Politics as usual.

Friday, the local paper ran a story they picked up from the wire about the settlement between Don Sherwood and his mistress. The story said the settlement was $500,000 and that Sherwood's mistress received less than half of this money. As part of the settlement, she will get the rest of it after the election day. She is also not supposed to talk about the details of the settlement or she forfeits the money. And Sherwood got away with not admitting any wrongdoing. Another story in the same issue, this one written by a member of the newspaper's staff, said that Sherwood is confident in his victory. Of course he is confident. He had great support in this election. People like his wife, who should have crucified him, and George W. Bush, who would have crucified him if Sherwood were a Democrat, campaigned for him. The message I get as a voter is that it is OK to cheat on your wife, and even to choke your mistress on occasion, as long as you are a Republican. Then you can buy all kinds of forgiveness and continue to preach "family values" (which exclude gay marriage, but not extramarital affairs) from the pulpit of your elected office.