Nation contributor Melissa Harris-Lacewell talks to Keith Olbermann about philandering politicians and why their private affairs matter to the public. She notes that “if [marriage] was a private matter, then gay men and lesbians would be free to marry in this country.” As Mark Sanford and John Ensign continue to hang on to their political careers, Harris-Lacewell notes the prevalence of an “old-boys club” mentality that subordinates women to the desires of powerful men, and makes the case that these issues should indeed be public.

—Sarah Jaffe

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