The road to political success is not an easy one. The path is fraught with twists and turns for anyone who feels called to represent their fellow citizens. These obstacles can include dishonest advisors or the menacing press. However, arguably the biggest hurdle these aspiring public servants must overcome is their own personal demons — namely, lust.
Throughout the history of politics, from kings to presidents, there have been mistresses, flings and now sexts. With the recent surfacing of Monica Lewinsky’s explicit audio tapes she made for President Clinton and Anthony Weiner’s cyber paramour Sydney Leathers publicly saying she’d consider porn, it’s time these ‘other women’ were ranked.
To determine how to rank the women from the best to the worst of modern day sex scandals, we employed a complicated, and only slightly arbitrary, system of how sleazy, how crazy and how hot they were at the time of the incident.
Kicking us off at the top is…
María Belén Chapur
This Argentinian beauty came to light as South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s mistress after he casually disappeared for a weekend, claiming later that he was “hiking the Appalachian trail.” In actuality he was down in Buenos Aires with Chapur. Out of all the women on this list, she seems the most normal. She has two kids, used to be a TV news reporter and it seems her only fault was falling in love with a married man. The two are now engaged, which adds to the legitimacy of this dalliance being more than just a fling. Plus, at 41, she looks good.
Memorable quote: Mark Sanford said she was his “soulmate.”
María did it for love, but equally as honest about her motivations is…
Ashley Alexandra Dupré
Ashley became a public figure when a federal wiretap discovered that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had spent upwards of $80,000 on high class call girls during his stint as attorney general and then continuing into his governorship. Ashley claims she did not know who he was, but rather was just doing her job as an escort as part of the “Emperor’s Club VIP.” While having sex for money is certainly sleazy, Dupré doesn’t seem too crazy. She needed money and she got it. Plus, she’s easily the hottest one on this list, which helps her ranking.
Memorable quote: “I was doing my job. I don’t feel that I brought him down.”
While Ashley was all about the green, sometimes mistresses can seem downright delusional, like our next woman…
Rielle Hunter
Rielle is infamous for having an affair with 2008 presidential hopeful John Edwards. The affair allegedly began before the campaign, and continued for a number of years. Hunter now claims they were in a committed relationship. However at the time, she became pregnant, and claimed the father was a married staffer for Edwards. Edwards finally admitted the affair as his wife Elizabeth was dying of breast cancer and it eventually came to light that Hunter’s daughter Frances Quinn was the child of Edwards. Hunter seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the southern politician and harbors no regret about the affair, which led Hunter’s own sister to apologize to Elizabeth for Rielle’s behavior. If your own sibling turning against you doesn’t signal a screw loose, not much does.
Memorable quote: “I could have helped save the world, but I had to sleep with him.”
While it’s not strictly political, this next broad got herself in hot water with a high ranking general…
Paula Broadwell
In 2012, General David Petraeus suddenly announced his resignation as CIA director, citing an affair. This news seemed to come out of the blue, but it had been brewing for some time down in Florida. Broadwell wrote a biography of General Petraeus, comically entitled, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” which led to them spending significant amounts of time together. The affair might have flown under the radar. However, Broadwell allegedly began sending slightly threatening emails to a woman she believed might be getting too close to her man. If Broadwell wasn’t married with children, this behavior might not have been quite as crazy, but that was not the case.
Memorable quote: A colleague of Broadwell and Petraeus said, “It almost didn’t matter what was actually going on behind the closed door of that office. The pair spent too many hours in there, too late at night, the public affairs officer sent away.”
Next up, we have a household name…
Monica Lewinsky
When Monica was only a 22 year old intern in the White House, she and President Clinton reportedly engaged in nine sex acts. Anyone who hasn’t lived under a rock knows the details of the scandal and where certain cigars may or may not have gone. While it is pretty sleazy to knowingly engage in an affair with the married leader of the free world, with the recent release of tape recordings Monica made Bill, it seems pretty clear Monica wasn’t an innocent intern seduced by a powerful and charming man. In fact, the demands she was making to the President seem to have a touch of the crazy. She’s not quite at bunny-boiler level, but she’s flirting with it.
Memorable quote: “Since I know you will be alone tomorrow evening, I have two proposals for you, neither of which is you not seeing me.”
She was an older name, but still important…
Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer emerged as an unfortunate thorn in the side of Bill Clinton when was on the 1992 campaign trail. She claimed the two had a 12 year relationship, but then denied it, before changing her story back to the affair. Say what you want about President Clinton, but Flowers just seems unpleasant and shameless. After the scandal started getting buzz, she posed nude for Penthouse and auctioned off answering machine tapes between her and Clinton. She is estimated to have made over half a million dollars total on the affair.
Memorable quote: “I don’t think Bill is a role model for anyone.” Pot calling the kettle black?
And it appears that the rookie takes the cake as the most despicable other woman! We saved the worst for last…
Sydney Leathers
The sexting partner of Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, has managed to catapult herself from unknown, slightly frumpy girl to universally hated representation for everything that is unholy. She knowingly engaged in an cyber affair with a married man and sent him nude pictures of herself and her feet. When she leaked the affair herself, she then proceeded to call Weiner needy and mock him for his behavior, as if she hadn’t had any part in it. She also now says she’s going to get a boob job and is open to doing porn. If she was in this just for money, like Dupré, it would be less crazy.
Memorable quote: “He was just this needy little bitch, basically.”