Public wants competence

Why might supposedly morally flawed politicians like Anthony Weiner, Elliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford be given second chances by the public? The answer may be that all have displayed competence and even excellence in the offices to which they were elected. Sanford was an imaginative governor who championed pioneering policy ideas. Spitzer won deserved acclaim as a prosecutor fighting organized crime and a champion of consumer causes as a state attorney general before becoming governor. Weiner was probably the most effective spokesman in Congress for liberal causes. Who instead? Nancy Pelosi? Charles Schumer?  Peccadilloes aside, isn't this supposed to be what it's all about?