100% Yes!

I not only admire honesty in others, but I respect the person all the much more for having the integrity to be honest. It’s only when people choose to lie or cover-up a misdoing that I lose faith and trust in them. And if you don’t have trust, what do you have?

There are the exceptions however. John Edwards cheated on his wife who has cancer. There is something about that unfortunately, that makes me despise him. He lied to her, lied to his mistress, lied to the country and now all is suppose to be forgiven? We all have our faults and we all have skeletons in our closets, no one is without sin. But there are some sins…some deceptions that in my opinion can never be forgiven

But then again John Edwards, David Letterman and others could care less what little ol’ Belinda Joy thinks of them.

The thing we are overlooking is that it essentially is none of our business.  These affairs are between the three people involved, but somehow we get sidetracked with the gory details of famous people’s private lives.  While Osama bin Laden was planning the 9/11 attack’s we were busy munching popcorn and watching Bill Clinton play media gladiator to the hungry lions in the republican party.  I was a republican back then and I didn’t agree with the spectacle they made out of what was essentially between Bill, Hillary and Ms. Lewinsky.  Our whole nation stopped for years and circled these people like vultures wanting their scrap of rancid flesh.

What have we become that our appetites for this sort of thing can not be satisfied, or is this just the only tripe the media can cook up nightly? I don’t know the whole thing is bizarre and I think especially in the Edwards case it is sort of sick for us to watch and know about.

I don’t look to David Letterman for spiritual guidance, and he is a not a person aspiring to make policy decisions for this country.  What he does is his private life is no concern of mine.  I like his show and will continue watching.

The terrorists were just beginning a full court press when Bill Clinton was frolicking with a cutie in a blue dress and beret.  He should have been giving 100% of his attention to the job at hand rather than ducking from Hillary’s flying dishes and making asinine remarks about the true definition of "IS".

There will be impeachment recommendations for Mark Sanford during a special legislature.  I support that.  While he was scheming and weaving his Appalachian tale, he should have been focused on the job he was elected to do.  While Mark was admiring tan lines in Argentina, no one knew how or where to locate him if there had been a state emergency or natural disaster.

Belinda I always enjoy your take on issues.  I agree with you about John Edwards.  Doing what he did while his wife was dealing with cancer is digusting.  I always agree the honesty if best.  If we had that more in our political arena with both Dems & Reps we Americans would be in better shape. 

I think they do care what the public thinks because they choose the public life.  I always said to my family if I were really rich or famous I would not want my life out there for all to see.  Sometimes just getting by, being happy, enjoying love ones and taking things day to day is being Rich without the drama.  Edwards is scum, Good for Letterman for being a man about it, and Martha got the penalty she deserved and moved on.  Famous or not everyone should be held to the same standard. If you live your life famous and in the newspapers that goes with the territory.  Suck it up.

Yes its nice when someone can be honest from the beginning but these men and woman was not honest until after they had to be…That does not put it all A OK.

In my personal life, yes, I do appreciate when someone comes clean about a wrong doing.  Finding out later that I’ve been duped or betrayed is far worse and the courage that it takes to confess, unsolicited, shows a certain character.  My husband however, thinks quite differently.  He’s much like Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy - once his good opinion is lost, it is lost forever.  I believe that not forgiving is harder on the offended than it is the offender, but you’ll never convince my husband of that. 

When and where I grew up, it was rude to stick our noses into the neighbor’s business and we minded our own - staunchly.  In today’s world, everyone’s business belongs to everyone else so it stands to reason that if someone in the public forum does something wrong, they not only have to apologize to their spouse, they are expected to apologize to the nation.  Whether the nation grants that forgiveness tends to hinge on a few variables (and they are variable, I don’t mean to be overly cynical, but the nation can be fickle) - track record, likeability, likeability of the spouse, sincerity… I know that judging another’s sincerity may be a bit subjective, but it seems a number of factors roll into making up one’s mind before making that call.  As Candace said, speed makes a big difference - David Letterman for example, came right out and spoke up.  If (like most politicians) one waits until a long period of scrutiny or perhaps until under oath, then sincerity is a bit harder to swallow.  Then there is the politician who cried wolf - What?  A politician telling a lie?  I know this is unlikely, but I’m told it happens. If a politician is caught doing this more than once and then tries to look sincere and ask for absolution, five will get you ten that the public will throw him (her) to those same wolves that he (she) cried about earlier. 

Though most of these famous men are adept at playing the public, body language is still reflective of a person’s true attitude.  You’ll see close-ups of their eyes, their shoulders, and the way they act toward their wives and families. If they’re still acting like the cock on the walk, the public and the press will eat them alive. 

Everyone has done something in their life they have needed to apologize for.  But these public figures - if there is no true feeling of contrition with their apology, there is no balance.  The sympathy vote weighs too heavily with the family, and a vote of loathing will follow the wrongdoer.  If true sincere penitence is present and a balance between feeling empathy for the family and the wrongdoer is present, it is more likely to fade to black much sooner. 

Actually none of them actually came clean until they were caught. Some of them handled it better than others, but all of them only ‘fessed up because they had to.