Polemic®

Gov. Sanfrod (R-SC). Not resigned. Hetero  affair.

Sen. Ensign (R-NV). Not resigned. Hetero affair.

Gov. Blagojevich (D-IL). Impeached and removed by Democratic Legislature. Corruption.

Gov. Spitzer (D-NY). Resigned. Hetero hookers.

Sen. Craig (R-ID). Didn’t resign. Homo hookers.

Sen. Vitter (R-LA). Didn’t resign. Hetero hookers.

Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL). Resigned. Homo hookers.

…

Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA). Resigned. Affair.

Speaker Bob Livingston (R-LA). Resigned. Affair.

Pres. Bill Clinton (D). Impeached by Republican Congress.

My guess is that the Republicans are still so mad that Clinton didn’t resign that their unwillingness to resign in the face of these scandals stems from that. Of course, they don’ see the difference: Clinton never ran on a platform of Holier than thou. He never politicized morality. This was often cited as a failure of his, if not in fact a cause, of his own transgressions. We knew Bill Clinton was a ladies’ man before he was ever elected President.

Just like the coverup is worse than the crime, the hypocrisy is also worse than the crime. Livingston and Gingrich couldn’t lead the opposition against Clinton when they were fucking around too. Spitzer couldn’t be tough on crime when he was breaking the law with hookers. Blagojevich was just nuts—but his own party took him down, no one circled the wagons around him.

I don’t care that Sanford screwed another woman. I don’t even really care that he did so after being a typical Bible thumping southern politician. I don’t really care about him because I don’t live in South Carolina. But if I did live there, I’m not sure I could get past the 4-5 day disappearance. I don’t know if that matters there or not. I’ll just say that now would not be a good time for Arnold to leave California for 4 days without any contact, and that’s all I can really say.