The next time I hear a male political candidate boast on the campaign trail about how he has kept his vow of fidelity to his wife will be the first time I likely will throw a heavy object at whatever device I heard this idiotic statement.

I am seeing pictures of men posing with their wife and children. I have heard statements from them proclaiming they are devoted husbands, fathers and grandfathers who have family members who adore them beyond measure.

It’s the kind of crap that makes me feel like puking in my lap.

I never have considered marital fidelity to be something about which one should boast. It is a part of a holy relationship one assumes when he marries the person of his dreams. I am directing these remarks, I hope you understand, to the male politicians out there who are beginning to ask for our votes, our money to help them campaign and our trust that they are who they say they are.

We’ve been burned by these clowns before. I shall reintroduce you to John Edwards, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina who campaigned for vice president in 2004 on a ticket led by John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Edwards was married to Elizabeth. He appeared on the campaign trail with his wife, who was suffering from cancer. He proclaimed his love for her. He acted for all the world like a faithful husband.

Except he was leading a secret life as a Romeo involved in an affair with another woman … with whom he would produce a child. Edwards sought to persuade the voting public that he was a faithful husband when he was nothing more than a marital cheater.

John Edwards makes me sick to this day. His wife died of the disease from which she suffered. Edwards has disappeared from public life. His legacy as a cheat, a liar and a philanderer is etched in stone. He is one of many men who have been caught betraying that sacred oath they took.

So I remain suspicious of any man who makes marital faithfulness a bragging point in a campaign for public office.