I can go along with that. All we had to do was look at Lee Hart's eyes as she stood steadfastly by her husband to see her agony. 

One male observer noted in my earshot, "Hart's troubles ain't over. If he thinks the press hounded him, imagine the hell he's catching from his wife." 

What I wonder, however, is why there hasn't been more said about the character and morality of Hart's partner in the recent scandal, blond and sexy Donna Rice. 

You can't commit adultery by yourself. At least, I don't think you can. (It would be a good way to avoid AIDS if you could.) 

It isn't that Donna Rice is some teeny-bopper airhead whom Hart charmed aboard the yacht Monkey Business. 
 

The word was `hussy'
 

The woman is 29 years old, she knew full well Gary Hart was married, yet she was clearly a willing participant in whatever relationship they had, and she shouldn't get off so easily. 

There used to be a word for women like Donna Rice back whenever it was I grew up. The word was "hussy," as in brazen. 

It was used to describe women who were fast, loose and high-toned, and who hung around in beer joints and roadhouses, chewed excessive amounts of gum and knew all the numbers for the songs on the jukebox by heart. 

I have an even better example of what a hussy was, and, I suppose, still is. 

My late Uncle Frank was a lawyer. Once he was representing a man in a divorce case. In his summation to the jury he said: 

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let it be known that while my client, a brave, patriotic American, was fighting for his country on the bald hills of Korea, this woman here - his wife - was seen dancing on table tops at Shorty's Truck Stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, eatin' boiled eggs and drinkin' beer from a can." 
 

Basically sexist society
 

The jury ruled for Uncle Frank's client. What else could they have done? 

Jessica Hahn got off without a lot of damage, too, after it was revealed the PTL Club was paying her to keep quiet about fooling around with evangelist Jim Bakker. 

Bakker lost his job and his reputation as a result, but Jessica Hahn got the money and notoriety she never would have gotten otherwise. She'll probably write a book and wind up on "Donahue." 

A reaction, or lack of reaction, toward the other halves of the Hart and Bakker tangos might be because we remain a basically sexist society. 

We howl and scream at Hart and Bakker because they are - or were - powerful men. But we ignore their partners as merely a couple of broads who were nothing more than sex objects for our villains. 

And where does Jim Bakker's wife, Tammy Faye, fit into all this? 

Now it can be told. The FBI recently ordered she take off all her makeup and guess what they found underneath all that goo? 

Jimmy Hoffa.