Low love in high places

And another one bites the dust. What is it with holier-than-thou Republicans? Does it enflame their thighs and make their eyes like limpid pools reflecting the ripples of passion?

Oh yes, in fairness, Democratic Sen. John Edwards also made a mockery of his marriage vows with another woman, but he was mostly just a creep to his wife and perhaps those who believed in him.

The latest to lose his dignity like a pair of pants at the cleaners, Sen. John Ensign, is clearly more of a public hypocrite, a Promise Keeper who forgot to keep his promise with one of his staffers. Although he kept quiet the identity of his lover (and her husband) in his public admission of infidelity, there was no hiding that secret. They have now stepped from the shadows to make the humiliation general.

Now there are questions being raised about the propriety of her pay raise during the time of the affair from December 2007 through August 2008.

Seriously, what consenting men and women do in their bedrooms should be regarded as a private matter, but when you have made such a public show of promising to keep your pants up, then those of us in the cheap seats are going to take some amusement from your de-trousering.

Not to worry. The Republican Party is still being led by moral giants, such as Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh.

 

Posted Jun 17 2009, 07:20 PM by Reg Henry
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Comments

little_minx wrote re: Low love in high places
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 12:13 PM

Without meaning to defend adulterers in general, the real issues are demagoguery and hypocrisy -- i.e., where a sanctimonious politician strikes a public pose against a particular behavior in order to moralize against opponents, then commits the same act him/herself.  It's a nonpartisan problem: Foley, Vitter, Ensign, Chenoweth -- Edwards, Hart, Clinton, Spitzer... as well as closeted anti-gay legislators (as in the new film "Outrage").  Then there's Sarah "abstinence only" Palin, whose mother, daughter and herself all got pregnant out-of-wedlock (and not via immaculate receptions, er, conceptions, either).

ciejai wrote re: Low love in high places
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 12:43 PM

The GOP had such fun setting itself up as the party of moral superiority, who can blame the rest of us for relishing moments like these.  I heartily agree with Little Minx's comment on hypocrisy but I take issue with lumping Bill Clinton and Gary Hart in with the others.  While they were certainly dogs, I don't remember either of them striking a holier-than-thou pose in order to get a leg up politically.   Newt Gingrich, on ther other hand, (twice an adulterer and thrice-married) was one of the early proponents of branding the GOP as the party of family values and moral rectitude so I would put him at the top of the list of hypocrites.  His zeal in the impeachment drive seals the deal.

little_minx wrote re: Low love in high places
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 3:45 PM

ciejai, You make an excellent distinction between those who set themselves up as arbiters of morality and those who don't.  Oh, and let's not forget hypocritical clergy, either (too numerous to name here).