The Petraeus Fling Thing

The Petraeus resignation doesn’t seem that much of a BFD to me. “Alpha Male Has Affair” is right up there with “Dog Bites Man” or “Cat Catches Mouse” as a shocker. Nor does it shock me that the FBI and DOJ knew about the affair last summer and didn’t say anything to Congress about it. At least one other CIA director was worse.

Since there may be a connection to Benghazi, the righties are certain this affair ties into whatever they think the White House is covering up. Peter King is calling it a “crisis of major proportions.” I guess it’s a nice detraction from post-election soul-searching (nothing found, I hear). Of course, if Petraeus let his guard down and allowed his paramour to see classified information he needs to be called to account for that.

Also, too, people may be going ballistic because they were emotionally invested in Petraeus as a hero. You might remember the way Move On was set upon by howling virtual mobs of Petraeus admirers because of its “Petraeus Betray Us?” ad. Some right-leaning blogs are now calling him “General Betray Us.” I’m not emotionally invested in him at all, one way or another, so the whole thing is kind of a snooze for me. Do wake up up if anything significant happens.

Bernard Finel and Kevin Drum has some interesting observations, if you want to explore the topic further.