I wish someone would write a comprehensive study on this point. How did someone like Douglas (as well as Bill and Hillary) get away with spreading such blatent lies about themselves their entire lives? And still have worshipers?
Why didn't (doesn't) someone step forward and expose these rats for what they are?
Why is it that the people who try to expose these frauds are viewed with contempt, while the greater public would rather believe the lie than accept the truth about the liers?
... and anyway, as Machiavelli recognized long ago, personal morality and political morality are not the same thing.
I completely disagree with this point. Personal morality and political morality go hand in hand. If you lie and cheat on your wife, partner, friend, mother, father, child, you will lie and cheat on your constituent. If I had the time I could prove this with many examples.
Did Clinton's philandering in the WH prevent him from stealing goods from the WH (taxpayer)? No, we were just one more grubby little conquest.
Do you know of the author E. Michael Jones? You might be interested in his books Degenerate Moderns and Dionysius Rising. Jones details the unsavory personal histories of several pillars of modern thought (Freud, Mead, Kinsey, Wagner et al.) and shows how their private lives influenced their thinking and art.
You could probably write an endless series of such books. Douglas would rate an especially fat chapter in one.