What were the consequences of John McCain's affair on his political career?

[Briant232]

It's pretty sad that this is an issue. After all, this man should not have had a viable political carreer after it came to light that he "channeled" a dead child in court. He should have been off the stage long ago.

 

[ranger]

Man, this aint no news. Why the hell should we care who the man is tapping?! You people mix political and personal matters too much.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

In order to guarantee canditates haven't cheated on their wives, you should vote for women. Scratch that, now even that won't work.

 

[lisab]

Politicians should be asexual.

We could ritually neuter them...just make it part of the swearing-in ceremony.

 

[mheslep]

Was McCain's affair during his previous unsuccessful bid for the Republican Presidential candidacy? Serioulsy, I don't know, shows how much attention I paid to his career.

McCain's affair began in 1979, six years after his release from POW camp. He divorced in 80. Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Naval_training.2C_first_marriage.2C_and_Vietnam_assignment
which concurs w/ everything I'd read/heard.

...Edwards looks like a saint compared to McCain in the "infidelity race".

... he wasn't pretending to be a leader in moral values while cheating on his wife (did you see the video where Edwards is laughing about his moral values speech he was about to give?), I'd say Edwards is a bit slimier, just my opinion.

Exactly, _that_ is the point. In contrast to Edwards moral values laugh-a- lot, McCain had this to say about his marriage failure:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter5.html

...Regarding his first marriage, McCain said that he "had not shown the same determination to rebuild (his) personal life" as he had shown in his military career, and that "marriages can be hard to recover after great time and distance have separated a husband and wife. We are different people when we reunite...But my marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine."

 

[WarPhalange]

McCain didn't try running with a secret affair in his life. That would have completely ruined Edwards and the democrats, which is extremely risky, stupid, and selfish.

If he hadn't run, then the affair came out, then another 8 years from now he wanted to run, I'm sure it wouldn't be as big of a deal any more.

 

[LowlyPion]

We could ritually neuter them...just make it part of the swearing-in ceremony.

You would do that to Hilary if she should ascend? Or reserve that ritual only for not previously transgendered men?

 

[Gokul43201]

McCain's affair began in 1979, six years after his release from POW camp. He divorced in 80. Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Naval_training.2C_first_marriage.2C_and_Vietnam_assignment
which concurs w/ everything I'd read/heard.

That's only the last one. There were others before that. From your wiki link:

Having been rehabilitated, by late 1974, McCain had his flight status reinstated, and in 1976 he became commanding officer of a training squadron stationed in Florida.[53][56] He turned around an undistinguished unit and won the squadron its first Meritorious Unit Commendation.[54] During this period in Florida, McCain had extramarital affairs, the McCains' marriage began to falter, and he would later accept blame.[57][58]
...
In April 1979,[54] McCain met and began a relationship with Cindy Lou Hensley, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, the only child of the founder of Hensley & Co.[58]