Something I have always wondered about...if you know that you have

[Raven]

those skinny, white, boney things in your closet, why on earth would you run for national public office and subject yourself to the public spotlight and the vetting? These people, like McCain and his wife, and others I'm sure, must know in advance that everything is going to come out. Why would you subject yourself to that?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. because the money is worth the gamble

[goclark]

2. Greed and Power

will make you do anything.

This will blow over because it's a Republican.

[TwilightGardener]

3. He's a war hero, and the press loves him. He figured he'd get a pass, I guess.

[no name no slogan]

4. Show me a politician who doesn't have skeletons

and I'll show you Lee L. Mercer Jr.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Yeah, but it can get to the point where only Mitt Romney can run for President

We're all imperfect and politicians especially are prone to temptation, given the incredible power they wield.

[Raven]

9. I understand that and don't often make judgments about the way other

people live their lives, but I find it hard to figure how you explain these things to your family mambers.

[sandnsea]

6. How do they get away with it

That's my question. You can't even get away with a bad check in the rest of the country. How can these people have all sorts of scandals in their backgrounds, and people continue to support them. Oh but how you stand or tell a joke, well that disqualifies you on the spot. That's what I don't get. What are people using for brains.

[Barack_America]

7. Lol! The shit that I've posted here alone would tank any run for office.

I'm sure that I would be pegged as a "militant liberal".

Sometimes it freaks me out that these posts are googleable.

ETA: So yeah, as far as political office goes...I'm out.

[madaboutharry]

15. I had the same thought about myself!

It would go something like this: "We now know that ............... is really madaboutharry who writes mediocre posts on DU...."

[electron_blue]

8. I used to wonder that. Now I'm convinced they think they're invincible, plus

they have someone to protect them (pay others off) should the closet door get opened.

[H2O Man]

10. For your interest:

"McCain is a loose cannon. He has commendably defied his party on campaign reform, but he is also capable of bizarre behavior. ... This plus his reputed wayward sex life will surely destroy his evident presidential aspirations." -- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr; Journals; November 2, 1988 (page 833)

[Raven]

11. Wow! Hubris, nothing but hubris.

[H2O Man]

12. I think that

there is much more to come. I believe that the NY Times has more.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. Any insight into why they're dumping it rather than sitting on it

like they usually do for the Republican heirs-apparent? (Wouldn't want to bias the election with information, now.)

[H2O Man]

14. I think that

it is being reported that a magazine was going to expose the NY Times for sitting on this. That, of course, raises questions on who told the magazine?

I suspect that a cell of rabid republicans wants someone other than John McCain as the republican nominee. I am confident that they have more information on other affairs. On one hand, I really am not interested in the mating habits of the republican species; on the other hand, I see this as their party self-destructing.