herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

curious to hear what you all think, in a few senses.

do affairs and such impact your feelings on a president or candidate?

did it before and now you don't care - and just want someone who can lead the country in the right direction?

or maybe it never bothered you?

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

I only care because of the distraction factor. I don't want THAT to be the main story in the paper. In that vein, I tend to think that if a politician (or anyone, really) cheated once they are more prone to cheating again, and if they were president it would be a much bigger deal in the news than if they were "only" a senator, etc.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

I could careless as long as they are a good president....I think Bill Clinton was an excellent president

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

It usually does impact my opinion of them - mainly because I'm annoyed when they come up with elaborate lies and then have to backpeddle. You've been caught, own up to it, I'd respect you more.

Nobody believed Clinton when he said he wasn't with Monica, or that he really didn't understand Ken Starr's definition of sexual contact. IMO you just look like a bigger jerk when you have to then recant those statements.

Same with Herman Caine - although I didn't care for him before this stuff came out anyway. Don't insult my intelligence by trying to pretend that you don't recall a sexual misconduct case being paid out when you ran the NRA. I doubt anyone who was accused of something like that would forget it so fast, even if it wasn't true.

JFK's a different thing for me, since I was born well after he was gone. My opinion of him has always included the rumors of cheating on Jackie with lots of women, including Marilyn, and that he, Teddy & Bobby were rumored to pass women around.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

It affects my opinion of them as a person (from what my personal take is on them as an individual) but it does not affect my opinion as to their ability to be the president.

It's at a point where some immoral (if you will) dirt comes out on every political figure so there's no point in getting worked up over it if you ask me.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

I was miffed at the Gennifer Flowers/Clinton affair when it came out, but it didn't stop me from voting for him in 92.

And thenI I was only upset when he pointed his finger at the camera and so blatantly lied , not so much the Monica affair. Looking back, I'm amazed at the distraction it all caused, especially with the link it to 9/11 and a "wag the dog" situation.


The ones that upset me more are the hypocrites. Newt Gingrich and the Senator in the airport bathroom stick out the most for criticizing others for doing the same things they do.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

I think what bothers me more is lying about it repeatedly. I get that it's really none of our business but once it's out there I think it's better to fess up, at least in my eyes. I will respect them more if they can be honest about mistakes they've made. Otherwise I don't care if they were unfaithful.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

If I like the candidate to begin with and all of the other cards stack up I couldn't care less about unfaithfulness. The lying bugs me but politicians lie to our faces about important stuff all the time.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

A friend of mine posted something on FB that i found sumarizes my thoughts very well...

"Would it be ideal if our leaders set a good moral example in their private lives? Yes. Does someone need to be a faithful husband, wife, partner to be a good leader? No. We need to recognize that often those who make the best leaders in our country do not necessarily make the best partners in life. But I don't remember any of these individuals saying they were campaigning to be my partner, just m...y president. I don't care what someone does in their private time, all I care about is their history as an intelligent, proactive, and successful leader. So stop telling me who sleeps with who and get back to the issues that are relevant to our nation. Every other country seems able to make this distinction. Why can't the USA do the same?"

Message edited 12/2/2011 10:33:56 AM.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

No, it makes no difference to me. Let's be real, those are only the affairs we KNOW about.

Message edited 12/2/2011 10:36:50 AM.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

I don't trust a person who is deceitful to his own wife. I definitely wouldn't trust him to lead our country. That's just me.

I liked Caine when he first came on the scene. Now I want him to just go away.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

No, it doesn't. If it did we wouldn't have anyone in office because I imagine the majority of politicians cheat.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

Yes, I think a candidate's character is just as important as their political ideals.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?

Nope, it doesnt matter to me one bit, as long as they can be an effective leader and accomplish their goals in their term. What they do in their free time or behind closed doors isnt important to me.

Re: herman caine/bill clinton/jfk....does a president or candidate's unfaithfulness impact your choice?