...the title of an essay or story by Edgar Allan Poe where he dissects exactly this kind of self-destructive behavior. It's been a long time since I've read it, but I recall it struck me quite profoundly because he described in himself behavior and attitudes I was starting to discern (as a teenager) in myself. It's almost as if there is an evil twin living in our skulls, an alter ego, who occasionally and unexpectedly does something really stupid.

Personally, I'm neither surprised nor outraged by the latest rash of Republican perverts, I'm sure the percentage of unconventional sex, hypocrisy and lying is pretty evenly distibuted across the entire political spectrum. Democrats may be less likely than Republicans to condemn homosexuality while practicing it clandestinely, because of the ideological priorities of both parties, but there are comparable forms of hypocrisy (like hiring undocumented nannies and gardeners while persecuting bosses who employ illegal aliens, or secretly engaging in outrageously un-environmental activities while publicly condemning them) which I'm sure makes up for it. There's always a defense for when your side gets caught..."All politicians do that".

In fact, it might behoove liberals and Democrats in general to be more gentle with those who are caught transgressing, before they learn, as the Republicans are now, how quickly these
things can catch up with you.