With Mark Sanford’s tearful admission yesterday, he became the latest addition to an ignoble list of politicians who found (placed) themselves in the midst of a sex scandal during the past decade (or so).
THE DEMOCRATIC DIRTY DAWGS
Bill Clinton (1998): During his second term as President, he entered into relations with intern Monica Lewinsky. The fallout led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives but not by the Senate. The Big Dawg was Dirty Dawg.
Gary Condit (2001): Chandra Levy, another intern, disappeared (and was later found dead). The resulting investigation uncovered her affair with the Congressman. Though never implicated in her murder his career in politics was over, he lost his bid for re-election in the Primary. This cat always gave me the creeps.
Jim McGreevey (2004): The former New Jersey governor confessed to a homosexual extra-marital affair in a stunning press conference in which he also resigned. Almost felt sorry for this one.
Gavin Newsom (2007): The current Mayor of San Francisco, he admitted to having an affair with his secretary, who was also the wife of his best friend and campaign manager. Asshole.
Antonio Villaraigosa (2007): The fidelity of the current Los Angeles Mayor has been questioned repeatedly since the early 90’s with two admitted affairs. He is now divorced.
Tim Mahoney (2008): This Dem replaced disgraced Mark Foley….only to disgrace himself with his own sex scandal which then led to his resignation.
Eliot Spitzer (2008): ‘Client Number Nine’, the married former Governor of New York resigned when his involvement in a high-priced prositution ring came to light. Semi-random aside: I think prostitution should be legal, taxed and regulated.
David Paterson (2008): As Eliot Spitzer’s replacement and current Governor of New York, admitted that both he and his wife had stepped out during rocky times in their marriage.
John Edwards (2008): Admitted to entering into an affair with a videographer during his run for the Presidency (and during his wife’s battle with breast cancer). Slimeball.
Kwame Kilpatrick (2008): This former Detroit mayor was convicted for perjury in regards to his sexcapades…and got jail time (busted by his text messages).
THE REPUBLICAN DIRTY DAWGS
Bob Livingston (1998): Tapped to replace Newt Gingrich, and one of the several hypocrites to follow who blasted Clinton for his indiscretions, he admitted an extra-marital affair (thanks to a threatened outing by Mr. Larry Flynt) and resigned. Ironically he was replaced by David Vitter. Hypocrite.
Helen Chenoweth (1998): Considered one of the most Conservative members of the House, and first to call upon Bill Clinton to resign for his infidelities…she maintained a 6 year affair with a married man. As the lone female dirty dawg on the list, I reckon I could call her a Bitch…but I’ll refrain. Hypocrite.
Dan Burton (1998): Like Chenoweth, he was vocal in his condemnation of Bill Clinton and is known as a staunt Conservative. He admitted to having had an extra-marital affair AND to fathering a child out of wedlock. Hypocrite.
Henry Hyde (1998): Though he was spearheading the impeachment of Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, the Congressman admitted to having had an extra-marital affair with a married woman decades earlier. Hypocrite.
Rudy Giuliani (2002): The former NYC Mayor’s sexcapades provided tabloid fodder all the way up until he divorced his wife and married his mistress. Way to stay classy!
James West (2005): A longtime opponent of LGBT rights, this former Spokane Mayor was recalled/stripped of his duties after his involvement in a gay internet sex scandal came to light. Hypocrite.
Don Sherwood (2006): The former Pennsylvania Congressman engaged in an extramarital affair with a woman half his age. The affair came to light when the young lady called 911 from a closet in his DC apartment claiming to have been choked by the Congressman. Though he claimed he was only “giving her a backrub”, he paid a $500,000 settlement. He lost his re-election campaign to Democrat Chris Carney. Skeezy.
Mark Foley (2006): The Florida Congressman was forced to resign when sexually explicit emails and test messages to young male pages were made public. Several past and then current pages came forward claiming to have received the same type attentions from the Congressmen….going as far back as a decade. Skeezy.
Newt Gingrich (2007): Yet another Congresscritter who loudly denounced Bill Clinton for his sexcapades, he admitted in an interview with Focus on the Family (gag) that he had maintained and extramarital affair during the 1990’s. Great big ball of Hypocrisy.
David Vitter (2007): The Louisiana Senator’s phone number showed up in the DC Madame’s phone records and he was forced to fess up to having used her services. He replaced fellow hypocrite Bob Livingston in the House and was one of the hypocritical voices calling for Clinton’s resignation over Lewinsky. Hypocrite.
Larry Craig (2007): The Congressman who made a public restroom in an airport a tourist attraction after being caught soliciting homosexual sex, was also one of the many Republican hypocrites who looked down their noses at Bill Clinton in an ‘oh so holier than thou’ manner. My favorite quote from him about Bill during the Lewinsky debacle:
“The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy – a naughty boy. I’m going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.”
Someone else seems to be a nasty, bad, naughty boy. Hypocrite.
Vito Fossella (2008): After an arrest for drunken driving, the former New York Congressman, and father of three, admitted to an extramarital affair and to having fathered a child with his mistress. Douchebag.
John Ensign (2009): And here we have yet another Congressman who railed against Bill Clinton for his shenanigans, but has since had to admit an affair of his own. One of the latest Republicans with 2012 Presidential asperations to be scratched off the ‘short list’. Hypocrite.
Mark Sanford (2009): Though naked hiking on the Appalachian Trail MIGHT have been a more interesting excuse…..as we all know now, the South Carolina Governor was actually in Argentina visiting his mistress. He is also the last on this list who, while South Carolina Representative, called for Clinton’s impeachment:
“Very damaging stuff. This one’s pretty cut and dried,” Sanford told The Post and Courier in September 1998. “I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally [to resign].”
Though his was perhaps the most sincere of the ‘confessions’, and he stood on his own two feet without draggin’ his wife in front of the cameras with him….he still wins the Dirty Bastard award in my book for having traipsed off to visit his mistress on Father’s Day weekend. Dirty Rotten Dawg. Hypocrite.
