Saint Valentine
St. Valentine’s Day –the day originally established to commemorate a priest who defied Claudius II to perform marriage ceremonies against the explicit orders of the tyrannical Emperor’s ruling that young men remain unmarried in order to maintain a strong army –is political in origin.
Sex and Politics
The connections made between politics and Valentine’s Day in 2010 however, brings sex scandals to mind. The public needs to know whether or not their elected officials are having extra-marital affairs as it could reveal a greater history of corruption. A sex scandal will affect public trust and and sometimes, as in the case of John Edwards, even destroy a political career. Should politicians who are no longer even on the federal payroll continue to get this much media attention, though?
Former Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-TX)
Earlier this week, Amy Anderson, a high school friend, who I recently reconnected with through Facebook, posted Charlie Wilson’s obituary on her Facebook wall. The retired Congressman’s heart gave out just four days before Valentine’s Day.
Photo of the real Charlie Wilson taken a couple of years ago
Wilson, known as much for his womanizing as for his controversial politics, was played by Tom Hanks in the 2007 movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War.”
Mike Nichols’ and writer, Aaron Sorkin’s work on the film was nothing less than sublime in the way it rose above and beyond Hollywood’s pedantic tendency to enlighten the public with pre-packaged moral high ground conceits, wrapped in red tin foil and placed in heart shaped boxes with ribbons around the edge.
Amy, who had interned for Charlie Wilson a decade after events portrayed in the film took place, however, called my attention to other areas that had been, well, Hollywoodized. The buxom secretaries who were referred to as “Charlie’s Angels,” for example, were actually, “really smart” unlike the bubbleheaded bimbos Hollywood had taken the liberty to inflate.
The Hollywood and the real Charlie Wilson story.
In honor of the late Saint Valentine as well as the late Charlie Wilson I am featuring Amy’s Politiku in this Valentine’s Day Politiku post.
Amy Anderson Politiku
known for his tales of
too much whiskey and women
but he did much more
Good Time Charlie drank
whiskey and fought soviets
Hanks played him too sweet
tall in suspenders
wearing a crooked toupee
a real deal Texan
Amy Anderson has had many jobs, but her first was an Intern for Charlie Wilson.
Brad MacDonald Politiku
Love and politics
accommodate the extremes.
What is your safe word?
Rebecca Lieb Politiku
Strippers and whores aren’t
on the valentines day tab
this year, Blackwater.
Brandon Ruckdashel Politiku
Obama and John
Were two sides of the same coin
A Hope turned to naught
Mistress with child and John Edwards
Melissa Parrish Politiku
roses a good choice
for wife of an official.
what to get mistress?
Ken Wheaton Politiku
VD also stands
for venereal disease
so back off Cupid.
Wei Shin Politiku
South Carolina?
Nay, Sanford’s Valentine’s in
South America.
Governor Mark Sanford
Much as I find the actions that brought about the sex scandals distasteful, I also fear the obsessive public fixation on them might be harming us more than we realize.
I wont pretend that sex scandals are less interesting than a 2,000 word health care overhaul bill. I will, however stipulate that if we recognize the collective tendency to turn sex scandals into media magnets and then make an active choice to only follow subsequent investigations if they serve the public interest, we could find a better use for our time and attention.
Susanna Speier Politiku
Okay, Congressman…
…bring back the Public Option
and I’ll sleep with you.
Pending approval by The Huffington Post’s editorial staff, the complete version of this article and several other fabulous Politiku on this topic will post on my Huffington Post Column as “Sex Scandal Politiku.”
Please follow @Politiku on Twitter, as well.
