Lemondrop

Mark Sanford and John Edwards must be wondering how Bill Clinton did it. And by "did it" I'm not talking about his tortured definition of "sexual relations," but about how he survived an affair with his political career intact.

This weekend's buzz was that South Carolina legislators were discussing a possible impeachment proceeding against Governor Mark Sanford as a result of the scandal surrounding his affair with an Argentine woman, which was discovered after he went AWOL for several days. The predominant voice on Sanford sounded a lot like that of conservative blogger and author Michelle Malkin who wrote, "With apologies to Dr. Seuss: Marshall C. Sanford, will you PLEASE GO NOW! You can go by bus. You can go by jet. I don't care how, just get, get, get."

And just a few weeks ago a hot topic in the news surrounded the affair of another man in politics: John Edwards. Edwards made headlines when an investigation was launched over alleged payments to Edwards' former mistress (and baby mama) Rielle Hunter. Like Sanford, few of Edwards' supporters are eager to forgive and forget his affair.

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So how did Clinton survive a scandal in the Oval Office with an intern a couple decades his junior, but Mark Sanford and John Edwards are no longer feeling any affection from their former base of support? What keeps Clinton in the clear and makes Sanford and Edwards a target? And how can we figure out how the next scandal will play out? The differences are slight but important.

Great Expectations
Consider what the American public expected from Bill Clinton. After all, how high could the expectations have been for someone who had a person in charge of "bimbo eruptions" during his presidential campaign? In contrast, Sanford was a favorite of Christian conservatives and Edwards made his family (and ailing wife) the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. The farther the fall, the less likely the chance for survival.

A Cooperative Spouse
It definitely helps to have a woman willing to stand by her man and join the fight for his political survival as Hillary did. Jenny Sanford did the unthinkable -- she let her man face the media by himself, forgoing the now-familiar scorned-woman photo op. Then she took the kids and split from the governor's mansion. Elizabeth Edwards was not only already more popular with many Edwards supporters than her husband, but was battling inoperable cancer to boot.

Political and Social Ineptitude
Blogger Allahpundit said, "It's a quirk of our politics that voters don't mind cheating as much as they do inept cheating. Infidelity makes you a cad; unannounced week-long disappearances and rambling confessional pressers about the new lady in your life makes you a cad and erratic, and Americans don't dig erratic in their would-be presidents." They also don't dig the thought that the money they contributed to a campaign might end up in the bank account of the First Mistress.

In other words, if you're going to mess around, don't be a complete idiot about it -- unless people pretty much expect it of you anyway and you have a spouse willing to forgive you and help fight for your political life. The best plan, though, is not to be a cheating dog in the first place.

Lorie Byrd has been political blogging since 2004. Read more from her at Wizbangblog, Townhall.com and AmericanIssuesProject.org.