WHO Are The Hypocrites?

Let me make sure I understand this. A member of Congress engages in activity that is extremely inappropriate and out of place, though not yet shown to have actually violated any laws and didn’t even involve any actual physical acts. That member of Congress is justifiably forced to resign at the urging of, among others, members of his own party. But an additional third party – the Speaker of the House – is also expected to resign?

Am I correct in recalling that this all did take place in the same government where a sitting President once engaged in an actual “inappropriate” physical act with a subordinate, lied about it under oath – in direct violation of the law – as part of a larger plan to use his office to engage in a coverup to avoid prosecution in the courts, lost his law license because of his well-established illegal acts, yet not only was allowed to remain in office, but received the full-throated support of his party through the whole ugly episode?

I know I’m late in weighing in on the Mark Foley scandal, but ever since the facts were revealed, this has been on my mind. This particular ugly episode has certainly revealed Mark Foley to be a creepy weirdo, and some may reasonably argue that it has revealed Republican leadership to be lax in the standards it holds its members to prior to public knowledge of such shenanigans. But one thing it has not proven, contrary to what many liberals and Democrats would have you believe, is that Republicans are hypocrites on issues like this.

The fact is that Republicans’ reaction and subsequent behavior has revealed them to be consistent on the question of elected officials’ inappropriate contact with subordinates. The ones who have been inconsistent – thus making the hypocrite label stick to them more easily – are the Democrat leaders who led an outdoor pep rally the day a President from their party was impeached for his crimes, yet demanded the head of a member of the opposite party who can’t, based on what is known to date, even be prosecuted for what he did.

Actually, as more facts are revealed in the Foley scandal, what is becoming more apparent is that the release of the information that brought down the congressman, and its timing, seems to be more a matter of the unveiling of an “October surprise” in the hopes of swaying the impending election than it is a matter of protecting the high school juniors who probably see as much titillating material in the average movie they see on the weekend as anyone did in the messages Mr. Foley sent out. It calls to mind the twenty-four-year-old drunk driving incident revealed shortly before the 2000 Presidential election.

But even as the Democrats have played their cards in the hope that the election will turn on personalities and scandals – something that both parties have plenty of – evidence is emerging that the election may actually turn on relevant issues of the day – a fact that obviously scares the daylights out of Democrat leaders. For just as the Democrats were handed an October surprise by the hapless Mr. Foley, the Republicans were also handed one in recent days – by the maniacal Kim Jong Il.

We now live in a world where it is very difficult to distract attention from the dangers that surround us for very long. And in that world, it is still simply not safe to entrust our safety to the current crop of Democrat leaders.

I’m not claiming to know who will control Congress come next January. I’m just saying that it’s still premature for Nancy Pelosi to be measuring the Speaker’s office for drapes just yet, even with an able assist from Mark Foley.