21 thoughts on “The Petraeus Scandal: When Supposedly Smart People Do Definitely Dumb Things”

1. People in positions of fame and/or power do the most remarkably stupid things, don’t they? And they all seem to think they won’t be found out. Remember when Prince Charles’ private diary filled with rude comments about people around the world was leaked? My thought was why did he write this stuff down? Because someone is going to leak the diary, someone is going to publish the private emails, someone is going to save the blue dress. Oh, and tweets are public domain. And nude photos in your youth are going to reappear if you get famous – even before the internet. And apparently, someone is going to notice that 28 car motorcade.

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   • Zazzy, you speak the truth. I’m not one who usually pays much attention to scandals, but this one has me hooked. It is, as someone on Twitter said, a Coen Brothers movie.

     I forgot to add the 28 car motorcade to the links. Glad that you mentioned it. It deserved to be noted.

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     • @gavinpurcell said the Coen Brothers line. I’m such a reporter at heart that I can’t stand to not attribute my sources. In this world of hearsay, it’s probably an antiquated habit, isn’t it?

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       • Attribution is not antiquated! I think it’s very important.

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         • Thank you. Me too. Now how do we get everyone else to do the same? 😉

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2. I am too stunned to effectively comment. You can’t make this ^%$ up. BTW – brilliant post, Ally.

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   • Zen-Den, so true. This scandal has so many ridiculous twists that it does seem to be fabricated. Yet…

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3. Update: I AM THE SHIRTLESS FBI AGENT t-shirts are available here.

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4. Update: The 7 strangest details of the David Petraeus affair

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5. Well, thank God the election is over so we can focus elsewhere!

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   • kate, I think you’ve explained my interest in this stupid affair. Normally I’d ignore it, but after turning off the news during the election, this latest intrigue seems fascinating to me. It’s like I’m news deprived and instead of following some worthy news story, I’m filling up on junk news.

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     • It’s fascinating because you gotta wonder, “how can someone be so stupid??” I keep reading about it too. I guess we all live in a fishbowl now.

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       • I wonder that, too. Aren’t these supposed to be well-educated, common-sensical [a word?] people? Because if they are, I’m not seeing it.

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6. Update:

   Read this first – Petraeus scandal: a readers’ guide to the clandestine soap opera and its cast

   Then take this quiz – The David Petraeus scandal – quiz

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   • I’m ashamed to say that despite attempting to be on top of this story all day, all the time… I only got 7 out of 10 on the quiz. *hangs head in shame*

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7. I’m calling him General Betrayeus. 🙂

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   • Cute.

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8. This was reported only in passing over here, or certainly it didn’t feature much when I was watching the news, so I’m going to look through all your links and see what the fuss is about. Especially like the FBI T-shirt link – had to do that one first!

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   • Polly, this scandal is everywhere in the news & online over here. Up unitl this point, Petraeus has been such a good example of everything productive & patriotic.

     I feel such empathy for the victims in this scandal whose lives will never be the same. But honestly, General, how difficult is it to keep it zipped? Hmmm?!

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9. I am so uninterested in this story, it’s crazy. However, I did quite enjoy your summary. I didn’t click the links, because again, don’t care about idiot people and their sex lives. 😉

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   • J, it is unusual for me to care about sex scandals. The whole sordid mess seems like a Simpson’s episode to me– which is why I think that I got caught up in it. It is absurdity to the nth degree.

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