Posted by Parker English
on 7/3/2009, 3:41 pm, in reply to "Re: Scandals"
70.181.59.171
Carter’s lust-in-my-heart comment was not “gratuitous.” Rather, it introduced his thought-provoking view of condemnation, pride, and religion: “But that doesn't mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock....The guy who's loyal to his wife ought not to be condescending or proud because of the relative degree of sinfulness....[R]eligion is a search for the truth about man's existence...[O]nce you stop searching and think you've got it made — at that point, you lose your religion.”
http://www.playboy.com/articles/jimmy-carter-interview/index.html?page=2
Nonetheless, many pundits agree the comment was politically stupid, an “admission that...opened himself to titillating ridicule, bluenose outrage and serious questions about his judgment.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918397,00.html
This seems slightly, not entirely, odd to me. On the one hand, Carter’s comment shows he does not actually deserve to be grouped with politicians who philander with their flesh. On the other hand, it shows him to be a pretty typical person who, despite his out-front religiosity, is sometimes sexually attracted to other people; and a somewhat atypical politician who still maintains self-control as well as compassionate respect for those with less of it. What do you think?
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