This story is getting splashed everywhere today...

Newt, Rudy, and McPain all want "personal lives" left unscrutinzed.

The personal lives of White House hopefuls is already an issue for some Republican hopefuls in the 2008 campaign.

It's prompted frontrunner Sen. John McCain to recently call for keeping candidates' personal lives private, which Gingrich agreed with on Tuesday.

McCain's comments came the same week that chief rival former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asked for privacy as he deals with strained relationships with his children following two divorces.

McCain's remarks also came as Gingrich admitted to having an affair at the same time he was leading the effort to impeach President Clinton for allegations of perjury connected with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Gingrich and Giuliani have each been married three times. McCain is divorced and has a second wife.

I'm not so much arguing that we need to be in their bedrooms with lights, camera, action every minute - like some sort of twisted MTV reality show. But I don't like the generally hypocrtical way America will see this plea for privacy.

Bill Clinton deserved to be scrutinized. His behavior (supposedly in private) put the nation's security at risk. He also ended up committing felonies.

Since the dirt of these men's lives IS going to be examined. They would be better off demonstrating that they are no longer the men they once were - as opposed to making these waste of time statements about how this part or that part of their lives should be "off limits."

It's not like we're hiring them for the night shift manager at McDonalds. And if the FBI and the CIA scrutinize the private lives of the people they hire to handle the most sensitive missions of all - and they do. Then why shouldn't we have the opportunity to demand proof of character when examining the candidates before us who want the most important job on the planet?