ironymaiden | (Reply)

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the book in question is The Doubter's Companion a dictionary of aggressive common sense by the aforementioned john ralston saul, now yclept "his excellency" due to his recent tenure as the consort of this country's vice-regent. in spite of that, his writing is by turns entertaining and thought-provoking. the companion, in particular, advances several political arguments, but also owes a great deal in style and tone to ambrose bierce's earlier work. the relevant entry in this context is the one for

PRIVATE LIVES The private lives of public people may be considered private only so long as they don't trade on them to advance their public careers.
If an individual presents himself to the public for election as a happily married father of three, then he has made his weekend with a secretary or his visit to a prostitute of either sex a matter of public interest. If he makes a point of drinking milk in public, then the public will want to know whenever he gets drunk. If he buys his suits at Wal-Mart for the cameras, then proceeds to holiday on rich men's yachts, he will be photographed with telephoto lenses. But if he were to present himself to the public for election as a believer in specific policies, he might well be judged on those while his genitals, interesting though he himself might find them, would be forgotten by those not directly concerned as being of little relevance to the public good. He would probably even be able to fall down drunk in public from time to time without anyone much caring so long as the interests of the citizenry were being looked after. See AD HOMINEM.