He had a mistress who was pregnant and his wife had terminal cancer; he was running for president and the press knew all about it.

But there was no firestorm in the media about this juicy scandal until after the election of 2008 because John Edwards is a Democrat!

Too bad Newt Gingrich is a Republican -- otherwise the media would see to it that he'd be home free, warts and all, just like John Edwards.

But he is a Republican and he's running for the presidency, so members of the liberal media feel free to apply their traditional double standard, which always seems to come into play when the target is a member of the GOP.

Now we have ABC -- with absolutely no corroboration -- putting Gingrich's ex-wife on the air to boost ratings and help keep their guy in the White House.

How things have changed in America since my mother and father divorced. My mother, the sainted Jane Wyman, was offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to write books and do interviews or anything else that could help undermine Ronald Reagan, her ex-husband and 40th president of the United States.

In fact she told producers of her hit TV series "Falcon Crest" -- for which she won a Golden Globe award -- that any interviews she granted to promote the show would end the very moment a single question was asked about my father.

My mother remained quiet about their marriage -- which ended in 1948 -- until my father's funeral in 2004, and then she merely remarked that the world had lost a wonderful man. I wish more people would follow my mother's lead instead of following the ratings and the money.

Shame on you ABC and ex-wife Marianne!