But while sexual conduct is not irrelevant, it is also not everything. I have known politicians who are cold, arrogant, reckless — and faithful to their spouses. And I have known politicians who have been unfaithful and served the public well.

Moral conservatives need to admit that political character is more complex than marital fidelity, and that less sensual vices also can be disturbing. “The sins of the flesh are bad,” said C.S. Lewis, “but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.”…

This recognition should lead toward the most underrated of the moral virtues: mercy. Yes, people are baser than their highest ideals. They are also nobler than their worst moments. This does not make the distinction between base and noble impossible. But it makes a little grace appropriate.