Once - just once! - I want to see a woman in this position lean over and take the mic from her straying, erring dud of a hubby and announce in ringing terms: "You, sir, are an ass. You betrayed me, your children, your constituents/fans and now you will face the consequences. Alone." And then I’d like to see her march off the dais and into a new life of her own - proud and confident. No nasty words - no "I’m suing your buns off"; just a simple statement and the walk-off.

Why do I want this so much? I suppose because I am saddened every single time I see the faces of these women who have been, along with their children, humiliated and hurt by a husband who forgot the definition of marriage, parenthood and true partnership. I’m tired of seeing women frozen in an embarassed silence. I’m tired of seeing women fighting back well-earned tears in order to present a "game face" to an uncaring public more interested in the salacious details of hubby’s affairs than about her. I am tired of the charade of support that must inevitably filter down to any children involved in ways that are incalculable. And I am tired of the lack of accountability for men in public life who have revealed their feet of clay. I’m no prude - affairs happen. But staying committed and keeping that strangled, tangled "good wife" pose isn’t always the best answer, I feel. Sometimes a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do - and I hope I live long enough to see it happen. Once. Just once.

I believe both women and men can recover from infidelity.   It takes time and it takes renewed trust.   Sometimes it can strengthen a marriage.  Other times it literally destroys it.   I believe it depends on the personalities of those involved.   When couples have children it changes the way one looks at breaking up a family because of one bad decision.   The children shouldn’t be punished in my opinion.   It takes strong, unselfish parents to rebuild a family and move forward.  

When this happened to Hillary Clinton she stood by her man I believe because of their special agenda.   Both aspired to be political centers of influence and neither one was going to back away from that because of a "minor" trust issue or so it seemed to the public.   I believe Hillary has been tolerating Bill’s insatiable appetite for other women for a long time.  Now it seems, many years later, that they are closer than ever before.

I don’t know what I would do if it happened to me now that the children are grown.  

I think how a couple deals with infidelity is between them.  They could have one of those "special arrangements" of somewhat of a "don’t ask, don’t tell" variety, but inevitably, if it’s a public figure, the public gets wind of it.  They stick together because it’s politically and socially prudent.  What they get personally from the marriage from externally (superficially) means more than what goes on behind closed doors.  

Susan, you got a tiny bit of your wish from Gov. Sanford’s wife when he seemed to disappear and she did not defend him or offer a cover, she just said, "I don’t know where he is," which made him have to tell when he got back.  Good for her! 

Of all the women posted in the slide-show, the one that stands out the most that SHOULD NOT have stayed under any circumstance in my opinion is Ted Haggard’s wife. He is Gay! And not only is he Gay but he is that insulting type of Gay. The type that looks at who he is and his desires as being a sin, something that is A-moral and should be casts out of his body.

She herself spoke of his sexual dalliances with men as being something that wasn’t "normal" and was just a period when Satan had entered his soul. No, that wasn’t it, your husband is Gay.  And he is not only lying to you, his children and the world, worst of all he is lying to himself.

I still just reel over Hillary and her "not some woman standing by her man" comment - what’s wrong with it? 

Men stand by their women as well. Years ago a woman named Theresa Rodriguez was charged with having run a Ponzi scheme in Houston which involved some of the most "bold-faced types" including some who participated in it but were never charged, Enron wasn’t the first curious financial scandal where some who stole got to keep what they stole, and her husband was a sergeant, as I recall, with Houston Police Department.  And every day during the trial he was right there. Standing by his woman. 

There are lots of women who stand by their man for the wrong reason while denying they are doing so. 

There are lots of women standing by their man simply because they committed to stand by their man. Through thick or thin.