How is it that Strom Thurmond's illegitimate daughter Essie Mae is kept secret for 70+ years? Doesn't anyone wonder why there wasn't some word of this leaked to the press during Thurmond's most vocal anti-segregation tirades? It's a compelling story -- and all I keep thinking about is how things might have turned out if the news had leaked. Though decades late, at least one reporter tried. Not that I'm into revisionist history -- but it does make me wonder.

And why am I not surprised that Thurmond slept with a 16-year old house maid when he was 22 -- did that dirty secret haunt him his whole life or was he able to detach himself like so many white slave owners were able to do? And what's the cut off for statutory rape again?