re: #819 buzzsawmonkey

What utter and complete claptrap. You don’t like hypocrisy? Fear the mirror.

There is every indication that you would judge Sanford, Craig and Palin just as harshly if they lived up to all of your after-the-fact standards; your reference to “biblethumpers” being a dead giveaway.

No, I don’t like the idea of legislating morality—but I also don’t like the current practice of letting the social fabric go to hell for fear of appearing to do so. In the meantime, tell me: how does Sanford’s cavorting with his mistress relate to any of his legislative stands? Why is Craig, falling to an urge which he himself does not regard as worthy, somehow beyond the pale for acting on it in a clandestine (albeit monumentally stupid) way—and how is that at odds with his stance on any issue? Why should Palin not complain, not of being subjected to “harsh limelight,” but to a limelight uniquely harsh in ways well over and above that to which anyone else in the race was subjected? Is there no limit whatever to how depraved the media are permitted to be if someone has the temerity to run for office?

Pfui.

Sure - happy to explain myself:

I am not judging Craig’s, Sanford’s, Pailn’s, or for that matter Pelosis’, or Obama’s political beliefs. I am judging the level to which they live up to their own political beliefs in their daily lives and actions. If you preach morality, you should not cheat on your wife. If you strongly STRONGLY condemn homosexuality - you should not get blowjobs from men in airport bathrooms. If you preach bipartisanship, than you should perhaps do more than ram spending proposals through congress because you can. What part of this is unclear? I am not judging their political positions - I may agree or disagree with some of them, but that is irrelevant. I am judging them based on their utter obliviousness to their own hypocritical actions.

If you are fine with a set of leaders who consistently fail to even remotely achieve their own lofty ideals - than that’s your choice. I am not. I do not require perfection from my political leaders - I require humility. I require some level of common sense and perspective. And frankly, I couldn’t give a shit if Larry Craig is horribly disappointed in himself for his actions - or if Obama tells me in 3 years that he tried bipartisanship, but hey, you know, it didn’t work out. If you can’t accomplish something yourself, you are disqualified from telling others how to achieve it.

And as far as your morality issue - you can’t have it both ways. Either you legislate it, or you don’t. If you do - whose morals are you using? If you don’t - then you’d better hope to god that parents and society at large have learned enough lessons to be able to do the job for you.

My use of the term “biblethumpers” is nothing to draw conclusions from - its as common as “born-again” or “evangelicals”. Its a descriptive term for a type of person I fundamentally disagree with - and last time I checked, this country was still founded on the principle that I am well within my rights to ignore them and to demand that my government not be influenced in its legislative process by any set of religious beliefs.

-PH