BLANDIDATE: Electability = no hanky-panky. Says values czar William Bennett: ““If adultery is part of your baggage, forget it.” Dan Quayle: Adultery is ““the question” for 2000. (Note to Dan: the answer is one ““l,’’ one ““t.”)
LET’S TALK (ELLIPTICALLY) ABOUT SEX: A broad confession of past mischief will quash the issue. So hopes John McCain: ““I have not always done the right thing.’’ But if tawdry details slip out, it could throw voters.
TABLES TURNED: Conservatives (William Safire, Arianna Huffington) now say private life should be off-limits. Hmm . . . this time GOP faves sport checkered pasts, while Dems Al Gore and Bill Bradley are squeaky-clean.
THAT SCARLET LETTER STANDS FOR APATHY: While GOP primaries could get nasty, the general election won’t hinge on chastity. We’re sick of dirt-digging–pols, voters and press alike. We’ve become the French, with worse cheese.
NICE GIRLS DON’T: How to make it all go away? Just elect a woman, says Maureen Dowd. Women like Elizabeth Dole don’t cheat–do they?
