Degrading, disgusting and damned

Last night I wanted to watch some political news, specifically Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Hadn't seen him, our one liberal champion among the cable news channels, in awhile. What was he talking about? Edwards's affair. So I switched to CNN. What were they talking about? Edwards's affair. Aha, Washington Week in Review is on PBS, I thought, I'll watch that. Just as I tuned in, Gwen Ifill was asking David Broder about what? Edwards's affair. Actually, I thought his performance was the worst. His answer, spoken with gravitas, as perhaps only he can do it, was about Mrs. Edwards. He just felt so bad for her. Silly twit, doesn't he know that talking about it only makes it worse for everyone? That means not only Mrs. Edwards and her kids but also for John Edwards, who is after all only human--a human male, like all the other politicians who've gotten into sexual trouble--Jesus the Uriah Heapness of all the commentators is more than enough to make anyone sick. I know Broder's no good but still I was hoping to hear Someone, Anyone, say "I'd rather not talk about it; it really has no bearing on the political scene. Let's drop the subject," or words to that effect. No such luck. Such is our political discourse in the age of the damned.