McCain’s infidelity haunts him on the stump

A California court decision legalizing same-sex marriage and the recent move by New York’s governor to recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state has renewed the debate over the legal standing of same-sex couples around the country — and candidates are once again finding themselves asked to weigh in on the issue.

At a Town Hall meeting in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, Sen. John McCain was challenged about his standing on such marriages in light of his own past infidelities.

The questioner asked:

My second and final question, you talk a lot about the character issue … and … like you, um, I was opposed to gay marriage, I was always in favor of civil unions but the basic definition of marriage … but, then I get to thinking, that is based on what we consider to be the sanctity of marriage. There is nothing … you see long-term couples splitting up, it’s, it’s just crazy … I know that you, your own situation, you’re going to have to address that in the campaign. Infidelity is just a terrible cancer on this country… and I think if we’re going to talk about… gay marriage, it has to be in the context of the preservation of marriage…

McCain responded: “I just believe, frankly, in the sanctity and unique status of marriage between man and woman, and that’s what I believe, that’s what I support, and that’s what I will fight for.”

McCain has admitted his own infidelity — or the lack of sanctity — in his first marriage. In 1980, after romancing Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his junior, he divorced his wife of 15 years, Carol Shepp. The 44-year-old McCain blamed his own actions and his “immaturity” for the divorce and married Hensley six weeks later.