Love is real. If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is take a listen to the phone conversations between septuagenarian Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and senior adviser Rebekah Mason.
A little background: Bentley was a deacon in a Tuscaloosa Baptist church. Last year, his office wrote a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court opposing same-sex marriage because it destroys the “rights of children to be connected to their biological parents.” That same brief described marriage equality as a “social experiment.” (To be fair, he didn’t ultimately seek to contest the Supreme Court’s ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country.) Also last year, his own marriage of 50 years ended. After he lost ownership of his and his ex-wife’s Gulf Shore home in the divorce, Bentley decided to renovate a governor’s mansion on the coast for $1.5 million and was accused by a state auditor of doing so for “personal” gain.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Bentley and Mason had romantic exchanges over the telephone that were recorded while both were married. On Wednesday, Mason resigned from her job. As the New York Times reports, Bentley is under pressure to do the same but says that he has no intention to quit. Bentley told the Times that his conduct had not been “all that egregious,” that there were “a lot of errors and misconceptions and opinions” about the incident, and that he felt that “in time, all of this will come out, and everything will be exposed.” He also denied having a physical relationship with Mason.
But, as mentioned, there is audiotape of their conversations. If you listen or read the transcript, it might clear up some of those misconceptions and might make even the most hardened cynic believe in love.
Here are some excerpts from the site that released the tapes, Yellowhammer News.
Concerns from the governor:
Well, I love you, and I do. You know, I worry about sometimes I love you so much, I worry about loving you so much. I do. I do… I feel like, all the time I’m thinking, ‘How can I contact her? How can I call her? How can I text her? How can I be in contact with her? How can we do this?’
Connection from the governor:
You know the other thing, too, baby, we are so much alike. I know, we are. We are.
Deeper connection from the governor:
You’d kiss me? I love that. You know I do love that. You know what? When I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you and pull you in real close. Hey, I love that, too.
More deepness:
Put my hands under your shirt.
More still:
Hey, I love you. I love touching you. I do. Hey, I do, I do love putting my hands (inaudible) and just pulling you in real tight. I do, I do, I do enjoy that.
Other stuff:
But, baby, let me tell you what we’re gonna have to do, we’re gon’ have to start locking the door. If we’re gonna do what we did the other day we’re gonna have to start locking the door.
You know what, it is kinda scary. Somebody open that door? Mmm.
The magic moment:
Yea. You could feel my hand. Uhhh… What’s that song? “The magic moment.”
This is just a good way to end a phone call:
Baby, our conversation is fixin’ to come to an end.
A plea:
Can I tell you that I love you and you believe it? I do. I’m telling you I do, baby. I am, sweetheart, please, I’m just doing the best I can, ok?
Again, true love is real:
And I miss you. And I miss you. And I wish you were here with me right now, OK? And I wish I could hold you and I wish I could kiss you and I wish, you know, I wish that—I do.
In a resignation statement released by Bentley’s office, Mason said “[m]y only plans are to focus my full attention on my precious children and my husband who I love dearly.” Bentley told reporters at a news conference that he has different plans: “My intentions are to try to make this state better. My intentions are to try to work through all the difficulties that we’re going through.”
