Rudy Giuliani has come out in favor of Newt Gingrich, and Donald Trump is certainly leaning that way. Something these 3 men have in common: 3 wives. And when it comes to their current wives, they all prefer younger women.

• Newt is 23 years older than Callista.
• Donald is 28 years older than Melania.
• Rudy is 10 years older than Judith.

In 2008, Republicans chose as their nominee John McCain, who is 18 years older than Cindy (his second marriage).

Welcome to the Family Values party.

Is Newt really who Republicans want as their nominee?

On the other hand, the other candidates have had just one spouse apiece–Romney, Santorum, Paul, Cain, Huntsman, Bachman, Perry.

It seems there are so many sex scandals among politicians that it’s become rather blase. Oh, another Congressman had an affair. Ho-hum. A few politicians resign, but most stick it out…and a good share get re-elected.

I got to wondering if there were really as many sex scandals as it seemed. So I put together a list going back to the 1980s, with thanks to Google (there are already a number of lists out there). It appears that Republicans–you know, those family values folks–have a sizable lead in the number of scandals. But when it comes to magnitude, the Democrats excel. They have three whoppers that trample in the dust anything done by Republicans: Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Gary Hart. Who, among the GOP philanderers, even comes close?

I wonder if the frequency of sexual affairs among politicians is any greater than the frequency in the general population. Probably much less than among celebrities, but higher than among clergy.

Well anyway, let’s take a look at my lists.

Republican

2011: Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Governor of California. Affair, and child, with a staffer.
2011: Chris Lee. New York Congressman. Sent shirtless photos over the internet. Resigned.
2010: Mark Sauder. My own Indiana Congressman. Affair. Resigned.
2009: Mark Sanford. South Carolina governor. Affair with his Argentine soul-mate.
2009: John Ensign. Nevada senator. Affair with a staffer, with money payoffs.
2008: Vito Fossella. New York Congressman. Affair and child.
2007: Larry Craig. Idaho senator. Arrested for homosexual conduct.
2007: David Vitter. Louisiana Congressman. Prostitution scandal.
2006: Mark Foley. Florida Congressman. Lewd texting to interns.
2002: Rudy Giuliani. New York City major. Cheated on his wife with his current wife, Judith Nathan.
1998: Bob Llivingston. Affair. Stepped down as House Speaker
1998: Newt Gingrich. Cheated on his wife with his current wife.
1998: Helen Chenoweth. Idaho Congresswoman. Admitted six-year affair with a married rancher in the 1980s.
1998: Henry Hyde. Illinois Congressman. Admitted an affair decades earlier.
1998: Dan Burton. Indiana Congressman. Admitted an affair which resulted in a child in 1983.
1995: Bob Packwood. Oregon Congressman. Many accusations of sexual harrassment, abuse, and assault. Resigned.
1991: Chuck Robb. Virginia senator. Extramarital affair.

Democrat

2011: Anthony Weiner. New York Congressman. Sent lewd photos of himself over Twitter.
2010: Eric Massa. New York Congressman. Sexual misconduct with male staffers. Resigned.
2008: David Patterson. New York governor. Admitted to earlier affairs.
2008: Elliott Spitzer. New York governor. Prostitution scandal. Resigned.
2008: Tim Mahoney. Florida Congressman. Multiple affairs.
2007: John Edwards. Affair which resulted in a child.
2006: Don Sherwood. Pennsylvania Congressman. Affair with a 29-year-old.
2004: James McGreevey. Governor of New Jersey. Admitted to a gay affair. Resigned.
2001: Gary Condit. California Congressman. Affair with an intern.
1998: Bill Clinton. President. Sex with an intern.
1989: Barney Frank. Massachusetts Congressman. Gay relationship.
1987: Gary Hart. Senator. Affair while running for president. Resigned.

There, isn’t that edifying?

Senator John Ensign of Nevada left the Senate in disgrace today, victim of a sordid affair. It’s a long, hard fall for a man once viewed as a potential candidate for president. Yesterday, May 2, Ensign gave his farewell speech in the Senate. It included a lot of raw honesty which is worth reading. Here’s the last part:

When I first arrived in the Senate, I observed several people who were so caught up in their own self-importance and business that arrogance literally dripped from them. Unfortunately, they were blind to it, and everyone could see it but them. When one takes a position of leadership, this is a very real danger of getting caught up in the hype surrounding that status. Oftentimes, the more power and prestige a person achieves, the more arrogant a person can become. As easy as it was for me to view this in other people, unfortunately, I was blind to how arrogant and self-centered that I had become. I did not recognize that — that I thought mostly of myself. The worst part about this is I even tried not to become caught up in my own self-importance. Unfortunately, the urge to believe in it was stronger than the power to fight it. This is how dangerous the feeling of power and adulation can be.

My caution to all of my colleagues is to surround yourself with people who will be honest with you about how you really are and what you are becoming, and then make them promise to not hold back, no matter how much you may try to prevent them, from telling you the truth. I wish that I had done this sooner, but this is one of the hardest lessons that I’ve had to learn.

I believe that if I had learned this lesson earlier, I would have prevented myself from judging two of my colleagues when I had no place to do so. When I was chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee, I was confronted with the personal issues facing Senator Larry Craig and Senator Ted Stevens. Following Larry’s admission and Ted’s guilty verdict, I, too, believed in the power of my leadership position and I called on both of them to resign. I sincerely struggled with these decisions afterward, so much so that I went to each of them a few weeks afterward and admitted what I did was wrong and I asked both of them for forgiveness. Each of these men were gracious enough to forgive me, even though publicly I did not show them the same grace. I’m very grateful to both of these men.

When I announced my personal failure two years ago, Larry Craig was one of the first to call and to express his support. I truly cannot tell you what that meant then and what it means to me today. The purpose of me speaking about this is to humbly show that in life, a person understands mercy a lot more when they need it and when it is shown to them. Again, this is a hard lesson that I have had to learn, but I hope that I can now show mercy to people who come into my life who truly need it.

As I conclude, I have a few others that I want to thank. My colleague from the State of Nevada, Senator Reid. I ran against Senator Reid in 1998. He beat me by just a little over 400 votes. Afterward, when I — two years later, when I was fortunate enough to win the election, Senator Reid and I sat down and we kind of made a pact between us that we were going to get along even though we are of different parties, we were going to put the past behind us and we were going to work together for the people of the State of Nevada. A funny thing happened along the way over these last 10-plus years. Senator Reid and I developed a friendship. Two people with opposite voting records, opposite views on major national issues, but we work together on a lot of issues that affected our states. Friendships formed between our staffs and a true friendship formed between Senator Reid and myself, and for that, I want to thank him.

To my Senate colleagues, I would like to take a moment to apologize for what you have had to go through as a result of my actions. I know that many of you were put in difficult situations because of me, and for that I sincerely apologize.

To my wife Darlene who has been through so much with me and who has fought through so many struggles, is owed more than I could ever repay. I do not deserve a woman like her, but I love her and I’m so grateful that the lord has put her in my life. Our children Trevor, Siena, Michael, have never known anything other than their dad leaving each week to come back to Washington, D.C., for my work. All three of them an incredible, and it’s been a blessing and a privilege just to be their dad. I have also been very blessed with a great set of parents who have stood by me through thick and thin, and also the rest of my extended family. I also have wonderful friends who have been there with me and my family through the highs and the lows.

And lastly, most importantly, I want to thank God for allowing me to be here. I have been encouraged by some not to mention God because it looks hypocritical because of my own personal failings, but I would argue that I have not mentioned him enough. I’m glad that the Lord not only forgives, but he actually likes it when we give him thanks. So, Lord, thank you for all that you’ve done in my life. I hope that I can do better in the future. I hope that I can learn to love you with all of my heart, soul and strength and to love others as myself. My colleagues, I bid you farewell. Know that you will all be in my prayers. I yield the floor.

I’m not one of those people who view the US Constitution as divinely inspired, who view the Founding Fathers as Fairytale Land superheroes, and who insist all would be well if we would just get back to doing things the way the Founders did them. The Constitution is a living document, designed to evolve over time to meet the needs and desires of the current and future generations. The Constitution is not set in stone, to be followed only as originally written. We are not bound by the dictates of our ancestors.

On the other hand, the Constitution is to be respected. Those Founding Fathers were an unusually gifted assortment of thinkers and dreamers, who happened to be in the same place at the same time. I respect them greatly. But they weren’t infallible, no matter what Glenn Beck tells us.

With that in mind, here is a quote from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote:

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment….

Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors….

Each generation is as independent as the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before. It has then, like them, a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness.

The Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill story has crashed back into public consciousness, thanks to Thomas’s wife’s bizarre suggestion that Anita Hill apologize. And that prompted an old flame of Clarence Thomas, who has kept quiet for 19 years, to emerge from the woodwork.

Like many people, I was transfixed by the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in 1991. Anita Hill was so believable..and yet, so was Thomas. Who to believe? What was the truth?

Liberals blindly sided with Anita Hill’s lurid accusations against Clarence Thomas. Meanwhile, conservatives claimed that Anita Hill was making it all up, a mere pawn of liberals.

Today, I am neither Republican nor Democrat. But back then, I was mostly Republican. And yet, after listening to endless hours of testimony, in my gut I felt Anita Hill was telling the truth. I had no way of knowing if my gut reaction was correct or not. That’s just how I felt. I WANTED to believe Clarence Thomas, I really did. And I was glad to see him confirmed. But I always felt Anita Hill was, at the least, telling MOSTLY the truth of what she experienced.

It was a truly puzzling story. Could there be a middle ground somewhere?

Now, some evidence is coming out to confirm my gut reaction. The Washington Post tells that story.

Lillian McEwen (right) was dating Clarence Thomas prior to the hearings, and she kept quiet. But now she’s speaking, and what she has to say confirms what Anita Hill accused Thomas of doing–his fascination with porn, his treatment of women, etc.

A lawyer and prosecutor, McEwen is retired now and living comfortably, with nothing to lose. She’s talking about the things she observed and heard from Thomas during their dating years. The Post article also collects what other women who worked with Thomas said, testimonials that didn’t get much airplay during the hearings but which align with what Hill and McEwen allege.

McEwen, as much as anything, is irritated that Thomas continues playing the indignant victim, making himself out to be someone she insists he most definitely was not. She’s had enough.

Anita Hill will never be exonerated, and Thomas will never be unconfirmed. But it’s always good for truth to come out.

But is this the truth yet? My gut is a bit more satisfied, but I remain open to surprises.