What is the worst personal scandal in political history?

[Macallik86]

^ That's your opinion but reopening an investigation into a shaky candidate a month before an election played a large part in terms of media coverage and Republican talking points

 

[get these nets]

^ That's your opinion but reopening an investigation into a shaky candidate a month before an election played a large part in terms of media coverage and Republican talking points

Former first lady, U.S. Senator, and Sec. of State was a "shaky candidate"?
The unwavering support from Trump's supporters throughout his presidency points to the reason why he won the 2016 election.

 

[Starman]

clearly watergate

If we're talking scandals generally, I agree.

There are things that have happened that haven't got the media attention it takes to become a bigger scandal than Watergate but the actions were worse.

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

If we're talking scandals generally, I agree.

There are things that have happened that haven't got the media attention it takes to become a bigger scandal than Watergate but the actions were worse.

iran-contra and valerie plame were both worse in terms of details to me

Watergate had the benefit of woodrow and bernstein on the case though

 

[the cac mamba]

i mean theres only one that made a president step down

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

i mean theres only one that made a president step down

originally i was thinking more like scandals from someones personal life, not as much abuse of power or related to how they actually governed

although sometimes theyre a mix of both

 

[bnew]

I was just about to mention Edwards! I mean, having a kid on the side is definitely not good. But generally all the personal stuff is just sex. Gay, straight, whatever. Bill Clinton get's bonus points for lying under oath about his and taking it from personal to criminal and getting impeached. Ilhan gets creativity points for doing something unexpected.

i vaguely recall a governor who just left the country with his mistress and no one in in office could find or contact him .. came back divorced his wife and married his mistress.

 

[Starman]

i vaguely recall a governor who just left the country with his mistress and no one in in office could find or contact him .. came back divorced his wife and married his mistress.

IIRC, dude said he was hiking some remote trail somewhere.

 

[NZA]

Wiener and Spitzer were really bad, Gillum is bad but the virus is giving him cover,

However, I got to say. There has never been as an embarrassment as Wilbur Mills



They caught him red fukking handed with his mistress. He was the top 5 most powerful politician in the country as well. Like we hear about scandals, his scandal was recorded for infamy.

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

i vaguely recall a governor who just left the country with his mistress and no one in in office could find or contact him .. came back divorced his wife and married his mistress.

IIRC, dude said he was hiking some remote trail somewhere.

Mark Sanford of South Carolina. All time GOAT tier scandal. said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was in Argentina with his mistress

actually he went on to complete his term and serve in the house of reps for multiple terms before getting primaried

 

[Adeptus Astartes]

I remember hearing about one GOP state rep who was hella anti gay that got caught fukking a dude over the desk in his office

A Republican "family values" state legislator quit after he was caught having sex with a man in his office

 

[Dave24]

I don't even think that was the most scandalous of its era, let alone all history. In my opinion, for that era at least, it's Clodius being discovered at Caesar's house in 62 at the festival of the Bona Dea - for women only, men were forbidden from its observation - in drag, asking for Caesar's wife presumably because he wanted to smash, at the time when Caesar himself was pontifex maximus and was the high priest of Roman religion. That's violating the biggest taboos in their culture:

- a man dressing as a woman
- a man violating a solemn and sacred religious ceremony that was only for women, on pain of death
- a man attempting to sleep with another person's wife
- the woman in question was married to the highest religious authority in the empire and she was conducting said religious ceremony when this happened
- and to top it all off, when Clodius was put on trial on the charges of blasphemy and adultery and incest (the last one unrelated to this incident, but added to the prosecution case anyway), he was acquitted by a margin of three jury votes, and everybody knew it was because Crassus, the richest man in the Roman world, had bribed the jury to get him acquitted

Bona Dea - Wikipedia


What this summary doesn't mention is that Clodius was like the Brad Pitt combined with Al Capone combined with JFK of his day. He was a scion of by far the greatest family in Roman history, the Claudii, who had produced dozens and dozens of consuls. And he was also considered the best looking man in the city Because of his social status, his looks, and his extravagant playboy lifestyle, Clodius was the man who got the most attention from people in his era, more so than Caesar or Antony. Clodius was also a gangster who commanded the biggest and toughest gang in the city, and due to his gang power he was also a leading politician.

For all these reasons, even people who were apolitical were interested in Clodius and what he was doing, where they may not have been interested in Caesar and Antony. That's why I believe that any scandal involving him was just far bigger than anything about Caesar and Antony; they never had juice with the people like Clodius did. Sure they had much more political and military power, but put it this way, if there were gossip magazines and paparazzi and things like that in the Roman world, they would have spent far more time on Clodius than anybody else.

Good post!

@Sukairain when Julius Caesar was the high priest of Roman religion is that the equivalent of being the Pope in today's world? If so, does that mean Julius Caesar was Pope and Dictator at the same time??

 

[Wargames]

Mark Sanford of South Carolina. All time GOAT tier scandal. said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was in Argentina with his mistress

actually he went on to complete his term and serve in the house of reps for multiple terms before getting primaried

only reason he got primaried is cause he has the audacity to say Trump is a ducking idiot

 

[jj23]

iran-contra and valerie plame were both worse in terms of details to me

Watergate had the benefit of woodrow and bernstein on the case though

Iran Contra.

 

[Pressure]

Plame affair has to be up there. Hard not to attach it to the subsequent invasion.