... a point to this piece?

Or did you just feel the need to wax poetic about human frailty all over us?

... I'd have more sympathy for him.

At least at the end he was honest, unlike most of his fellow Republican adulterers and closet cases.

Some people may never have had the experience of passionate desire. To them, "love" and relationships are akin to a personal contract, a transaction (I'm looking at you Mrs. Sanford). When it hits them for the first time mid-life they have no experience dealing with it. It's as if their experience of the world up to this point has been AM Radio and all of a sudden they are exposed to Color TV. I say we should pity them.

For those who have had the joys of passion throughout their lives, they may develop methods for integrating the experience into their lives, with less destructive outcomes.

I say let passion in, learn to deal with it, integrate it into your life. If more people did that we wouldn't be witnessing these public meltdowns.

I wonder, too, if some people have never experienced passion, or "limerance." Perhaps his wife has never experienced it, or, on the other hand, perhaps she has and thus knows how to control those feelings.

I have felt that kind of attraction for perhaps five or six men over the course of my life (I'm forty now). Those feelings were strongest in my twenties and early thirties... I think (hope) I have better control over my emotions now.

Is there a connection between being circumsised and cheating? Somehow I bet most of these cheaters are circumsised.

You said everything I would have said had you not beat me to it. We need to get over this notion that love can be wrong. Love is never wrong. It can be channeled in a way to do wrong, but the feelings are a blessing.

To the person who wrote after you, no, it is not a good goal to "control" your feelings. You need to listen to feelings and see what they're telling you about your life. The goal is to learn what to do with them.

It's big of you to show compassion for a human being in crisis, but Mark Sanford was one cold hearted son of a bitch asshole when it came to showing compassion for other people who were in crisis - like the poor and unemployed of his own state, like all the gay and lesbian people of his state who wanted to legalize their relationships as marriage, like his own wife and little boys.

Your compassion is misplaced Mary Elizabeth. This isn't a romance novel with Fabio on the cover, this is a perfect example of why Republicans have absolutely no credibility when it comes to issues of compassion themselves.

In the past, Sanford has stated, "It is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives his life."

Yeah? What part of THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY do you not understand, asshat?

Me, I'm just surprised he didn't blame it on gays being allowed to marry in the Northeast. As we all know, THAT's the real threat to marriage today -- not lying, cheating asshats.

What infuriates me about politicians like Mark Sanford is that it is the policies THEY advocate which leave no room for forgiveness and understanding, or nuance. If they want to "defend" marriage at the expense of human rights and human dignity, then I laugh with glee when they exhibit human frailty, because they want to pretend that frailty doesn't exist, or punish it when it does. When Republicans like Sanford stop trying to legislate personal morality, or force their own ideologically oppressive definitions of "love" or "marriage" on the rest of us, I will start treating them with compassion and understanding if they fail.

Is love an act of will or a lightening strike? It seems to me that the best relationships have both. Lightening comes and goes, it takes a real act of sustained determination on the part of both parties to sustain a healthy relationship in the time between strikes. I have seen successful relationships maintained without the sparking thing- but never without the act of will.

I hope the next time some politician, celebrity, or any regular person feels the need to sit in judgment on another person (as Stanford did with Clinton) that they remember that by the measure they give is the measure they will receive. We all fall short of our ideals. It would be nice if the self righteous remembered that when other folk stumble.

I hope the Sanfords are able to reconcile or move on in a healthy way. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Back in the day, when I was working for the major credit card company, I was sent down to New Orleans to one of the banks that was going to use a system I had written for the franchise. They introduced me to the woman that I was going to work with on the installation and it was one of those sparks that happen between two people as if this whole love thing was somehow magic. She was this beautiful French Cajun woman whose face when she saw me had that same expression that I am sure my face had when I saw her.

We exchanged pleasantries then got down to work and went about installing and initializing the system and I taught her everything there was to know about the ins and outs of the product and she was a good student. Everything went without a hitch and her supervisor was very pleased that everything was working so well.

She invited me to go out with her that night to celebrate and I was more than happy to accomodate. We had a great night - we went to a very nice restuarant, hit all her favorite bars and walked down the streets together in the moonlight talking about ourselves and marveling in how much we thought alike, how much we were alike even though we were from two very different places.

A little after midnight, the two of us found ourselves sitting in my rental car in front of her house running out of things to say besides "do you want to come in?", so we sat there for awhile, the two of us watching her cat sitting in the windowsill wondering where her mistress had been all night or more likely, wondering where her cat food had been all night.

Now here's the thing I don't understand about Mark Sanford and all the rest. As delectable and desirable and attractive and available as this woman was, I was in love. Really in love. With my wife. My new friend from New Orleans did ask me if I wanted to come inside for awhile, and I declined and she said she understood and then she went inside and I went back to my hotel and went to bed.

How hard is that?

Why is that so hard?