Ed commented this morning while watching the New York City news, that he thought Anthony Weiner was a putz. He used to think he was a schmuck but he has downgraded him. That was rather chauvinistic of him, since putz is a female putdown, whereas schmuck is a male one. I registered my complaint.

So I said, what is a putz? He said, aside from the female association, it meant “ineffectual”. (Well, that’s insulting but I’ll leave that fight for another time.) But, I said, he was an effective congressman, aside from his infantile behavior in being so proud of his male member that he posted a photo of it on line (for those of you who, perhaps, missed this story) in order to gain connections with attractive young women who he believed would swoon at the sight of it.

I added that his wife said on the air that she had forgiven him, that she loved him, and that they were “moving on”. Ed said he doubted the sincerity of her forgiveness. And I said, at the very least, she’s being a team player and it is working for them, so let’s just take her at her word. What goes on between them is their business.

Also, and given, the atmosphere of permissiveness about these things abroad in politics, (I erred earlier in thinking he was running for congress -- he is running for mayor) he would not be punished by his colleagues for being infantile about his private parts. Ed agreed that would probably be the case. We had thought that Weiner might succeed in being re-elected because New Yorkers are intensely nonjudgmental in matters of sex. But new incidents of this behavior have recently surfaced, so now I am not so sure because the second part of the New York view is they don’t like stupid. Ed said he had to admire New Yorkers for being so relaxed about matters of sexual conduct as attitude is ever so much more refreshing than the medieval and prurient interest arch conservatives bring to this subject, while at the same time indulging in their own questionable sexual aberrations. If only those airport bathrooms could talk.

If Weiner is elected, I won’t be upset. Will you? It’s New York, bless it. Better Weiner and his problem than McConnell and his obstructionism.

The matter of our leaders being blameless in every aspect of their lives is a rather naïve view of human beings and their conduct. We are all flawed, some more than others. Some of our most brilliant leaders have had mistresses and questionable flings and yet have done great things for the country. I am a little surprised that suddenly our citizens think they deserve perfection in their elected representatives. Really? Like that’s gonna happen.

Historically, many men of prominence have indulged in discreet if unwholesome behavior that was never brought to light while they were serving, and sometimes not until after they had died. Many had mistresses. Even Eisenhower had a thing with his driver, Kay Summersby, although, in her memoir, she did say he had trouble ... um ... rising to the occasion. That was before Viagra.

Ghandi saved India, but had a number of affairs and in at least one on-line claim, was described as being a pedophile and was also bisexual. If you Google his sexual predilections, you will be astonished at the accusations of the wide range of his dysfunction in that area. Nixon did not have a mistress. Perhaps, if he had, he wouldn’t have had an enemies list.

My point is – ‘twas ever thus. Let’s get on with what needs to be done and if our leaders are flawed, this is not a new thing, and we should judge them on what they accomplish for our country and ignore the rest. Because we will rarely get squeaky clean leaders of merit.

xx, Teal

P.S. In choosing a channel for this post, I selected Politics & Legal, and then I wondered why there was no channel for sex and sexual matters. Or is that being too picky?