Tucson Citizen.com
The Data Port - Politics, Literature, And The Little Disturbances of Man

L’affaire Petraeus

by on Nov. 16, 2012, under American History, General Petraeus, Political Journalism, Politics

There is a widespread sniggering interest in what the press is describing as a ‘steamy sex scandal.’ Frankly, my dears, I don’t give a damn, and I don’t think you should either.

It has not been uncommon for powerful men in the military and in politics to have a secret love tucked into a corner of their lives. Details of correspondence between FDR and  Lucy Mercer Rutherford have only recently been made public. General Dwight Eisenhower’s attachment to Kay Summersby might have been widely suspected, but was hardly the subject of puerile newspaper coverage while he was running the war. During WWI General Black Jack Pershing had an affair with Louise Cromwell Brooks. (Brooks wanted to divorce her husband and marry Pershing, but he refused. She subsequently married Douglas MacArthur.)

Petraeus has said that he did not discuss material that was security sensitive with the lady in question, his biographer. I am prepared to believe him. Enough already.

One thing that does amaze me is that General Petraeus had so little understanding or awareness of the insecure nature of e-mail. Ah, well, the cat is out of the bag and a career is ruined.

Stephen Colbert nails it:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/421326/november-15-2012/general-s-hospital

 

 

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 at 12:47 pm and is filed under American History, General Petraeus, Political Journalism, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • tiponeill

    What passes for a “scandal” today is enough to make the truly debauched, such as myself, mourn for the creativity of upcoming generations.

    Gone are the days when the President’s male companion of years could be privately referred to as “Miss Nancy” – or the FBI chief for that matter – without a hint of tabloid interest. Or the President sharing girlfriends with the mafia, or call boy rings run out of the white house or congressmen’s basements.

    Poor Gary Hart had to actually invite photographers to his boat to make any kind of splash – it’s as if we were living in the opposite of “anything goes”.

    Anything Went.

    Anyway I learned a good email trick from Petreus that I wasn’t aware of. If you want to communicate clandestinely with someone, share a Gmail account and password.

    Then write your email, but don’t send it -save it as a draft. When they log in they can read the draft and delete it, and voila – no email :)

«
»