Has there been a us president before who divorced his wife?

My US history skills aren't all that great, and I just realized: have we had a president before who divorced his wife? If not, then McCain would be the first, right? Sorry, I just remembered: Reagan was the first president to have divorced his...

wife.

However, most of the time, I only read Republican / Conservative diatribe about family values...so, how do you reconcile electing only the second president out of more than 40, ever, to have been divorced?

In their nearly 30-year long claim as the party of family values, I have rarely heard the Republicans address issues like divorce and adultery. The family values they advocate have more to do with opposition to same-sex marriage, opposition to abortion, censorship of pornography and graphic TV/video game content, family autonomy in matters of discipline, and involvement of parents, family, and perhaps even church in the public school system. How well a candidate performs on these issues is how he is judged as an advocate of family values.

But however you look at the family values platform, the Republican Party has failed miserably at it. Pre-marital sex among Christian teens is absurdly high, as is the divorce rate among Christian parents. The same stresses and social changes that have affected the West at large have not spared the Religious Right.

As far as John McCain, the politics here is obvious. I don't have any polling data on hand, but If you had asked the average Republican voter during the primaries which candidate stood for family values, I can guarantee John McCain would not have topped the list. The Religious Right preferred Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and even Ron Paul in that area. Now that those guys have lost, they must cling to the illusion that John McCain stands for their notion of family values; in reality, he does not.

I'm not voting in that election (Canadian - not my fault, lol), but if I can put in my two cents here, I don't think it should have a bearing.

Yes, most people use the family values issue to elect a president based on what they feel are his opinions regarding it, but these days the divorce rate is becoming an issue on its own.
So many people are now better able to relate to a divorced president, and in the end, the debate should be about how capable the person is, not whether or not they can keep a spouse.

I agree wih ichibanarky, to an extent.

The fact that they cannot keep a spouse *shouldn't* be an issue. But the right wing LOVES to preach about morality and family values, so that makes it so hypocritical. If they just didn't flaunt their morality and family values so much, it wouldn't be as ironic.

That's my opinion, anywyay.

Well...they didn't stay with one spouse...but both managed LONG marriages with second...I'll vote...Married for the wrong reasons, people change, too young...and all the other reasons people get divorced the first time, but make good choices the second time around...it ain't no big mystery...and it has diddly to do with family values...

p

As usual, a spot-on analysis RG...

I could give a crap that McCain was divorced. It should be irrelevant. But when you have some wingnuts espousing McCain for his solid moral values, the hypocrisy must be pointed out.

pphh, wow. someone actually caring about the ideas and belief of a presidential candidate. werent/arent the clintons divorced? I dont know, but I thought do

@teendollie12

You're confused. Study some history. Fact: only one president (Reagan) as I mentioned above took the office *after* a divorce.

Bill Hillary are not divorced, despite their public issues...

Bill and Hilliary...now there's a marriage made in heaven...don't ya think?

public issues LOL...Said in plain English...Willie can't keep his willie in his pants...end if story.

Dude, you should go into politics...you are so artful in the use of words...

p

phrannie, was McCain able to keep his in his pants when he was married to his first wife?

No, he wasn't, and his wife was an invlaid. Real strong moral values there, huh?

We weren't talking about McCain...stick to the subject...

p

divorcing his wife years BEFORE being elected president can't be any worse an example of family values than CHEATING on your wife WHILE in the White House..thats just my opinion...

no, we weren't talking about mccain per se. But we were talking about political figues infidelity, and mccain falls into that category. Just trying to keep the record straight.