every hour. thanks for watching. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you're in "the stream." sex, scandals and politics. 15 years after bill clinton's impeachment trial, are americans more willing to give cheating polices a second chance? our producer, raj is here. and looking at the comments so far, it's interesting, no one has talked about this topic. >> we have introduced marijuana

and today, sex scandals, i think that we had the salaciousness covered for this week. and speaking of that, we have pastor joel, one of our favorites, and he tweets in, our leaders are a reflection of us. when we see their morality, we're looking in the mirror. and on facebook: and a lot of people thought that. >> yeah, a lot of people say that what you do behind the scenes may have a proclivity of what you do in public. clinton's impeachment trial was definitely, for the first time, a president's sex life was out in the open for everyone to

judge, and since then, knowledge of sex scandals has increased dramatically, making it easier to spread the dirty details. americans never seem to fire of the stories, but does the public hold politicians to a higher moral standard or simply the standard that they expected of themselves and significant others? and what's the media's role in all of this? are journalists giving information that's valuable in the interest of the candidate or just robbing time of real news? to help us tonight, allison, a political scientist. she teaches courses on american behavior in pennsylvania, and she's the editor of sex, scandals and american politics. megan, a columnist for bloomberg view, has a book coming out, the upside of down, and on skype from berlin, eva, a journalist

and founder of a publishing company. and john, a law student with policy, and thanks for everyone for being here. and so allison, why do we pay attention to these sex scandals? >> because it's a fun topic to talk about, and it's easy to understand. and in a political world where things are complicated and difficult, and sometimes really really sad, this is a good distraction, and it's something that is easily comprehen compree anything. >> megan, is it just fun or a distraction or something that serves a greater purpose and we should be paying attention to? >> it doesn't matter. there are basically three kinds of failure that people can commit. you can commit a technical error where you don't know what you're doing, or a judgment error, but

the third category is enormtive error, and it's a moral failing, and to rectify that, you need to prove that you know this is wrong and do what you need to do to correct it. 80% of americans say that immorality is wrong, and i think that makes sense. family is very important. and marriage is very important to society. so the public, it does reflect on people's character, but it also reflects on public values that we need to have to have a society. >> there are scandals from everything from adultery to hiring prostitutes, and john, does this reflect on the type of scandals? >> i think a lot of it does reflect on the type of scandal. for instance, if a politician

was discovered to have used tax dollars during his affair to take his mistress out or pay for meals or whatever, that makes it part of his job. but at the same time, there are a lot of people who believe that it's in their private life, and as long as it doesn't affect their performance in office, it really doesn't matter. but the thing is, that if you talk to any campaign staffer, or anyone who has worked for these guys, they will tell you that 95% of these guys are dorks. they have been dorks their whole life. and they're not used to attention or respect from women. and they don't get is that until they get into a position of power, and once they get that attention, they don't know how top handle it, and they can't say no, and they end up making a lot of stupid decisions and it becomes front-page news for all magazines. >> speaking about alleged docks.

anthony weiner and eliot spitzer, and i didn't call him a dork,: a allison, is there a magic recipe for image rehabilitation for a politician after suffering from a sex scandal? >> i don't know if there's a magic recipe, but there are certain things that you should not do, and anthony weiner did it, and you should not do it, and not get caught. >> it's just too weird. it's the idea of having a mayor who is just too far out of a normal person.

he didn't do anything illegal, but it's too undignified for somebody who wants to be mayor. >> but allison, why are some candidates forgiven for their indiscretion, and others aren't, like john edwards, there was no coming back for him. >> there was not, and there are a couple of things at play. when a mistake involves an abuse of power. it's much harder for the voting public to try to forgive. it involves not only betrayal of the spouse, but the betrayal of the voters who got him into office in the first place. when there's no abuse of power, and a politician can say, this is a personal matter and between he and my spouse and our pastor, you have to let me fail and come back from it, you have a better chance of coming back and getting reelected. >> it all depends on who you are. eliot spitzer, he

rounded prostitutes, and people knew who he was. but if you are a super correct person, then you really stumble very hard. >> so megan, it sounds like how you politically brand yourself. if you brand yourself as mr. family values, and you have indiscretions opposite of that, you have a harder row to hoe coming back? >> that may be true, but it was clear that he was going on hiking trips, but they were trips to visit his mistress. and i think that the thing is don't get caught doing it a second time. and in the case of anthony weiner, don't do something reckless and embarrassing. besides the betrayal of his wife, it was very hard to get that image out of your head, and therefore, very hard to want him to be a politician. >> councilor, are some states in districts more tolerant than

others? i think of bitter louisiana, who had a fairly easy go coming back, and i think of sauder, in indiana, who had a hard time coming back after an affair with one of his aids. >> a cowriter, we looked into this, to see if there was a difference in co regions. he was able to let three years go by from the time he was caught in the prostitution scandal and when he ran for re-election. and when his opponent was bringing it up again, he was like, we got this already, and he was a perfect example of this is a personal matter. his wife stayed with him and he was able to be very contrite about it. and he laid low and did his work in the senate and the voters

said that's okay, and he won by a handed amount john, i'm going to go with you, this is the only time in history i can quote scarface. >> do scarface. >> first, you get the money, then you get the power, and then you get the women. john, you're a law student. and you're going to be a fine attorney. and what is it about power specifically that paralyzes the common sense of otherwise

competent and intelligent people like wiener and spitzer and makes them do the same mistakes again? >> it comes down to the fact that they're not used to being in this type of position and getting this kind of attention from people and this kind of respect that comes with the office. i'm glad that you guys brought up spitzer and wiener. i mean, a guy like anthony weiner, there are a lot of friends of mine saying look, he didn't do anything that bad. he didn't physically cheat with his wife with another girl, but just tweeted lewd pictures of himself. but at the same time, how can someone with common sense and rationality do something so stupid? especially when you're in a position that you're in? and you know, you're a recognizable face. i also think of chris lee from new york too, who was soliciting personal ads on some website. i don't know if it was craig's list or what. and he was trying to use a fake

name, but if you're a public official, people recognize your face, and they know your name, and you can't pretend to be somebody else. so it is kind of alarming that someone in that kind of power would have that power over public services or tax dollars, because there's an absence of common sense. and if i could just add one quick point about why it's acceptable for some politicians and not others. it doesn't surprise me that geography doesn't matter. it comes down to the politician himself. if he has a strong support network and if he has enough friends, he can rebound. we have seen that with bitter and sanford. and other guys are not that lucky. really, when it comes down to campaigns and elections, it's all about your support network. >> when we come back, what role the media plays in perpetuating

consider this. the news of the day plus so much more. answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america.

>> an exclusive "america tonight" investigative series >> we traveled here to japan to find out what's really happening

at fukushima daiich >> three years after the nucular disaster, the hidden truth about the ongoing cleanup efforts and how the fallout could effect the safety of americans >> are dangerous amounts of radioactive water, leaking into the pacific eververyday? >> join america tonight's michael okwu for an exclusive four part series, as we return to fukushima only on al jazeera america to au . to au >> i am compelled to say i'm sorry. >> i'm profoundly sorry. >> we are talking about politicians involved in sex scandals, and how things have

changed and whether infidelity and intransgegs translates to voter concerns. what was different about the clinton affair and how did the media coverage change? >> a couple of things went on. because of the impeachment scandal it was a story of the national interest, something that everyone focused on. it became a policy story, a story about congress and the executive branch and power. so that made it possible to make a public story out of what had been traditionally something private. we have to remember at the same time cable news was exploding, so, too, was the internet. >> 24 hour news cycle. >> and the beast needs to be fed. >> both of those things made for a different type of addressing of these types of stories.

>> megan, if the internet existed during the time of j.f.k., do you think his presidency would have been different, that the public would have viewed his extramarital dalianses differently, or was it a different time where people looked at the things through different lenses and different sensibilities. >> the clinton scandal marked a change in the media. cable news and the internet. it marked a shift in morality. if you look at what happened to governor nelson rockefeller in the '60, his campaign was derailed by the fact that he divorced his wife to marry another woman. these days it's not enough to knock a political campaign off. it makes it harder to move on to the presidency, because the public may have forgiven him for having an affair on the side.

reporters would never have reported it. they knew about j.f.k. not something you talk about. what they would not forgive was breaking up a family. it became easier to break up the family and we were less forgiving of fid elty, it was something you felt you had to take recourse to. it now became something that you had actively chosen to betray the person you were with, and that was something the american public was not willing to toll ralt. >> our viewer says: we asked how would you do a rehabilitation. olivia pope, that's on the show

"scannedal", a pr fixer, and here is brian with a video comment. >> maybe not as quickly and red state america, but i think, you know, as the next decade rolls on, further into the future, i think the american vote in public will be less concerned about what politicians do on their own time, in their own marriages, in their own relationships and more concerned about what they are doing to govern and improve people's lives. >> let's talk about media responsibility. alison mentioned hunger. is there a public demand in hunger for the stories or is the media claiming the narrative and feeding the public. >> i think there's a sensationalist element to it. in the wake of the 24-hour news cycle where you have to fill in 24 hours of news in a day, every day, the media is going to, you know, beat down anything that comes their way. and there's a strong argument

that it's to the - having a detrimental effect on the country. when i think of the clinton lewinski sex scandal. there's a book by steve dillon called the pack, where she illustrated how close the president and given grich were in -- grin grich passing reforms, they were so close to passing them, making them go beyond 2033. it was rerailed in the wake of the lewinski sex scandal. now entitlements are like a third rail, no one wants to touch them. timing is critical. there's only certain times when you can pass major reforms, when both sides are willing to work together. it's having a detrimental affect in washington and for the rest of us. >> you make a good case for opportunities lost.

isn't honesty important. if we are putting people in offers who are skilled liars, shouldn't that give us a lot more concern than what they are doing behind closed doors. >> absolutely. we can't that people that run for office are attractive, funny, smart, but not too smart. we want our elected officials to be perfect. that is not likely to happen. i think megan made an interesting point that over 90% of americans in a poll said that infidelity is the worst thing you can do. the same statistics show that - what is it, 30-40% of marriages, there's a spouse that has cheated. i think we look to our politicians to be if not better than us, to at least appear better than us. we are not holding ourselves to those same standards. >> do you want to jump in?

>> it's an interesting story. if you look at the media, the media is doing what we are doing now. it's sal ashes detail and crime and adultery and sex scandal. the people covering up were in this very unique time, where every media outlet had a monopoly or a new monopoly. that was a decision that people who didn't have to compete for advertising dollars or readers made the - the eleets didn't like it. what the people want, news for a lot of us is about primitive instincts. "i want to know if i'm in danger and i want to gossip about people i don't know." that's why celebrity magazines sell. these are legitimate questions of character. if a politician abandoned his wife when she was sick, that's something private between the

two of them. >> sometimes we go too far. if you didn't do anything illegal, conflict of interest, i don't care. we have an obsession with sex lives. we focus on sex scandaling. actual knews is too boring. not everyone is captivated by sex scandals. in europe, cheating politicians are no big deal. why is that. you may be surprised by the answers next.

>> and now a techknow minute...

>> welcome back. we have been talking about the public's endless fascination with political sex scandals. and before the break, i mentioned how europe is more accepting of infamous politicians, and nothing shows that more than the wife of dominic strauss-kahn. when asked about her husband's reputation as a producer, she said, if anything i'm proud. as a political man, i'm proud. it's important to seduce, and as long as he seduces me, that's enough. >>

it's interesting, when you go overseas people in europe don't seem to care as much about sex scandals in politics. >> i don't think that's quite right. it's big news here, and when clinton was in the news, it was big news in germany. i have to say about clinton, it was a political power play. they used in minor sex scandal to get rid of a president that was considered quite good in europe, and that was the angle. >> when europeans have scandals with european politicians, they're not publicly grilled like the ones in the united states are. >> no. our chancellor was married five times and got divorced four times, and i think if you get a divorce, you marry another wife, that's fine, you can do that.

what you cannot do is like doing something with a minor or somebody who works for you and misuses public funds. you would be in trouble for that. we don't have the colorful stuff like anthony weiner. that would be trouble here too. but we don't have these hollywoodesque, very wonderful gossipy things in germany going on, you just have normal scandals. >> do you think that europe is a little more accepting of infid eld or that europeans put so much more value on privacy and modesty they wouldn't think to put these things out in public view like americans do? >> in germany, privacy is very important. and the press wouldn't report it right away as the american press does, and as long as you do something which is considered normal nowadays, you meet

somebody else, they need to make up their mind. i should we be holding ourselves to the european center here? >> if you are a predator in some way, that's never okay. and so i think we should hold our politicians to that standard. >> american politicians, the same people who -- >> megan, in the benefits of society, which approach is better?

do you think that the indiscretions should be part of the public discourse like in the united states, or is it better to leave them off to the side and not really acknowledged? >> one thing, societies have public values, and they enforce those public values. and to some extent, that's okay. a society has decided what it's values are. and it enforces it's values. and i don't think that it's healthy to spend a great deal of time pursuing political sex scandals, but what's interesting about a lot of these scandals, they're not things that the media was just pounding and going after. eliot spitzer got snagged up in an investigation. >> we have to stop there because we're out of time. but thanks to all of our guests for a wonderful discussion tonight. and until next time, we'll see you online.

>> protests this cairo, with the trial of egypt's deposed president about to resume. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera. also ahead on the program. the first batch of chemical weapons is taken out of syria by sea. >> north korea celebrates kim jong un's birthday, by announ announcing elections. >> and taking aim at the commander-in-chief. a former u.s. defense secretary attacks barack obama