Are you trying to elect a Pope or a President?
It is nieve and unrealistic to expect anyone at national level politics to be lilly white and have no skeletons in their closet. You might not like it, but that is politics in America in 2007 and it is not at all unlike what politics were in 1807 or 1907.
So you think the discussion of history is naive and unrealistic. Do tell! :)
When you have skeletons in your closet ,in politics, you can bet somebody is going to get them out and shake them.
And as far as the pope is concerned I just don't care. But I do think that a smart educated man should have sense enough to know when to keep his paints zipped. If he cannot do that he might start whining about getting off the back of the plane.