I guess we’re going to have day after fucking day of “shocking” revelations about thirty-something married moms banging fifty-something married generals. I understand that there is a small possibility that one of these MGLFs (Mother a General would Like to Fuck) got some “classified” documents, which is probably a joke since they’ll classify a goddam ham sandwich, but you know that the real reason that every Beltway rag is going to be full of articles about these four fools is because it’s gossip that they have a good excuse for reporting.
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Chyron HR
If you know what I mean.
jayackroyd
I assume every senior official at the CIA has not complied with the classification requirements. It’s just too big a PITA for no good reason–I can’t take this ham sandwich home? Really? It’s just a fucking ham sandwich.
Punchy
That broad, well, she apparently divulged some classy info in a speech recently. So theres that.
JPL
At what point does the behavior of the top brass harm military moral and national security? Why did Allen send the one with the rock on her hand twenty to thirty thousand documents and emails?
blingee
Anything to help the talking heads distract from the fact they were so useless and wrong during the election. So now they can be useless and wrong on this for a week till the next shiny object comes along that they can be useless and wrong about.
How long before Chuck Todd declares CIAmentum and that the FBI is falling behind. How the fuck do these clowns stay employed. They must be a bunch of brown nosers or something. If I was their boss they would all be GONE!
c u n d gulag
Why is it that I don’t think this is the first time General Petraeus found a younger holster for his pistol?
And gossip is so much easier to prattle on about, than investigating, and explaining to people how they’re about to get screwed if they don’t start trying to make the Democrats avert any “Grand Bargain?”
Raven
Mika haz the sad that you are making fun.
TooManyJens
@Punchy: She just repeated a Fox News report. Which doesn’t say anything good about her, but it’s not leaking classified info.
cmorenc
Generals Petraeus and Allen should have been more fearful of losing precious bodily fluids to these women.
jwb
@Punchy: She also has a security clearance, though it wasn’t active since she was in the reserves. But it’s not like she can claim she didn’t understand how classified materials work.
MikeJ
@cmorenc: Meanwhile, Wichita voted against fluoride.
Raven
@jwb: She’s a West Point grad and a fucking Field Grade Officer, she knew exactly what she was doing.
piratedan
maybe in a strange way I’m happy that this happened, maybe it will give a small but still sane group of Congressional Republicans the cover that they need to join with the Dems and get some budgets passed with little to no drama because everyone’s attention will be on the boys with berets and where they were holstering their weapons.
Anything that will save me from seeing Turtle McConnell and the crying Orange Man explain how they don’t understand political leverage for another week while Faux continues to cry about Benghazi as if they left their hearts and souls there for an ambassador they could have given a shit about but will exploit in the name of anything that allows them to denigrate the Prez for as long as they can, is alright with me. Maybe just maybe I should have broken down that last thought into multiple sentences but these events bring out the worst in me, so please stop me before I subreference yet again……
debbie
@cmorenc:
Dr. Strangelove should be required viewing for every American jonesing for war or military build-up or any other form of American exceptionalism. Especially Grover Norquist with his poopy-man remark.
Raven
@debbie: Like “every American” would get it. One of the best, and often overlooked, scenes is where Sellers has to talk Kennan Wynn into shooting the Coke machine to get change to drop the dime on Col Ripper. “You’ll have to answer to the Coca Cola company”
eta “You’re some kind of deviated prevert and the general found out about it!”
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Shouldn’t the title specify cigars rather than penises?
Mark S.
Does Broadwell emit some irresistible pheromone or something? I mean, she’s an attractive woman, but everything I’ve read is how all these generals, FBI agents, and publishers are slobbering over her and happily flushing their careers down the toilet. Is she one of Mudd’s women (sorry, just watched that recently on netflix)?
Grumpy Code Monkey
I think Bernard has thoroughly covered why this is a Big Deal irrespective of the sexytime; there are concerns about opsec, about abuse of authority, about using your personal cult to advance your career in Washington and influence policy, etc. Not that anyone on TV will talk about that.
Some days I just want to point all the talking heads to a site like 4Chan’s /b/ or something so they can recalibrate their shock meters. There’s a bigger story here than people fucking.
Rommie
The greatest trick the so-called Chicago Thugs in the WH pulled off was keeping this story in the bag somehow until AFTER November 6, even if they had zero to do with it. I’m already seeing lamentations about WHY, WHY NOT ONE WEEK EARLIER in the places I observe in the Wingularity star system. I sincerely hope they find the gall to impeach the president over this. No, stop, don’t.
anibundel
You know, if all the energy that went into slut shaming these women went into solving the rape problem in the military, we’d be a whole lot better off.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Rommie: Especially since Cantor knew about it before the election.
Raven
@Mark S.: Poon tang dawg. Booty Calls.
Raven
I’m a spy, in the house of love.
johnny aquitard
It doesnt take 30,000 pages to coordinate an affair. Not an extramarital affair, that is.
The Kelley woman was described as a socialite who organized parties and fundraisers. Wonder what else she was acting as a liason for.
Raven
T Bogg is fuckin killin it!
Married CIA Director General Saint David Howell Petraeus had an affair with a third-string Bond girl named Broadwell who goes all “hands off my adulterous love-machine .
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/11/12/love-in-the-house-of-spy/
MikeJ
@Raven: I’m just a spy in the house of love.
Napoleon
@johnny aquitard:
Better yet she appears to be ethnically an Arab. How long until that is seized on by some of the wingnuts.
Raven
@johnny aquitard: Chinee Nookie Factory?
John O
What a hilarious, pointless mess. “People Like to Flirt and Get Laid, Sometimes Outside Rule Book!”
News at 11.
Face
OT, but more peeps just wildly unable to come to grips with an Obama reelection.
I foresee both a defense and divorce lawyer in this woman’s near future.
Keith G
Fuckin’ DADT. I guess it was the only thing holding the Army together.
Comrade Jake
Bill Maher had a tweet the other night saying that the original title of Broadwell’s book was “Is It All In?”
anibundel
@Raven:
No, Don Was is a Spy In The House Of Love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8PjjxJ7v78
sherparick
Since the Infotainment Industrial Complex arose in 1980s, sex is the thing that always sells. And since the Donna Rice-Gary Hart fiasco, it all became “relevant.”
The real story, but one that Conservatives are not likely to spend much thought on, is the abuse of all that power the FBI has to snoop at our private e-mails to blow up the private lives of these people. Their own Karma may have helped bring this nemisis on them, but this a reminder that FBI has a power that is truly extraordinary and corrupting.
All these people apparently are mature adults. As for how they do sexytime, that is really only their business and the business of their significant others. But we are all going to get our prurient jollies off thanks to the FBI and Infotainment and Conservative Entertainment Complexes.
Schlemizel
@Raven:
The man is a national treasure!
JPL
Has Fox News called Petraeus a democrat yet?
Corner Stone
@Face:
You kind of have to hand it to her though. She leaves no doubt where she stands on the issue.
Cassidy
Not exactly, but this has been well explained by others.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Rommie:
The story was around much, much earlier. It’s just that the Republicans were too distracted by the election to tell the media what to think about it at the time.
blingee
I’m sure by the end of the week it will ALL be Obama’s fault somehow. Republicans are already trying to make connections and Faux is trying to make it related to their ridiculous Benghazi obsession somehow.
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
So which of the major players in the story will be the first to pose in playboy or playgirl? And which will be the first to release a cookbook?
John O
@sherparick:
Right. Sometimes I’m glad I’m not famous.
I’m so old I still have a great laugh at the first e-mail I ever received, on a system called Groupwise (I think), which said, “Your mother sucks cocks in Hell.”
It was from a good friend, so my response was in kind, and just as inappropriate. Serious laughter ensued.
Corner Stone
@Or something like that.Suffern Ace: Not making any bets right now. I’m going to give it a few more days and see how many more players are involved. Part of me is really praying to FSM there is a video somewhere.
Cacti
@Face:
Somehow I knew this had to be in Arizona. Gilbert/Mesa is ground zero for unhinged, right wing, Mormon, Romney fans.
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
@blingee: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/politics/petraeus-timeline/
CNN has decided it has. Clearly Benghazi belongs in this clarifying and enlightening chain of events.
Ash Can
At the last count, we were up to five fools, including Shirtless FBI Dude. And I’m optimistic that none of them are competent enough to have compromised national security in any appreciable way.
JPL
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Drudge rumored that Petraeus was going to be selected as Romney’s running mate but now that he is involved in p.e.n.i.s.g.a.t.e
that would hurt the President’s campaign.
Okey dokey.
MikeJ
@sherparick:
Investigating a complaint is an abuse of power?
Foxhunter
@Napoleon: She is Lebanese.
Schlemizel
@JPL:
But did he suggest it was good news for John McCain?
J.W. Hamner
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
No… he has posted things, but he has not made a good case for why anyone but significant others should care about this nonsense.
A hagiography… whether written by someone the subject was sleeping with or not… has zero effect on anything. To worry about it is dumb. This is a giant pile of “Who Cares!?” And it has been from the beginning. You guys are just justifying your obsession with the salacious details and the high fives you gave each other when Petraeus resinged.
Foxhunter
@Comrade Jake: Seth Meyers said the pre-print title of the book was “Just the Tip”.
Walk of Shame
The real villain in all of this is birth control.
These sluts would’ve kept their legs shut and not caused a national security crisis, if they didn’t have access to birth control from the pill to condoms.
These career hungry whores would’ve thought twice about banging our generals, because they would’ve had a good chance to be stuck with a general’s bastard spawn that’d have derailed their Lady Macbeth style attempts at career advancement.
I hope all you libtards are happy with what you did by forcing birth control down these sluts throats.
You are the real traitors, who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!
Anya
With all the crazy revelations maybe the next one is that these couples were swingers and the surgeon and his socialite wife had a military fetish. Next on TMZ.
To me the craziest part of the story is that the general (Allen) who’s supposedly leading our troops in Afghanistan found the time to send 30,000 emails to a married woman.
mattminus
Its clear that Hussein’s court wizard, Nate Silver, used numbers to travel back in time and arrange tjis affair so that the general could not testify that the President caused Benghazi just to watch a diplomat die. Because thats just how he rolls.
Kane
It’s like an episode of The Real Housewives.
J.D. Rhoades
Since the Infotainment Industrial Complex arose in 1980s, sex is the thing that always sells. And since the Donna Rice-Gary Hart fiasco, it all became “relevant.”
Because JUDGMENT!
Raven
@Cacti: Yep. my half brothers wife came on my facebook page and went ape shit on me. I ad made it clear to them that I did not want to discuss politics with them. I immediately unfriended him and nmy sibs tell be that she posted some shit about me being a baby and running away. They are right in the belly of that beast in Mesa.
Dork
I cant get over the carnage…
Betrayus’ fam is likely destroyed. Broadwell’s fam is certainly destroyed. Kelley’s hubby is probably stuck between dialing up a therapist or a divorce lawyer, b/c there’s NO WAY she’s tangled up in two Generals and not banging either one. Wingtard FBI dude, if single, got out unscathed, but if he’s married too, well….his life is fucked as well.
And many of them had kids….Christ on a skateboard.
chopper
@jayackroyd:
stay classy, ham sandwich.
catclub
Someone said (on the radio) that the link of all these people is McDill Air Base – which makes perfect sense to have Army Generals headquartered there. (Yes, I know Central Command is there. Or is it SOCOM, which would be Southern Command. South America? Huh?)
Will McDill (MacDill?) become the new Wacko, Texas?
Bago
Please excuse the following vulgarity.
Sweet titty-fucking cock-goblin mcchrist in crocs, Joe “the intern” Scarborough calls up Newt “keep giving me head mistress while I prosecute a politician for infidelity” Gingrich for commentary?
Holy liver-rupturing bald-eagle skull-fucking sands-of-time guano-spewing insect-violating dingo-raping crazy do you have to be to make this happen?
Holy nipple-grating ghost, the mendacity required to think this is a good idea would require at least 50 vomit-laced seminal-swimming turd-blossoms to get off of the ground. Along with a new hyphen key.
That’s some Pound-The-Nails-Through-The-Penis levels of hubris.
Raven
@MikeJ: No, investigating a complaint, finding no criminal activity and not ending the investigation is.
Patricia Kayden
@Face: I was just about to post that story. Hilarious!! Arizona went for The Bot, so what could her husband’s vote have done?
catclub
@Anya: “send 30,000 emails to a married woman.”
I think there are now saying 30,000 pages of emails.
I am thinking the archives from some VERY peculiar USENET group.
Where is AppleJinx when you need him.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: And you have wone today’s hipster shades (ironically expensive cheap sunglasses) and scarf, which went out of style last season for being today’s “I’m too cool and above it all” Dweeb of the Day. You may collect your gift at any high end, second hand clothing store.
maye
The Allen revelations have pushed me over the edge. Enough with the email snooping. I don’t care who’s banging whom. And if they’re looking for a place to cut government spending, I’d like to suggest the office of the sex police for starters.
Cacti
@J.W. Hamner:
You’re wrong. This story is the most importantest thing ever, because DRONEZZZ.
Raven
@catclub: I would spend a lot if time worrying about where CENTCOM is. It’s about communications.
Cacti
@Patricia Kayden:
It’s worse than that. Her husband’s crime was not voting at all. He didn’t even cast an affirmative ballot for Barack Obama.
Corner Stone
Who on this earth ever saw and talked with Ramesh Ponnuru and said, “Hot damn! I’ve got to get this guy on TV stat!!”
Anya
@sherparick:
Except for Kelley’s wingnut FBI agent friend, I think the FBI acted somewhat appropriately. We can argue about the validity of launching an investigation since the original emails were not threatening but I think they did their job. The person who made it possible for this to be disclosed is Eric Cantor.
R-Jud
@Bago:
*cringe*
Cassidy
@catclub: SOCOM is Special Operations Command and it is based out of McDill AFB. USSOUTHCOM is Southern Command.
Culture of Truth
It’s a McDill Pickle
geg6
@sherparick:
Yeah, because we are all the heads of the CIA and the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, we should be freaking out about how the FBI snoops into our emails. And no one should ever look into it if we send threatening emails which are then reported to the FBI.
Jeebus. The stupid is a bit strong in here.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@J.W. Hamner:
Actually, you’re full of shit.
Army Regulation 600-20
1. Compromise, or appear to compromise, the integrity of supervisory authority or the chain of command;
2. Cause actual or perceived partiality or unfairness;
3. Involve, or appear to involve, the improper use of rank or position for personal gain;
4. Are, or are perceived to be, exploitative or coercive in nature;
5. Create an actual or clearly predictable adverse impact on discipline, authority, morale or the ability of the command to accomplish its mission.
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
I dunno, I thought it was conservatives who were the sex police. The only thing I’m concerned about here is the FBI wasting manpower to investigate vaguely inappropriate emails.
aimai
@maye:
I think they should immiediatly give every soldier above the rank of Colonel (do we still have Colonels?) a separate computer and email account, located in the Caymans, for booty calls. This will make accusations of improper classified materials and vulnerable gmail accounts a little more irrelevant. Or: we are going to need a bigger internet for all the sexting.
aimai
J.W. Hamner
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
He wasn’t in the army. Next?
Anya
@catclub: Thanks for the correction. I read it very late last night so my mind was half sleep.
Anyway, if the FBI was investigating the Broadwell lady how did they have access to the Kelley lady’s emails?
handsmile
@blingee:
catclub
@Bago: Don’t hold back, now. Tell us what you really think.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: Your argument is deliberately misleading. No one here has said anything regarding the sex. AAMOF, I would be willing to bet that most people here have said at some point in time we don’t care who was polishing who’s knob and when, although Corner Stone went further and hoped for video tape. Admittedly they are attractive women, but no one else here want’s to see Petreaus’s weapon of choice. Essentially, you’re making an argument that doesn’t exist except for your own convenience to be suitably contrarian.
Now, if you’d like to address most of the arguments here re: Petreaus cult of personality, disclosure of classified information, ethical violations for a job that requires you to not be screwing around, abuse of power, possibly sleeping with a subordinate(fraternization) and the ever expanding circle of highly positioned people doing questionable things with people, by all means please do.
Corner Stone
@Patricia Kayden:
What I found even funnier was he couldn’t get away from her while she was trying to run him down!
You don’t have to be a bull fighter to evade a damn car.
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
@handsmile: Oh god. They had Mrs. welch on to comment on the broadwell affair? What’s her position? That it’s alright to steal a man if he marries you later?
Anya
@Corner Stone: is Ponnuru the dude who sounds like he’s been intaking a large quiantity of helium?
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: Ummm, this potentially started when he was in the Army and General Officers are always subject to reinstatement to Active Duty. Next.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@J.W. Hamner:
He was retired, not resigned. He began his affair when he was on active duty.
Next?
Raven
Great headline!
Petraeus probe includes top general in Afghanistan
catclub
@Anya: Obviously, the Kelley person said that she was getting harassing emails, so the FBI has to go in and look at those emails on her account.
That means that she did not think that getting 30,000 pages of emails from some other general would be out of the ordinary.
If that was on some _different_ email account, then she is just as stupid/crazy as all the other people in this story.
Except for that one ‘because of his worldview’ line about the FBI agent, Is there a very strenuous effort to NOT point out that these are all rightwingers? And possibly, pretty far rightwingers?
I have even more respect for Obama; he has to deal with these people as if they are sane.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Dork: I think you’re confusing the concept of lower class divorce with upper class divorce. Like abortion, the shame of divorce only applies to the little people.
James K. Polk, Esq.
At least the Nice Polite Republicans can stop their whinging about the “fiscal cliff” sequestration for a few days now they have a “real story” worth reporting on…
/s
Punchy
But will all this spurn Petraeus to get a non-12-year-old hair cut for once?
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
1) Petreaus cult of personality,
Who cares?
2) disclosure of classified information,
No evidence.
3) ethical violations for a job that requires you to not be screwing around,
I don’t believe there is any such job… being a good spouse has nothing to do with how good you are at your job. In addition, I’ve not seen anyone cite regulations or policy that he violated by having an affair.
4)abuse of power,
No evidence of this.
5) possibly sleeping with a subordinate(fraternization)
She was his biographer not his subordinate.
So like I said, a big bunch of “Who cares!?” to justify how giddy you are that he resigned.
Raven
@catclub: And watching Tom Price babble about how this is about “The White House” is hilarious. These fuckers blasted the list of retired field and flag officers for Romney all over the damn place and NOW they these lifer motherfuckers are Obama’s responsibilty.
Comrade Jake
Remember when MoveOn caught all sorts of flack for the General “Betrayus” ads? Who knew they were so prescient?
Corner Stone
@Cassidy: Oh come on. That was clearly a comment pointing out the sheer Mel Brooks level of ludicrousness in this farce.
I mean, the allegedly spurned FBI agent who got all this kicked up a notch sending pics of himself shirtless is really the equivalent of the Sheriff holding a gun to his own head in Blazing Saddles.
And I can only imagine Petraeus whizzing into a piss bucket and smugly remarking that, “it’s good to be the king”.
The whole thing’s just rivaling Peak Wingnut as a theoretical construct at this point.
Raven
@catclub: There ZERO obvious about any of this shit.
J.W. Hamner
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Cite?
catclub
@Cassidy: JW Hamner is being deliberately obtuse. Best policy for trolls is lack of feeding.
Bill E Pilgrim
I think H.G. Wells said it best:
After all man’s devices had failed, the Generals of the mighty US military were defeated by the smallest entities that God in his wisdom had put upon this Earth: their penises.
Villago Delenda Est
@Walk of Shame:
Oh, that’s good.
So, what else happened when you mind-melded with the Dobson creature?
Kane
We do more before 9AM than most people do all day.
Anya
@catclub: I guess that’s why she hired a lawyer and a PR person.
Anyway, this affair is good for the President because it rid him of Petraeus who won’t be able to write a book and undermine the president. It completely neutralized Petraeus.
Tim I
@Or something like that.Suffern Ace: CNN is idiotic beyond mere words. I am left speechless by their stupidity.
Perhaps the writer never played “which of these things is not like the others” in kindergarten.
Raven
@Comrade Jake: me me me
Bill E Pilgrim
I think H.G. Wells said it best:
After all man’s devices had failed, the Generals of the mighty US military were defeated by the smallest entities that God in his wisdom had put upon this Earth: their pênises.
Corner Stone
@Raven:
It’s funny because my spellchecker wants to correct “petraeus” into “perpetrates”.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Am I the only one who thinks Holly Petraeus looks like an older version of Mare Winningham’s character in St. Elmo’s Fire?
Cassidy
@Corner Stone: No judgement. Just stating you upped the ante a little.
At this point it is becoming a comedy of errors.
Villago Delenda Est
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Also, the retired are still subject to the UCMJ.
hueyplong
That Cantor was clued in pre-election and yet we didn’t hear about it until afterward tells me that this distraction from “fiscal cliff” b.s. is harmless from the administration’s point of view.
It will have the added benefit of pushing aside Benghazi, The Greatest Betrayal Evah, though we’ll probably have to wade through a day or two of desperate attempts to link the two on Glenn Beck’s chalkboard.
To the extent that this all results in so much as a slight hesitation to deify politically ambitious general officers, it’s a healthy thing, isn’t it?
gene108
@James K. Polk, Esq.:
They have a real story. How Obama’s DoJ kept the whole thing secret for months, as the FBI kept gathering information about the scandal.
Why did Obama instruct his DoJ to keep Congress in the dark? What does Obama have to hide?
Who will head up the first House hearings about this threat to national security*, Peter King, Darrel Issa or will it be a joint session of various House committees valiantly trying to get at the Truth?
*The threat to national security, of course, is Holder not informing Congress of every step of the FBI investigation.
aimai
@Or something like that.Suffern Ace:
Well wasn’t that Mrs Mrs Mrs Ben Bradlee’s position (ahem?). Man, why oh why aren’t we ever lucky enough to ask someone who fucked her way to the top and to national tv a blunt question like that? “And now, Suzy, we’ve asked you here to represent former mistresses who fucked up their trophy lover’s public image?”
aimai
Odie Hugh Manatee
Oh you people, you know that Petraeus had a weak moment and let his guard down. All of that stationing overseas can do that to a stud… I mean, military leader. If it wasn’t for that woman…
it would have been another.
My wife is flabbergasted that people are excusing his actions and making it sound like he was taken advantage of in a “moment of weakness” by some bitch in heat.
If this had been a Democrat then Cantor would have been sounding the alarm bells right before the election just to kneecap Obama.
Good thing it was a conservative! At least this one doesn’t have a wide stance problem.
Bago
@catclub: It’s a pity that utter revulsion has to be expressed through a biological nomenclature. A cloaca of crassness, if you would. Personally, I enjoy nipples, etc.
catclub
@Raven: I agree. Saying anything in this whole affair ( pun intended) is obvious, is wrong.
Perhaps I should have tried,
‘A little thought might suggest, that if you complain to the FBI about harassing emails, the FBI may look into all of your emails, even the ones _you_ think are irrelevant to what you complained about.’
Culture of Truth
Holly is not going to go lightly.
J.W. Hamner
@Villago Delenda Est:
Which is dumb, but regardless has nothing to do with his former job as Director of the CIA.
Raven
@catclub: ding
Higgs Boson's Mate
@catclub:
Agreed; its mind is made up and it won’t be deterred by facts.
catclub
@Odie Hugh Manatee: “one doesn’t have a wide stance problem.”
Yet. The day is young.
And someone else said DADT repeal has not been blamed (yet).
Bill E Pilgrim
@Culture of Truth: This is just the start, wait until she discovers that he’s been having breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Corner Stone
@Anya: Yes. He’s awful both in his content and his presentation. I just find him vile on several levels.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@catclub:
Hope springs eternal.
BOING!
:)
cmorenc
@piratedan:
Yes, but-for the brilliant shiny object of the Petraeus sex scandal sucking all the available media oxygen for scandals out of the atmosphere, the GOP would have been blaring “Bengazi” from every media loudspeaker at maximum volume. IMHO the GOP house leadership is just sensible enough to realize that separately or together, neither Bengazi nor the Petraeus sex scandal are near the critical mass to plausibly launch any impeachment campaign, but you can bet they’ll still bang on whatever drums seem most likely to detract from Obama’s election victory political capital.
Tim I
@Anya: War is hell!
Raven
“Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq, by Linda Robinson was his first bio.
liberal
@Comrade Jake:
I thought exactly that earlier this morning.
What really revolted me about that whole episode was the Dems not fully supporing M.O.
Regnad Kcin
@mattminus: no not numbers, arithmetic. numbers don’t kill dreams, arithmetic do.
Villago Delenda Est
@J.W. Hamner:
You clearly are ignorant of the background to all this.
Frankly, it’s bullshit, but Art 134 of the UCMJ is in play here, as he’s still subject to it.
Hell, it’s possible to construe parts of the UCMJ as to prohibiting all sexual activity except missionary position sex between husband and wife, which means that EVERY SWINGING DICK in the entire military is in violation of it.
liberal
@Cassidy:
Heh.
One thing I haven’t seen brought up about the newest twist: if this Allen guy is so important, how the hell did he have _time_ to send all those emails? (20-30 _thousand_ pages?)
Schlemizel
@Comrade Jake:
If I were any good at photoshop I’d create a picture of Mrs. P4 holding a copy of that ad
J.W. Hamner
@Villago Delenda Est:
It’s fine that he is still subject to it, but he was at a civilian position not a military one. The UCMJ has ZERO to do with this.
PreservedKillick
@liberal:
Document dump.
Cassidy
@liberal: Regardless of location, the upper brass spends most of it’s day responding to email and going to meetings. I don’t know what the time frame is, but I’m not surprised. My wife and I would talk through email if Skype wasn’t working and just send email back and forth. That easily becomes 30+ emails in a 30-45 minute time span. What I”m getting at is he’s sitting there reading email, something from her pops up, he fires off a response, goes back to what he was reading, wash, rinse, repeat.
Raven
Be careful how you spell Jill Kelley when you hit the google!
Schlemizel
ANy truth to the rumor P4 is going to have a follow up to “All In” titled “Just the Tip”?
Raven
@Cassidy: Long way from MARS phone calls and cassette tapes mailed!
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: As someone stated, you’re being deliberately obtuse. If the investigation concludes that this thing began while he was on Active Duty, the UCMJ can have everything to do with it. An affair is a crime in the military. This doesn’t even begin to include any possible dereliction of duty, so on and so forth. As for the CIA, or any intelligence/ Federal Law Enforcement Agency, you are expected to conduct yourself in a certain manner. Any personal actions that could compromise anything is a firing offense.
But I’m sure you know this. You’re being contrarian to be the cool kid. Did you go pick up your prize, yet?
Punchy
@Culture of Truth: Are you calling her fat?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@blingee:
Funny how our corrupt and dysfunctional news media keeping turning up right in the middle of every fiasco and clusterfuck of the last decade or two, and yet nobody ever loses their job in that industry on account of it, nor does the public get informed that we may have a problem in medialand. It is as if there was a unknown serial killer on the loose, and for some strange reason the Chief of Police and the District Attorney keep showing up at the scene of the crime, with their fingerprints all over the murder weapons no less, and yet somehow no arrests are made, no grand juries are empanelled, and tragically the general public isn’t getting any closer to knowing who is responsible or when the crime spree will end.
The Moar You Know
@Foxhunter: Hezbollah to you, unless you hate America.
You don’t hate America, do you?
Schlemizel
@J.W. Hamner:
Not to try and disrupt a perfectly good pissing contest (nice streams btw) but do either of you have a background in military law? Other than article 134s maybe?
Cassidy
@The Moar You Know: Is that still athing? I thought we were on Muslim Brotherhood now?
Cassidy
In moderation. Someone help, please.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Have you ever seen anyone in a prominent position on the right admit that they were wrong or at fault? No?
That explains the media in a nutshell.
Villago Delenda Est
@Raven:
Aye, indeed. Instant communication gives you plenty of opportunity for instant fuckups.
catclub
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Exactly.
The one I am reminded of is all the generals who were simultaneously paid by the media to comment on the war, and by the military and the MIC to push the war. That story went nowhere – except to here.
JPL
@Raven: I don’t watch Joe often but today I noticed he sat with arms folded most of the time. Is that his normal pose?
catclub
@Cassidy: Apparently sisterhood is powerful.
J.W. Hamner
@Schlemizel:
No I do not. I have no idea if he will be prosecuted by the military, I am just saying that it has nothing to do with his job at the CIA… unless you are suggesting he is going to end up at Leavenworth or something.
@Cassidy:
I am not trying to be a cool kid, I just think the words you have typed here are utter nonsense. I don’t think an affair is a fireable offense in ANY job. President, CIA chief, General, or janitor. It’s nobody’s business and has nothing to do with professional competence.
Yes I know, people will chime in with threats of blackmail or pillow talk or whatever, but those are separate issues. If he passed on state secrets to his lover then fine, get him for that, but unless that’s the case I have no idea why we needed to know about it.
MomSense
This has to help McCain right?
sherparick
@MikeJ: Yep, it is when you go to a “friend” who happens to be an FBI agent and ask this “friend” to use his office and official power to start up an investigation. The power being abused is the power that the FBI now has, since the Patriot Act and other post 9/11 laws to look at private e-mail accounts without needing “probable cause.” It is the “power,” which should be curtailed that I would like people to pay attention to.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/petraeus_likely_most_mentally_balanced_individual.php
1badbaba3
Will no one comment on Newt fucking Gingrich on the morning joke? I didn’t get to actually hear it, as I was only passing by the teevee. Didn’t see it mentioned when I speed-scanned the earlier thread. So perhaps I wasn’t quite awake, and I only imagined it. I know, I know, teh Google is my friend. But, c’mon, it’s Newt fucking Gingrich.
Now if it was about Broadwell-on-Kelley action pics…
ericblair
@J.W. Hamner:
No they’re not: the existence of the affair itself is a serious security incident that Petraeus had a duty to self-report, and that he didn’t makes it a lot worse (adjudicative Guideline D). The incident is pretty much a slam-dunk to get his clearance suspended, and a CIA director with no security clearance isn’t much of a CIA director.
Xenos
@aimai: And wasn’t Suzy writing an article on Welch when she got to know him and started the affair?
The fact that Suzy was not in the slightest bit ashamed to be appearing in that show is really pretty disturbing.
hep kitty
Maybe so, but it’s been great fodder for the right wing consipiracists since it’s all just a big coverup for Benghazi, somehow. So glad they still have something to do besides tantalizing us with threats of leaving the country.
sherparick
@J.W. Hamner: This is quite correct, and given the history of the CIA and the spying game in general, we would have to shut down the whole thing if we told everyoone they could only have sex with their significant others. However, as Bernard Finel points out, Ms. Broadwell was not an ordinary paramour, but part of the General Petraeus promotion industrial complex. And General Petraeus was also guilty of a signifcant misjudgement in his choice of paramoours. Neither Ms. Broadwell or Ms. Kelly appear to have the tact, judgement, or wisdom of a Marguerite Gautier (although General Petraeus does bear some likeness to Baron Varville (this is not a compliment). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_(1936_film)
slag
I, for one, would love to see how far this spy v. spy narrative thread can be pulled. Maybe we can eventually move beyond this little s&m routine and into torture. Some of us haven’t forgotten about that.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
@Dork:
It’s all the fault of ghey marriage.
Are we sure he’s a Republican? He’s had an affair with an adult woman, with no diapers or other kinks. Sounds too vanilla to be a GOPer.
J.W. Hamner
@ericblair:
That’s not what CNN’s source says. They say it would “depend on the circumstances”, and if would bet that if he chose to stay on and weather the storm he could have.
Schlemizel
@J.W. Hamner:
Sorry I think you guys have carried about as far as you can & it may be getting more personal. Thought I’d be a smart ass & try to distract you all 8-{D
Schlemizel
@1badbaba3:
He was their go-to guy on the TODAY show yesterday. Matt Lousyer did is typical job of interviewing the slimy salamander to get his 2 cents on the topic
Without ever mentioning why Nootie should have any insight into the whole marital fidelity issue
ericblair
@sherparick:
Per the rules for collateral clearances (that is, the Top Secret part; the intelligence compartments have additional rules), if you self-report the affair to security, keep it discreet, and there are no other issues, you might be OK. That said, there are multiple buildings in Northern Virginia for intelligence people who have had their clearances suspended for one reason or another (financial, drugs, booze, foreign contacts, and other stuff) and are waiting for adjudication, so it’s not like this doesn’t happen with regularity.
ericblair
@J.W. Hamner:
You mean the circumstances being that he kept it hidden from CIA security, that there was an FBI cyberstalking investigation related to this, that the other person in the affair was under related investigation for improper handling of classified material, and that this could hardly be considered “strictly private and discreet” now that it’s international headlines? I’ve personally seen people get clearances yanked for way less than this.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: They are most certainly not seperate issues when dealing with the national security apparatus. You’re refusal to understand this borders on pathological.
And while I’m against using sexual daliances as an issue for ethics violations, the reality is they are. You may not think that is fair, but this is the world we live in. Personally, I think the Director of any 3 letter agency should have the maturity and foresight to not place him/herself in a position to be scrutinized for something of this nature. That lack of judgement, alone, shows me they do not belong in a position of power. Secondly, as has been stated, extramarital affairs in the military are a crime. If the affair began while he was on AD, a crime was committed. Whether they choose to pursue it is another matter and highly unlikely, but no military member sleeps with someone other than their spouse without knowing that they are willfully committing a crime. Again, the disregard for a cultural norm (military) and what i’m guessing a “rules are for little people” mentality shows a clear lack in judgement.
Bendal
This is indeed a big deal. High on the CIA “do not do this” list is “have an affair”, especially if you deal with sensitive information. Way too easy to start down a slippery slope of “well this isn’t ‘really’ sensitive, here have a look”, or becoming blackmail fodder at a politically bad time.
Since Petraeus was CIA Director, he definitely should have known he wasn’t above the rules.
Now to the FBI. WTF were they thinking to not let someone know about this investigation? Some people need to get stern talking to’s from their boss, right up the chain to the President, apparently.
schrodinger's cat
I have a feeling that this was not the sainted General’s first lapse. He is 60, you don’t start cheating that late in life, he probably started younger than that. Its probably a pattern of behavior and not an isolated incident. I am sure there are other skeletons in his closet.
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
So, you think Bill Clinton should have resigned or been removed from office then?
Cassidy
@Bendal: In the FBI’s defense, considering how bad the FLEO’s have been getting smacked around lately, they probably thought they were trying to get their ducks in a row first.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner: You are as predictable as a winger.
And no, the circumstances aren’t the same. Lewinsky had nowhere near the access as Broadwell did.
danimal
What do you do if All In is Never Enough?
Cassidy
@danimal: The circle did widen to two Generals.
ericblair
@Cassidy:
It’s not comparable anyway. Elected officials are not subject to the same clearance procedures as employees or contractors: they are assumed, by being elected, to have been vetted by the people. Congresscritters don’t get security clearances per se, they swear oaths of secrecy, and the President is the ultimate classification authority.
There is a mechanism for removal of the President, and it was followed, and the President was not removed from office, and the electorate was fairly pissed off at Congress for trying it, so you may consider procedure to have been followed.
Cassidy
@ericblair: I didn’t know that. I assumed they were issued some form of conditional clearance based on what they were involved in.
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
It’s funny you say that, being you are making the exact same arguments conservatives used against Clinton. Blackmail, shows lack of judgement, etc… and it’s one of the primary reasons I find your fanaticism for Petraeus’s sexual habits so distasteful.
Clinton was just as vulnerable as Petraeus to blackmail and had some pretty damn high security clearance. If an affair is fire-able offense for the head of three letter agencies then it would have to be one for their boss wouldn’t it? You can not be cool with the President having affairs and yet be up in arms about the Director of the CIA doing the same without being a gigantic flaming hypocrite. PERIOD.
gwangung
@J.W. Hamner: Not making sense here. I get a sense of “I have a hammer, so….”
catclub
@Cassidy: DNFTT
Cassidy
Straw man. I, nor anyone else, has made an issue of this.
The rest has been well explained by @ericblair: and Bernard on an earlier thread.
Lastly, you make many assumptions and are looking the ass. 1) I personally have never called for Petreaus’s resignation. He resigned so it’s a non-issue. 2) I never said I was cool with Clinton’s proclivities. I said the two situations are not the same and @ericblair: expanded on that further.
At this point, any further conversation with you is going to be a circular loop of your assumptions and straw men to make a point that never really existed. I have better things to do. This has been explained. You not liking the answer doesn’t make it less true.
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
Neither you, nor Bernard, nor @ericblair have made a sinlge point that I have not ably addressed. Feel free to run along though.
Cassidy
@catclub: I know. I should have followed that advice earlier. The kicker is I always liked Petreaus. For us, he was a big morale booster. His COIN doctrine brought a cerebral quality back to what we were doing instead of kicking down doors and shooting people carrying shovels. I never had many opinions on the guy beyond that, but I didn’t think he was a bad guy. I always assumed he was as arrogant as the next GO, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner:
Fixed for accuracy.
snailbiscuits
@catclub:
SOCOM is Special Operations Command and I believe it is at Pope Air Force Base, SOUTHCOM is in Miami.
The Moar You Know
@J.W. Hamner: This is what is known as “the tell”. You were doing great until you went to the default fallback position.
J.W. Hamner
@Cassidy:
To date we have no evidence that there was any security breach associated with this affair. Your reasoning for why the public shaming and humiliation of handful of individuals is necessary appears to be that a retired officer violated the military’s prohibition against adultery and that if a normal CIA personnel’s affair was made public their security clearance would be examined. For some reason I can’t fathom you seem to feel it matters what the sexual relationship is between a hagiographer and her subject. If I have mischaracterized you argument please correct it, but as it stands this amounts to one of the silliest arguments ever assembled.
Villago Delenda Est
Here’s the problem.
We live in a country with a mass media that is obsessed with sex, particularly with sexual infidelity, at the expense of every other possible act of malfeasance.
Petraeus’ affair is, in and of itself, a PR problem if nothing else. If any actual serious damage to national security was committed by either of them, either deliberately or inadvertently, is utterly irrelevant. The real issues, as Bernard pointed out the other day, are lost in all the malicious gossip. This happened with Sanford…the media wasn’t interested in the story, not really, when it was just him being AWOL. They got excited when an Argentine firecracker was tossed into the mix. THEN it had legs.
If Petraeus had simply resigned without revealing the affair, it would have been one news cycle, tops. Now it’s a huge deal, drowning out any actually relevant to job performance issues.
Benghazi, a nothingburger to begin with, has been totally lost in the entire MILF aspect.
MazeDancer
CIA and military have a strict no extra-marital affairs rule, for reasons they consider important including national security. The top guy broke a big rule. That is important. Also important is that it ia apparently quite easy to get these top guys to email you stuff. There is a security breach for sure.
Why do they even have personal emIl accounts anyone could hack?
These Kelley people are also disturbing. Why would this entire email “reporting to the FBI” which consists of using a guy you know has the hots for you happen? Tampa paper reports the Kelleys had debts. Recent commercial property foreclosure. Nine lawsuits. Now a monster-weight lawyer and PP fixer are engaged. Abbe Lowell must have gotten the money up front.
And if Kelley is one of handul of surgeons on earth who can do a specific procedure, there is actually no way for him to run out of money unless big, strange financial drain somewhere.
While it is possible the Kelleys are hoping for reality series deal to pay their debts, still unclear why it so easy to get so close and cause so much trouble with the highest ranking officials? That is worrisome.
LanceThruster
Thanks to the process of evolution, our reptilian brain is hardwired so that the little general does the thinking for the big general more often than we’d care to admit. There’s a reason for the saying “All’s fair in love and war.” What we should do is consider the Japanese Imperial Empire’s practice of “comfort women” (without the indentured servitude and available across the board with regard to gender and attractions). It would give new meaning to “(knocking) boots on the ground.”
Particularly in the spy game, since “honey traps” are a common ploy, it would make sense for such sustenance to be “in house”, like the Green Zone’s Burger King. While they’re at it, they can carry these concepts over to the civilian world. Legalize and tax independent contractors in the sex worker field (why can’t the already legal practice of sex surrogates be expanded?), increase employment, revenue, and the pursuit of happiness unfettered by excessive govt regs (and less objection for foreign worker visas as demand goes). If the GOP’s mantra is the “power to tax is the power to destroy”, put it to the test with greatly inflated “sin taxes.” The so called war on drugs is a war on people (inconsistently applied to boot) so they can end that boondoggle as well with savings across the board.
The freedom to pursue one’s own happiness could be both a showcase for the concept of “Mind Your Own Business” (the very first motto inscribed on our coinage btw), and a potential rising tide of happiness that would truly lift all boats.
Even if the Charley Churches are afraid that society would degenerate like Biff Tannen’s Hill Valley in “Back to the Future 2,” they can take comfort in the knowledge that resisting temptation that isn’t there is not as noble and pious as walking on the straight and narrow on your own volition.
It’ll be a brave new world.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner:
Thus the investigation, which ought to be done to ensure no breach has happenned. I fin it highly unlikely that it hasn’t, considering the circumstances, although I don’t belive malicious intent. That’s still not an excuse re: classified information. The fact he has resigned implies to me that he’s trying to cut off further scrutiny.
No. This was a simple statement re: your obssessive repeating that no crime was committed and that it was just a series of decisions between consenting adults. The facts are, that if this began while he was AD, a crime was committed. Period. Whether or not something comes of it is a different matter and I think it’s safe to assume the military won’t even comment.
I gives a fuck if she and him were pulling all nighters in Tijuana with hookers and blow and all his GO buddies were pulling a train on her at a donkey show, passing her around like a party favor. As I stated, I do think that the Director of a large Intelligence/ Law Enforcement apparatus should display a modicum of common sense. Having a sexual relationship with someone and the possible NS breach isn’t good. Violating ethics considerations that directly affect your clearance isn’t good. I would expect a better sense of judgement.
But, this has all been said before.
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner:
Thus the investigation, which ought to be done to ensure no breach has happenned. I fin it highly unlikely that it hasn’t, considering the circumstances, although I don’t belive malicious intent. That’s still not an excuse re: classified information. The fact he has resigned implies to me that he’s trying to cut off further scrutiny.
No. This was a simple statement re: your obssessive repeating that no crime was committed and that it was just a series of decisions between consenting adults. The facts are, that if this began while he was AD, a crime was committed. Period. Whether or not something comes of it is a different matter and I think it’s safe to assume the military won’t even comment.
I gives a fuck if she and him were pulling all nighters in Tijuana with hookers and blow and all his GO buddies were pulling a train on her at a donkey show, passing her around like a party favor. As I stated, I do think that the Director of a large Intelligence/ Law Enforcement apparatus should display a modicum of common sense. Having a sexual relationship with someone and the possible NS breach isn’t good. Violating ethics considerations that directly affect your clearance isn’t good. I would expect a better sense of judgement.
But, this has all been said before.
JustAnotherBob
Petreaus removed himself from his job, not because there was a security breach as far as we know, but because he committed adultery.
I can imagine two reasons why he resigned if the only misconduct was adultery –
1) He, and every other White House appointee, made an agreement with PBO that if they created a scandal they would quickly exit, and/or
2) He recognized that his political aspirations were toast.
If you look at quickly a few people have disappeared from the current administration it makes me strongly consider #1. I’m sure that PBO realized that there is no way to hire only people who will never mess up. So the best solution is to quickly replace those who do.
J.W. Hamner
@The Moar You Know:
It’s not a “tell”: it’s called having principles.
I think that people’s sex lives are their own business and not reflective of professional competence. I do not change my opinion based upon whose “team” the person being publicly shamed plays for. I suspect that a lot of the cheerleaders here are much more malleable however, and thus make up some pointless distinction to feel justified about being outraged at the GOP’s behavior towards Clinton while rejoicing in every salacious detail reported about Petraeus. If you thought Clinton proved himself unfit for office by having an affair… then fine… but otherwise it is something you have to address.
ericblair
@J.W. Hamner:
Yep, dude, you’re certainly the expert on national security procedure, guess you showed us.
johnny aquitard
@John O:
No. Pointless it’s not. And after first blush, it’s alarming.
Broadwell was part of a network of military and media collaborators working in concert to conduct misinformation, disinformation, psyops and propaganda, with the goal to control public policy. (see Bernard Finel’s post downstairs on why this is more than just a private affair.)
What’s been inadvertently exposed is part of the apparatus the military has used to wage psychological warfare on the american public. It’s Petraeus’ COIN, and ironically unlike in Iraq and Afganistan, over the last 10 years it has wildly succeeded in this country, and perversely, where legitimate government is the insurgency and We the People are the insurgents.
LanceThruster
For the record, seeing tapes of Ms. Broadwell doing her book talk made me sad (C-SPAN, Daily Show). She looks very happy like she’s got a spring in her step, she dresses in a manner that makes me think that being seen as pretty and smart is fine with her, and seemed to relish in the interactions of the book talks. Jon Stewart observed that he is the least perceptive “journo” alive with her flirtatiousness and mildly playful innuendos being lost on him in hindsight. He said he was distracted by her bare arms, which was what I noticed regarding her choice of attire (like tasteful but could have easily been at home on the red carpet somewhere).
We are very Puritan regarding our “squishy part” as a throwback to mate as property in addition to the more complex trust and intimacy issues.
J.W. Hamner
@ericblair:
OK Mr. National Security Expert. What happens to Petraeus if he doesn’t resign and Obama backs him. Are you honestly saying you think the CIA would remove his security clearance? I find that hard to believe.
El Cid
@johnny aquitard: Yes — I think that people fail to understand which population the SURGE was supposed to win over.
It wasn’t the Iraqis. It was the U.S.
Judas Escargot, Bringer of Loaves and Fish Sandwiches
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
What’s the point of being a wealthy suburbanite, if you can’t try each other on for size, like shoes?
J.W. Hamner
@johnny aquitard:
This would still be true regardless of the affair, which is what makes Finel’s post so nonsensical. Everybody already knew Broadwell’s book was a piece of propaganda.
sherparick
@geg6: Well, I share my stupidity with Ken Drum and the lawyers at “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.”
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2012/11/the-other-petraeus-scandal-the-sex-police
This does not only apply to CIA chiefs. The FBI Cybercrime sleuths did not even know Petraeus was involved until they started sniffing around Broadwell’s e-mails. This means that if you piss someone off who has a friend in the FBI, and that FBI “friend” is as stupid as this one appears to be, then you too will get the joy of hiring a lawyer for $1,000 a billable hour to defend yourself as a “person of interest” because of some idiotic e-mail you may have once wrote with a slightly hostile tone. Besides repealing the 4th we need to repeal the 1st Amendment as well and start drinking our Tyranny straight, as Lincoln once wrote in a different context.
schrodinger's cat
@LanceThruster: Jon Stewart was quite taken by Paula, I guess he is a man after all. I thought that interview was a bit weird, as was Paula’s inappropriate for the occasion outfit, more suitable for club hopping than a TV interview.
Ash Can
In the meantime, the commenters over at LGF are having a good chuckle over the ABC news affiliate in Denver that reported on this hot mess and used as its graphic a shot of the cover of Petraeus’s book. Sadly for said affiliate, the graphic it used was a photoshopped version…
Cassidy
@J.W. Hamner:
This is never about “would”. The CIA could pull his clearance and probably already have since his resignation. The military could prosecute him under UCMJ assuming the aforementioned conditions are met. You keep operating in the fanciful “would this really happen” denying the factual implications surrounding it. FSM, you’re tiresome.
johnny aquitard
@J.W. Hamner:
No, everybody didn’t. “Everybody” doesn’t think that way. “Everybody” isn’t the few well-informed well-read people on political blogs who read it critically and see it’s bullshit. Didn’t we all just read a whole bunch of posts and comments on how half this country is incapable of seeing outside their bubble?
LanceThruster
@schrodinger’s cat:
True, though she was in NYC and The Daily Show is considered a fun venue. Her outfit caught my attention, but I tend to treat one’s choice of attire as a personal issue more than something to be dissected for appropriateness based on my standards of approval. That being said, it was as if she was on a break from a wedding reception or something. As I mentioned earlier, it made me sad because that was a snapshot in time when she seemed to exude contentment and joy, and as is often the case in life, her choices that made sense at the time have come back to bite her. Power is that aphrodisiac that Kissinger spoke of, and attractions are acted upon usually based on options available rather than some gold standard of ethics compass (i.e. how bad do I want it, can I get away with it, how bad will it be if I don’t, what advantages does it pose, etc.?). Still, our lizard brains often run the show (or at least fight for control of the command center). Evolution has a reason for the mating ritual that still responds to cues of power and dominance even when the purpose of spawning is not at issue.
Someday, I hope we can do better.
schrodinger's cat
@LanceThruster: I thought she was giggling like a school girl at the mention of Petraeus’s
name, it was quite obvious that she was not objective at all about her subject. Also, the halter-top kept Jon Stewart distracted enough, so that he did not ask any difficult questions. I was so not surprised when we found out who P4’s love interest was.
ETA: Raven guessed it too.
slightly_peeved
@Bago:
If he introduced it with “And now to our resident expert on infidelity…” it would be valid. And by valid, I mean awesome.