Can Cheaters Run For President?

Steve Benen poses that question in a Washington Monthly story that concludes that adultery may be a big problem for Republicans in the next presidential campaign.

Writes Benen:

Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP's favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history.

Just a few years after infidelity was considered a dealbreaker for a presidential candidate, the party that presents itself as the arbiter of virtue may field an unprecedented two-timing trifecta.

Let's see now: Republicans impeach a president for having sex with a White House intern and lying about it. Applying the same standard, what fate awaits McCain, Gingrich and Giuliani?

That's a trick question, because the Republicans are sure to use a double standard.