I see from Drudge that Kerry is ruling out releasing records of his 1988 divorce, saying that it was “ancient, ancient history” and “none of anybody’s business”. Kerry is absolutely right. It’s his business, not ours, and it should stay that way. The same, however, could also be said about Jack Ryan, recently deposed as the GOP’s senatorial candidate in Illinois following ‘revelations’ mined from his (previously sealed) divorce papers by the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune claimed to believe that it was somehow in the ‘public interest’ that such personal matters (which turned out to reveal nothing that was either illegal or abusive) should be disclosed. The Tribune’s argument was as self-important as it was overbearing, but once the newspaper has made it in the case of one candidate whose election would affect its readers, it is difficult to see how it can avoid repeating it in the case of Kerry without seeming like hypocrites, so how about it, boys?
And if the paper does do that, Kerry should resist them, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. It would make a point and show some courage, something that, by abandoning Ryan, the GOP has absolutely failed to do.