B2 and the WaPo are on the same page.
Yes, you read that correctly:
In recent years, for the most part, Democrats have been able to survive their sordid escapades while Republicans have paid with their political lives…
That’s how it usually turns out for members of the conservative, traditional-family-values party. Just ask Bob Livingston, Jack Ryan, Bob Packwood, Dan Crane or others in the GOP who’ve watched their careers go pffft! with salacious disclosures. Or ask Bill Clinton, Gerry Studds, Barney Frank and other Democrats who’ve withstood embarrassing revelations to govern another day…
“The reality is that Democrats seem to get away with more,” says Chuck Todd, editor in chief of the Hotline, a daily political journal. “They can have an affair and bail [themselves] out. There’s a lower threshold for Republicans. I guess it’s more of a hypocrisy thing,” he adds, because such scandals put Republicans at odds with the party’s socially conservative image.
Todd thinks he knows who’s to blame for this: “It’s the media, to be honest. What is the standard ‘gotcha’ story in the media? It’s hypocrisy. If we can prove hypocrisy, we have a story. . . . So in a sex scandal, the bar for Republicans is lower.”
Actually, the conduct bar is set higher, and frankly I’m OK with that. The problem I’ve got is that imperfect rectitude wars with near-perfect libertinism. And loses.
Somebody should write a book.
Oh, right: It’s been done.
Tired of being the minority party, the Republicans took a deep breath and sold itself to the 20% of the demographic who really believe that God is a angry old man, with a long white beard, who watches each of us with judgmental intent.
It worked and they get to run things. The down side is that exercising their unsavory appetites gets them in trouble with the 20. The democrats don’t have to worry about the 20 anymore, so if they let their hair down on Saturday night and surrender to their more Saturnine impulses, nobody really cares.
Ya wield the staff of God, ya pays the price.
For a second there, Lex, when I jumped on the link, I was thinking, “Holy Smokes! Is he linking to Ann Coulter’s ‘Godless’?”
Then I saw. Then I sighed. Whew!
Boy, I am really behind the times.
I just happen to think that any adult working with or around teenagers, especially someone in a position of power and influence, is automatically in loco parentis, and responsible for a safe and respectful working environment for everyone there. No excuses or exceptions. Role models whether they like it or not.
When parents send pages and interns to DC, it is in the reasonable hope that their sons and daughters will be able to learn the business of governing from honorable adults. Or so I thought. At least the parents I know do. Am I missing something?
If we have cynically lost that reasonable hope and expectation, then electing and returning to office predatory sociopaths from either party is exactly what we’ll get. We get the government [servants] we deserve.
When we demand better, we’ll get better. Until then, if we just shrug and accept molested teens as the ‘cost of doing business’, we are hardly in a position to complain. About anything.
reddog- how do you know God isn’t an angry old man with a long white beard? He at least might be angry.
Re B2 & WaPo- I may be reading the same page but I ain’t paying for the “privilige”.
Cmon Lex let this nasty bidness be carried down the sewer..how about that new 1000 ship Navy scheme being pitched by the CNO? LOL.
B2
CPT J
If I may…hear, hear….
Are you sure you didn’t mean to link to this book instead?
If I may, perhaps it is because Republicans behave so self righteously when a Democrat is caught.
Plus lets not forget, Clinton had his sex with a woman, who was past the age of consent. If you find somethinge better than a woman, you let me know ( Even if she was a tad on the frumpy side……..).
The arguement is tired and if it has any traction. This scandal is not about the what, its about the who…………
What Shrinkwrapped said:
Tribalism and Politics
http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/
“What Shrinkwrapped said:”
Boy, he really pegged it, didn’t he!