Yes, affairs that turn into marriages happen. That doesn't actually detract from my point, which is that they're vanishingly rare. In a population of billions, I'd expect several hundred cases quite easily.

> It's beyond me why the Americans feel the need to cannibalise their highest public achievers for trivial personal faults.

I couldn't give a rat's ass about this scandal myself. I've been super-unproductive today, and this comment thread was an effective diversion. But the article I linked suggests that this scandal is a good opportunity to recognize some more interesting things about Petraeus' history that have nothing to do with his personal life, per se.

My favorite part about the article was what it didn't talk about: namely, Broadwell barely figured into it except as a secondary example.