Opinion: Sex and politics: A Ticket photo gallery of Edwards, Spitzer, Craig, Vitter et al

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And the beat goes on.

The recent revelations about former Democratic senator, former vice presidential nominee and former presidential candidate John Edwards and what he said was a brief affair with videographer Rielle Hunter in 2006 brings back a long list of other familiar names.

Eliot Spitzer. Remember him? Used to be New York’s Democratic governor. And Ashley Alexandra Dupre, who, judging by her reported fees, apparently charged her clients by the second? (See photo of her celebrating something with V-for-victory signs.)

And Larry Craig, who used to be a Republican senator from Idaho until some toe-tapping in the men’s room of the Minneapolis airport led to his arrest last summer and his announced resignation when that got out and he said he wasn’t gay.

But, oh wait, right, he changed his mind. He still said he was not gay. But he decided not to resign. So he’s still a Republican senator from Idaho until his term ends after this year. The state party surely loves that.

Sex and politics, there’s something about that mix -- or maybe it’s not really a mix -- that sends an endless array of characters across the public stage having somehow misbehaved according to hypocritical American customs that require we condemn public people for doing what so many others do themselves.

So to commemorate these dramatic public moments, The Ticket has arranged a special Sex and Politics photo gallery of some of the more recent cases. We could probably go back to ancient Greek times for more examples. But the photography then was just awful.

One of the most striking characteristics of this photo gallery are the faces of the spouses, standing by their man and often unsuccessfully hiding the pain. As was asked after the Spitzer affair, why do they do it? At least the Edwards couple issued separate statements, and not in public, to provide yet another apologetic husband and stoic wife.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credits: Extra via Associated Press (top); MySpace via AFP / Getty Images