Considered a serious frontrunner in the 1988 U.S. presidential elections, Gary Hart did what so many politicians before and after him did… he lost his way. Like the Kennedy’s before him and John Edwards and Bill Clinton after him, Gary Hart allowed himself to go where many men had gone before, but shouldn’t have.
Most recently, Anthony Weiner likewise acknowledged that he too was skipping along a slippery slope and found himself in a place where two paths diverged in a wood… and he took the one most traveled by.
Hart and Weiner both denied the initial reports of their bad behavior, only to admit the truths later when confronted with all the facts. And while Weiner is holding firm to his conviction to stay in office, Hart actually pulled out of the 1988 presidential race… only to reappear seven months afterwards when public opinion polls led him to believe he had a shot at getting elected. But as he soon discovered, opinion did not translate into votes.
And so it would seem that some things never change. Men make mistakes, men get caught, men deny bad behavior, men finally fess up when they realize there is no alternative, and they spend the rest of their careers trying to make things right… whatever that means.
As far as I can see, the only thing that has changed through all the years is the technology involved in the revelation of their activities.