Was Paula Broadwell threatening Patraeus' wife?

[malaise]

Or did he have two lovers?

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. I vote for 2 + n

People don't wake up at 60 and start pulling shit like this.

[malaise]

4. Very true

What a mess

[aletier_v]

12. That's true. It happened to me a little after 40. :)

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. It starts at 14 or 40

Not 60.

I'm willing to bet Petraeus was effing anything that moved for the better part of the last 30 years.

[HangOnKids]

47. It Is Called Swamp Dick

Anything in a swamp that moves is fair game. A military guy told me this.

[DURHAM D]

2. Perhaps both.

[TwilightGardener]

3. I think Miss Paula knew she had some competition.

I think the wife was ignored by everyone.

[malaise]

8. Still she must have suspected something

based on those photos or her body language on the Daily Show.

[rocktivity]

5. Hell hath no fury

like a mistress scorned.


rocktivity

[DryHump]

40. Love this!!!!!!

[Gin]

6. Stupid self absorbed females......fighting for a stupid self absorbed man....

He didnt make a very good spook.....

[malaise]

10. Only the names change

the story line is always the same

[Inuca]

11. Petraeus is not stupid, to the contrary

he did a stupid thing, as so many other very smart men did.

[malaise]

13. No it's really stupid

Smart men think out the consequences and pass.

[aletier_v]

18. Albert Einstein disagrees.

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/oct/einstein-infidelity

"Einstein had affairs with seven or so women while married"

[CTyankee]

23. I don't think he even cared what his wife or anyone else thought, based on what I've read...

he was, after all, who he was and in that sense felt he could do no wrong.

So perhaps Petraeus fancied himself another Einstein?

[malaise]

25. LOL

[aletier_v]

26. No, I was mostly joking.

I think Patraeus fell victim to hubris.

Well, on second thought... yes, perhaps Patraeus saw himself as a military Einstein,
that's an interesting thought. A beautiful sex successful woman would be validation of that, yes?

or two or three?

I'm wondering how isolated into the ranks he was in the military.
I never heard of him until the Gulf War.
perhaps his foray out of the military, a known environment, was his undoing?

[CTyankee]

32. I think he was an opportunist form the beginning. He wooed the daughter of West Point's

Supervisor while attending and married her and I am cynical enough to think that was a ploy to gain a leg up in his military status. It wouldn't be the first time in history that that has happened.

I am sure he thinks he deserves this woman's attention and flattery and also that of other women. Drunk on power? Sure, why not?

Why are we even surprised? This is the oldest story in the world...

[aletier_v]

37. "Why are we even surprised?"

I'm not, particularly.

I don't feel particularly angry about it, either.

if anything, his and her situations really suck at the moment and I wouldn't trade places.

I'm wondering how much of this is really about her book, she just hit the best-seller list.
I'm wondering if her real issue wasn't Patraeus per se, but her rising journalistic star and Patraeus's association.

[CTyankee]

39. Well, if you mean that others became jealous of both her and him, yes, I can see that.

Another ambitious woman might want to encroach and she fought back to keep her status in his hierarchy. But if you are saying that she has a lot to gain financially from this revelation, well, then it makes sense. She's gonna sell books! She'll get a screen rights contract for her story! Endless speculation will ensue as to who in Hollywood will play her in the movie! Who will play Petraeus? Ca-ching!

[aletier_v]

41. Not just the money but the recognition

I watched her, she's done several interviews this year.

She talked about the need to capitalize on her window of media opportunity.

I don't see why she'd be so possessive of this man
because he's already married, 37 years of commitment,
and she has her own nest, family, etc.

The media adrenalin rush makes more sense to me,
that she would be angry and possessive about IT.

But no, she was already gaining financially, professionally
I doubt she wanted the current situation.

[CTyankee]

43. Oh, I dunno. It's a pretty glamorous situation, better than the wife's surely.

The "other woman" always has a certain amount of glamor, people want to know what she had that he wanted, etc. I can see how she would rather be the "other woman" than the "wronged spouse." It means yet another man lusted for her. That makes her the "winner" in a certain way...

[aletier_v]

45. Read up on Monica Lewinsky

The ten years after Clinton.

Broadwell may be finished, careerwise.

[CTyankee]

48. She may be. But what was she going to be anyway?

She has her book and will have her screen rights. She'll have lots of money. She can do what she wants professionally.

Her private life is a different story. Read Anna Karenina. She may end up without her kids which would be a real tragedy.

OR, she may go on to other things. It's a new world for women nowadays. We are not stuck in the old paradigm where the woman is ALWAYS the victim. We'll see...

[Cirque du So-What]

28. Did you know

a child was born from the union of Albert Einstein and a prostitute? Nice kid, but a fucking know-it-all.

[Louisiana1976]

34. ...

[Cirque du So-What]

36. Thank you, thank you

I'll be in town all week.

[Whisp]

19. ++++

[Chiyo-chichi]

21. I stand with malaise on this one.

[randome]

33. You're right. But Paula Whats-Her-Name did a stupid thing too.

Too often women get denigrated during affairs and the man isn't blamed. That isn't right.

But in this case, it's important to remember that it always takes two to tango.

[scarletwoman]

7. No, obviously NOT Patraeus's wife - think about it.

The FBI wouldn't have "stumbled" onto the connection with Patraeus if it had been his wife who called them in. And do you really think that the wife of the CIA Director would have called the FBI? That seems illogical to me.

The unnamed woman who called the FBI about the threatening emails wouldn't necessarily have to be another lover, either. If Broadwell was nuts enough to send threatening emails, she could be nuts enough and deluded enough to simply perceive that the other woman represented a threat to her relationship with Patraeus.

[malaise]

9. Valid points

There are too many power driven nuts around - male and female.
Why do people not know that truth will out - powerful people rarely get away with affairs.

[scarletwoman]

15. "Too many power driven nuts" - Amen!

I'm not sure I agree with your second statement, though. I'm sure plenty of powerful people - not necessarily pols - get away with affairs. We don't know how many of course, because they get away with them.

[aletier_v]

14. Yes, she may have projected herself onto another woman

Assumed that she was competing for Patraeus.

It's sure an interesting attitude for an extramarital affair, though,
especially since she had her own husband and kids. Really possessive.

[CTyankee]

20. My initial thought, too. She prolly thought the other woman was "encroaching" on what she

considered her "turf," that of mistress to the Great Man. Petraeus certainly didn't think this thing through. He must have known that there would be women falling all over him because he was powerful and here he was already deeply enmeshed with one and another coming onto him.

Does any of this surprise him? If so, he is much more stupid than I thought he was....people fight over access to the powerful...and other men do the same thing...

[Whisp]

16. no, she was using Petraeus' email account for those threats.

would she want Mrs. Petraeus to think those threatening whatever words were from her Husband?

I don't think so.

It has to be another lover of Petraeus' or one that Paula Thought could be, wanted to be.

[libdem4life]

17. I may be wrong, but this would not be "impeachable" or whatever in Europe, right?

I'm talking about adult, consensual sex...not bribery. I think Europeans are more understanding of human flaws, foibles and activities going on since the days of Genesis. Still ruled by Puritans or those with the best and most convincing imitations. Guess we need to reinstate Purity Pledges and chastity belts.

[Indpndnt]

24. Petraeus didn't resign because of an affair.

He resigned because his affair was a security risk and that is unacceptable for anyone in the CIA, let alone the director.

[redqueen]

30. Exactly. How do people keep missing that and thinking only of sex? nt

[aletier_v]

31. because that's what we think about most!

[malaise]

27. Well there is no impeachment in Europe but I'm sure affairs are not tolerated

in some positions

[aletier_v]

29. yes, especially for Reverse CowGirl.

[DryHump]

42. I laugh here at my keyboard!

[regnaD kciN]

44. Enough British MPs and other government officials would tend to agree...

[Gin]

35. Found this on the web....about her husband..did he write this?

Did he write the NY Times about the affair?....coincidence?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/10/paula-broadwells-husband-wrote-letter-nyt-affair-david-petraeus_n_2109455.html

[Caroline-Vivienne]

46. No. That has been debunked. Someone else wrote the letter.

[FarCenter]

38. He watched too many James Bond movies?

Pay attention, 007.

[libdem4life]

49. Face it. The US is still stuck in the Victorian Age. Affairs=sex=bribable offense. Europe,

not so much. Geez, they have mistresses if they can afford them. Lucky dogs. We're stuck with toe tappers and cigars and Monkey Business.