I’ ve got a question.  What do the three Kennedy brothers, John, Robert and Edward, aside from their last names, have in common?  And Rev. Jesse Jackson and John Edwards and (Los Angeles City Mayor) Antonio Villaraigosa and (former New York Governor) Eliot Spitzer and (former presidential candidate) Gary Hart and  (Nevada Senator) John Ensign and (South Carolina Governor) Mark Sanders . . .

And, if y’all wanna go way back, Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Bill Clinton … Y’all get my drift?  The list goes on and on and on.  This list of prominent American leaders, past and present, intelligent and powerful men, all of them … what do they have in common?

They all have cheated on their wives, right? They are all fools, right? They all have been caught with their pants down, right? And their peccadilloes exposed, right? Power must be an all-consuming, overwhelming aphrodisiac to risk so much … 

* Editor’s Note: Please read a related article, Ten Top Reasons Why Governor Sanford Went to Argentina 

M any of these men were maligned and punished. But, as we all know, a handful got away, too. Because America wouldn’t dare “catch” them … because it wasn’t right at that time to catch them. Y’all know what I mean? 

Like, for instance, America, at that time, wouldn’t dare “catch” Thomas Jefferson – who was one of the Founding Fathers and who penned the U.S. Constitution – for his illicit liaisons with one of his black female slaves.

Nor … Dwight Eisenhower, when he was the War General in the European Theater and the man in charge in defeating the German Nazis in World War II, for his affair with that English female soldier who was assigned to chauffeur him around.

Nor … Martin Luther King, when he was the most prominent Black leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s, for his harem of women.

Nor … John F. Kennedy, when he was the “King Arthur” of America’s Camelot, for his strings of mistresses?

And many more.  But oh, no!  America wouldn’t dare!

It’s the same thing in the Philippines.  Who would have dared say something against Manuel L. Quezon and Ferdinand Marcos and Elpidio Quirino and Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph “Erap’ Estrada and so forth and so on, for their women, during their reign and height of power?

But, is the list of cheating hearts in high office, testosterone-exclusive? Or to put it simply, is cheating reserved only to men? Are women really the paragons of marital virtue?

According to Leonard Pitts Jr., a Miami Herald syndicated columnist and a Pulitzer Prize winner: “A 2008 study by the National Science Foundation found that 15 percent of women over 60 admit to having had an affair in their lifetimes.”

“And that the rate of female infidelity,” Pitts added, “is actually growing faster than that of males.”  Ha!  Check that out!

ON SARAH PALIN: So, Governor Sarah Palin is going to give up her governorship 18 months before the end of her term.  I don’t care what you crazy Libs out there say about Ms. Palin.  I like her.  I don’t care if y’all say that it was a wholly “selfish decision” on her part and a “puzzlement” and a “cop out” and all that.  And, I don’t care that you were all stunned and that her state of Alaska and the political world were all stunned by her announcement.

As we all know, her announcement left mounting questions about her future plans.  Is she laying now the groundwork for a 2012 presidential bid?  Hey, why not?  (Nagkakalat na si Barack H. Obama.  That’s a fact.  For one, his much-touted health care plan being drafted by congressional Democrats would INCREASE, rather REDUCE public spending, worsening the already-bleak budget deficit.  That’s kind of scary).   

Will she find a high-profile position in the private sector, maybe on the speech circuit?  Hey, why not?  She’s naturally eloquent.  She doesn’t use a teleprompter when she speaks.

Will she drop out of the limelight and focus on her five children?  Hey, why not?  She can do that, too, couldn’t she?  She’s mom, a soccer mom, as we all know.

Sen. John McCain says, “Governor Palin will continue to play an important leadership role in the Republican Party and our nation.”

As we all know, too, she gave many reasons for stepping down. She said she didn’t want to be a “lame-duck” governor. She said she was tired of the “tasteless jokes” aimed at her and her five children, including her son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. 

Sure, she stepped down, but she didn’t “quit.”  She’s no quitter. In fact, she stepped up!  Sen. John McCain said, “She’ll continue to play an important leadership role in the Republican Party and our nation.”

“I am now looking ahead,” said Ms. Palin, “… how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint.”

Hey, if it’s a bigger plan and a national agenda she planned to pursue … heck, why not?  Whether you like it or not and you believe it or not, she’s got a lot of admirers and supporters.  Me, included.  And millions more out there, that’s for sure.

Ms. Palin has been a “victim” of repeated defamation.  Palin haters have said in their blogs that the reason she quit was because she’s under federal investigation for “embezzlement and other criminal wrongdoings,” which are untrue. 

She blasted the Obama lapdog media, calling their responses to her announcement as out of touch. “How sad that Washington and the media will never understand, it’s about country,” she said. “And though it was honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term … for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.”

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who would take Ms. Palin’s position at the end of this month said he was “shocked” when he learned of the governor’s decision.

“But then as she began to articulate her reasons, I began to understand better,” Parnell said.  “And nobody – unless they’ve been in her position and understood what she has gone through and dealt with and who she is as a person – really understands.”

T he question now is: Will Sarah Palin have a chance as a candidate for the presidency in 2012?  An unnamed Republican strategist has this to say: “She has a base in the party that’s motivated like no one else, and this decision (of quitting) won’t bother them.  I don’t know if she’ll run.  I don’t know if she could win.  But I am sure she has a shot….”  Well, Ms. Palin has charisma and a personality that connects with people, and these are skills that are natural for her.

Hey, this woman who they called “Sarah Barracuda” when she was the star player of the girls’ basketball team in her high school years, might have the last bite … I mean, the LAST LAUGH, yet.  And when that time comes, I’ll be laughing with her at y’all.  So, go, Sarah, go!  JJ