This is getting trumpeted in Illinois and all over the US as a "
bombshell":
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jack Ryan's ex-wife, TV actress Jeri Ryan, accused him of taking her to sex clubs in New York and Paris, where he tried to coerce her into having sex with him in front of strangers, according to records released Monday from the couple's California divorce file.
This isn't new information. Ryan's Republican opponents released this information during the Republican primary. But, being unconfirmed, the press essentially refused to run with it. I just find it curious that the story is now being treated as a new bombshell instead of what it really is -- the confirmation of months-old rumors.
Of course we do have a lot of new, juicy details that should set the press' heart a flutter. It'll be politically damaging to Jack Ryan with the wingers in his party and the few Illinois independents still open to Republicans. It might even teach Illinois Republicans to stay away from candidates named "Ryan". (Jack is the third Ryan in as many cycles, all of which have been disgraced.)
And yes, this is probably a boost to Obama, even though he really didn't need it.
But I find this obsession with sex to be pretty ridiculous. And I can't get too excited over the turn this Senate race has taken. I want to beat Republicans because their ideas are discredited, not because of accusations hurled during divorce proceedings, however salacious those accusations may be.