some sex-tourism. If he hadn’t been caught, nobody would have ever thought less of him. I heard today that he was on the short list for Presidential candidacy for 2012 before he stupided himself to career death. If he had not been outed, he could have easily been elected, and likely would have run on his “upstanding character and family values.” And people would have voted for him. But he got caught, so we can be mad at him, while selectively choosing to NOT be mad at ourselves, or our favorite movie stars, who do the exact same thing as him. Because we, famously, are two-faced, double-standard-loving, hypocrites.