Two sex scandals in the past week have rocked the Republican party. Between Mark Foley, Larry Craig, and David Vitter, the bad news does not stop.
Now a pair of presidential candidates for the 2012 election have just been caught in sex scandals. Senator John Ensign of Nevada and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina have just immolated themselves politically and destroyed their families.
I am particularly upset about Governor Sanford, because I met him and interviewed him. I found him to be a man of honor and decency, not a betrayer of four sons that he spoke about lovingly when I saw him.
https://tygrrrrexpress.com/2009/02/my-interview-with-governor-mark-sanford/
More important than any political angle to this is the devastation that adultery causes to families. Some adultery leads to divorce, while other marriages survivor. Yet survive does not mean thrive. Once the bond of trust is broken, the marriage is never the same again.
Both sets of my grandparents were married over 60 years. My parents have been married 43 years. I keep hearing that “times were different back then,” but I think that is a cop-out.
There is simply nothing about adultery that is positive. It does benefit anyone. There is no upside.
I pray that the innocent victims, especially the children, find a way to recover and lead normal lives. As for the perpetrators, I hope they rot.
I want to clean house. I want to clean house, the Senate, and Governorships. I am tired of scoundrels running government. Adultery is corruption. Corruption corrodes our society.
Yes, I am aware that liberals are celebrating over this. Republicans feel empathy over those that get hurt from adultery. Liberals gleefully pop champagne corks and celebrate how this will help them win elections.
So for those on the left that profit in human misery and suffering, even when self-inflicted, let’s set the record straight.
Ted Kennedy caused a woman’s death with his adultery, and covered it up. The left celebrates him as a hero. Bill Clinton lied under oath, while the left made excuses for him. John Edwards cheated on his wife while she recovered from cancer. Eliot Spitzer put others in jail for the very crimes…yes, crimes..he was committing. Democrats are in a class by themselves when it comes to sleaze.
So why do Democrats get away with it? Because nobody expects anything of them. Bill Clinton was morally bankrupt, so the bar was set incredibly low for him. Republicans preach morality, leaving them vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy.
Yet the solution according to liberals is to keep lowering standards. Everybody does it. Republicans should stop being so puritanical. We should all lighten up, and stop preaching morality.
Wrong answer! We should raise standards. The problem is not preaching morality. It is failing to live up to it.
Yet what is worse than this lack of morality is the hubris of many politicians. John Edwards, John Ensign, and Mark Sanford could have all refused to be considered as presidential contenders. They could have issued a simple statement.
“I will not run for President under any circumstances. I absolutely, categorically rule out any attempt to be President. I will not seek this job ever.”
John Ensign and Mark Sanford fueled presidential speculation. John Edwards even ran again. Had any of these men won their respective party’s nomination, and then had the scandal explode, the entire party would have been dragged down.
I am putting Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin on notice right now. You had better have your houses in order. You had better be ivory soap squeaky clean. If you have adultery in your background, you had better refuse to run for President immediately. The party cannot handle any more selfishness.
Forget morality for a second. There is simply no escape. We live in a 24 hour news cycle. Women save dresses now. They mix acids and bases in test tubes and beakers to see where your pants have been. You will get caught.
I am disgusted that the political party that I believe in to lower taxes and kill terrorists is lowering their trousers and killing the entire party’s electoral prospects. They are also lowering our national pride and killing their own families. This must stop.
Yes, there are exceptions. While I completely disagree with the politics of New York Governor David Patterson, he immediately disclosed his infidelities upon being sworn in. This allowed him to start fresh from a political standpoint.
For those that simply can’t help themselves, stay in private life. For those that want to be President, learn monogamy and practice it forever. Few people can argue that society was better when marriages in America were stronger. The breakdown of the family has destroyed a part of our souls.
I don’t care what people do in their private lives. Just don’t tell me you want to lead an entire nation when you are engaging in behavior that leaves you exposed to blackmail.
Maybe we should just install Lojack in every politican’s pants. Maybe we can fit them with a GPS tracker or ankle bracelet like we do common criminals.
Or maybe members of our government should just exercise some basic human decency, and keep it in their pants until they are home with their spouse and nobody is around.
I believe in the Republican Party. I believe in a party that preaches personal responsibility. I also believe that too many need to practice what they preach.
As for firing these men, that is for the voters of their home states to decide. All I know is I will not lose an ounce of sleep if they resign immediately.
I have had it.
So have the voters.
Enough is enough.
eric
Red State Update “Hiking The Appalachian Trail”
Adult Humor and Language, Warning: Don’t watch if you don’t have a sense of humor.
That’s right Andrea Mitchell, you don’t know Rednecks as well as you think you do.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/06/red-state-update-hiking-appalachian.html
So why haven’t Vitter, Ensign or Sanford resigned? All of them vehemently believed Clinton should have done so. Why haven’t they? Wasn’t it both Sanford and Ensign who said that pols in such positions should immediately resign for the good of the public faith in our republic? Even Craig didn’t formally resign. He rode out the rest of his term. Imagine if he reached under the stall your kid is using? How would you feel about him then? And this LYING nonsense about “liberals” being easier on infidelity then “conservatives!” My @$$! At least some of the Dems in these situations have the class to RESIGN. Republicans get away with it! When hypocrisy is at the very core of your belief system, I guess ironic failure just doesn’t matter. And of coure we liberals dance with glee when this sort of thing happens. It proves what a hypocritical sham conservatism is at it’s very core.
JMJ
This is exactly why I left being affiliated with the republican party and am now an Independent. I have lost all faith in both mainstream parties. I think it is morally irresonsible to promote either one and the author should know better. I agree with Eric on his hardline policies and it wouldnt be a bad idea if he was a presidential canadate he would have my vote. Anyone playing party politics is wasting their time blaming the other side because we are all Americans and this ecomomic situation sucks, what happened to brother hood? As Americans our true colors should show by lifting eachother up and helping one another through providential kindess. I would like the author to say more about obamas inegiability for the presidency as this blog is read by many far and wide. thanks for the space to voice my thoughts. Shalom.
Jers you are absolutely right Vitter, Ensign, Sanford, Clinton and Craig should have resigned immediately. They should have been forced to resign. But these people put themselves above “the good of the public faith” above moral standards and even above the law. Both sides liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans have no standards, no morals, no honor, because they are above all things. They do not give one iota what you and I think or say because they are above all things. All we can do is continue to tear their collective @sses up.
I took a moment before posting this and tried to think of one so called public servant that deserves respect. Outside of the military not one came to mind. I’m sure their are some but I guess they are not in the news much.
I will have to side with rudemarc “I thing it is morally irresponsible to promote either one” both parties are morally corrupt. They are a laugh out loud sickening joke.
I wonder who reads these posts? We are probably on someone’s list.
Do ya think?
Toma