Word: scandalizes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Some of us have already expressed reservations about our reactions to the Hart sex scandal. Why, we ask, should Hart be any more capable of keeping his pants on than the rest of married America? Perhaps public officials are held to higher standards than the citizen body at large, but it still is not apparent why we need a president who is a model of libidinal restraint...
...same time, we wonder about the ethics of covering the scandal. Is there not something offensive and invasive--not to mention unprofessional--about camping out in Miami bushes in order to determine whether 29-year-old models have missed their curfews...
...MOST disturbing thing about the Hart scandal is not that Americans want a monogamous president or that the Miami Herald chose to print its story. Instead it is this country's preoccupation with the details of Hart's personal life, details that go way beyond the particulars of the current scandal. The press has been eager to chronicle Hart's rate of intercourse since he hit puberty, and the American public has lapped up each tidbit of gossip with unyielding fervor...
...been clearer why The National Enquirer has one of the largest circulations in America. Most Americans would prefer to read about Elvis Presley's ghost than about South Africa or Nicaragua, and those who feel uncomfortable indulging in such nonsense are overjoyed at the arrival of a respectable scandal, at the opportunity to turn The New York Times into a hotbed of gossip...
...necessarily the healthy. It is bad enough that Hart's personal life has captured our attention in the way that it has. It is far worse that nothing else can concern us in the same way. Richard Secord's joking reminder to the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal that at least he was not on Bimini is a sad indication of our citizenry's misplaced priorities. It reminds us that most Americans would prefer a president who supports the endless murder of the innocent to a president who commits adultery...