Mixed messaging

Unfaithful to his family. Faithful in his promises to the country.

Marital fidelity has never been a particular political issue for Mexican politicians, so one assumes the Ashley Madison billboard (on a main street in Mexico City) is more than slightly tongue in cheek.  Ashley Madison, after all, is a website that “helps married people arrange affairs” (and they don’t mean financial ones).

While the Reuters article on this billboard (and a doff of the sombrero to IncaKolaNews.blogspot.com for posting on this) mentions that Peña Nieto hasn’t been hurt by admissions that he has fathered children out of wedlock, and that he has some female support supposedly based on his good looks, the Ashley Madison ads are obviously meant to undercut Peña Nieto’s support.  While there may be a pro-adultery voter bloc, it’s hard to see this as pro-Peña Nieto advertising.

Under the rather stringent rules laid down by the Elections Commission (IFE), candidates cannot engage in “personal attacks” on their opponents.  So, the lingering questions surrounding the death of Peña Nieto’s first wife  and the accusations raised by one-time campaign supporter, Dr. Agustín Estrada Negrete (the campaign issue that dare not speak its name)   have been off the table.  So far, even the bitterest anti-Peña Nieto campaigners have been reluctant to openly make these campaign issues.  Though, I expect, with adultery being openly … um… flirted with…  in the campaign (even in the context of an opportunistic commercial venture) I expect we will hear more about them.

Of course, there may be a pro-adulery