Arnold and America's sick obsessions

According to recent admissions, Ex-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a child out of wedlock with a family staffer prior to becoming Governor. It has made huge headlines and has been the talk of the Hollywood, Politico and News outlets. My biggest question in all this is, why does anyone care?

Who CARES about Arnold and his women? Infidelity is nothing new in politics and extramarital children is nothing new in Hollywood. Why is this news? Americans should not be shocked at all by any of this. When Gavin Newsom slept with his staffer's wife back in '07 or even in recent news when Congressman Mark Souder resigned over news that he had an affair with a female staffer no one should be shocked or surprised. Even Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich seems unfazed by his past infidelities, some that even occurred while probing Clinton on his peccadilloes.

Arnold's situation should come as no surprise for anyone who has had any knowledge of the inner workings of his tenure as Governor. Be it the "grope gate" or the stories of his aids physically separating him from female legislators to prevent continued inappropriate behavior, it is almost laughable to be asked, as so many news outlets have already, "were you shocked?" Personally, when I worked in the Legislature I saw some questionable things occurring around his cigar filled tent out in the Governor's courtyard but again, it is politics and people with people.

I am not even going to go into the hundreds of instances of illegitimate children that have been seen in the Hollywood world or the countless stories and instances of infidelity. This entire situation should not surprise anyone and really should not be given the focus it has. This situation has ruined a marriage, broken a home and possibly ruined the lives of the child in question and his mother.

I am not trying to make any apologies for the former Governor here, this is a situation that I find aggravating and disappointing from many angles.

In the end this is another private matter of dirty laundry between individuals that the American public feels compelled to bury their faces in.

Put yourself in the shoes of the child. You didn't ask for this attention, yet now all eyes are on you and your mother. You are already shaken from your recent bout with cognitive dissonance and now the media is ridiculing your mother.

I am more shocked at the American Media and public for continuing this practice when there are real issues and dangers to report on than I am with an actor/politician being unfaithful to his wife. Shocked, but not surprised.