Sex, Hypocrisy, and Inquisition
The following “family values” Republicans voted to impeach (House) or remove (Senate) President Clinton.
- Newt Gingrich
- Henry Hyde
- Mark Sanford
- Bob Barr
- Dan Burton
- Helen Chenoweth
- Bob Livingston
- John Ensign
- Vito Fossella
- Jim Gibbons
- Sue Myrick
- Joe Scarborough
- Bill Thomas
- John McCain
- Larry Craig
- Rod Grams
- Tim Hutchinson
They are all adulterers. Also voting for impeachment: Ken Calvert (BJ from a hooker in public), Mark Foley (sent sexually explicit messages to underage pages), Charles Canady (allegedly slept with a married woman, leading to her divorce), John Peterson (alleged sexual harassment), and Joseph McDade (flasher). Adulterous Congressmen David Vitter (sex with hookers) and Don Sherwood (choked his mistress) were elected in 1998 during the run-up to the impeachment, and took office after the impeachment vote.
Naturally, adultery is wrong, and people of all political persuasions become ensnared in lust and infidelity. The response to such scandals, however, should be left to the voters, unless something more serious is involved – violence, harassment, sexual advances to a minor, corruption, or dereliction of duty (I won’t get into the argument over whether or not prostitution belongs on this list). The only difference between a Democratic sex scandal and a Republican sex scandal is hypocrisy. The GOP has annointed itself with Supreme Moral Authority, which conveniently serves to allow Republicans to be very selective in who to condemn and who to forgive. “Sanctity of Marriage” – what a crock.
When you consider the people who’ve claimed to serve as the conservative movement’s moral voice – such as Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Dr. Laura, Haggard, Swaggart, Jimmy Bakker – it becomes obvious that those who claim Moral Authority think that they are so righteous that they have earned the right to commit very serious sins. The lesson, of course, is that Inquisitors are those who seek to punish the sins of others in order to absolve themselves of sin. This is the psychological origin of systemic hypocrisy.
Tags: Clinton Impeachment, Republican Hypocrisy, Sex Scandals
Do as I say, not as I do.
Except, of course, that President Clinton was not impeached for screwing around on his wife; President Clinton was impeached because he lied to federal investigators concerning what was deemed a material matter under the federal rules of evidence he had signed into law himself. He was impeached not for adultery, but for perjury and obstruction of justice.
I understand that it’s a typical Democratic meme that it was “all about sex,” but that’s simple demagoguery. Note that Governor Sanford is being hounded not for his adultery but for abandoning his job, just like Governor Spitzer had to leave office not because of sex but because he broke the law — hiring prostitutes — and Governor McGreevey had to leave because he hired his boy-toy to a state job.
Of course, the impeachment charges were for perjury and obstruction of justice, not adultery — therefore rendering your charge of hypocrisy specious.
Please review for me how lying about a blowjob in the White House is tangentially related to a real estate transaction 12 years earlier in Arkansas. It was the “Whitewater Investigation” was it not?
That was not the only thing he lied about. It was about the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit. Even the judge involved thought the President was hindering the proceedings with his lack of truthfulness. The matter of obstructing it was referred by the courts to the already existing special prosecutor rather than appoint the 4th or 5th. Starr did not want the case but the court asked him to take it. He investigated and did his job.
Instead of taking the 5th the President dissembled even in front of a grand jury.
The only hypocrisy is that of the Democrats and Clinton. They claim that it was about sex and ignore the rule of law that they swore to uphold.