Crossposted from Brother Bobs Blog
The recent Anthony Weiner scandals brought back that old specter of whether or not politicians cheating on their wives should matter. We got to have rehashed the tales of Clinton, Gingrich, Edwards, Ted Kennedy, and now of course, Weiner. There are however, two angles that overall seem to have fallen under everyone’s radar.
When I first moved to DC back in 1999 my friends and I would often meet up for happy hours and shoot the breeze about any and everything which of course, included politics. As my friends here are mostly career bureaucrats of various degree they naturally lean to the left. When the subject of Clinton’s sex scandals came up they took the liberal stance of brushing it aside saying that it really didn’t matter and that other countries were amazed that Americans would care about such things. I had a much different perspective than that of my friends. Prior to moving to DC I had only briefly lived in the capitol, and had spent my entire career working in the private sector, excluding a summer job when I was in school working for a Department of Public Works. The Lewinsky scandal amazed me because of how different things are outside of the world of politics. Wherever I worked, if you fooled around with another employee on company property, you were fired. Period. You didn’t get to lie on national TV in your defense or have your wife stand up publicly and fabricate a conspiracy against you. Likewise, sexual harassment resulted in if not termination, serious disciplinary action, not public character assassination against the victim.
Going on my 12th year in this city has left me a lot less surprised by the antics of our elected leaders, but there was still one element of the Weiner saga that was digging at me that really came home with how the lefties in the press tried to cover for one of their own. It was the whole, “With all of the important work he’s doing why should his personal relationships matter?” argument thrown out by a few Democrats that the press diligently parroted. I’m not going to focus on how Weiner lied about a potential security breach in suggesting that his account was hacked nor how the story of his publicly acknowledging the scandal allowed the press to conveniently ignore the next piece of the story that broke about how he was stalking one of his twitter friends.
My problem is with the “what does it matter?” claim. I say that it does matter. For anyone who is reading this who is married look back on your own life. With the arguable exceptions of military service or religious vows, there is no greater vow or promise that one person can make other than the vows of marriage. You are promising yourself to one individual man or woman for the rest of your life. This means loving, caring for, and above all, trusting your spouse. One of the most thought provoking statements I heard on fidelity came, ironically enough, from a random guest on the Howard Stern radio show some years ago. The guest said something to the effect of, “Infidelity is not so much the physical act as it is the betrayal of trust.” Personally, I don’t have an issue with a married couple that likes to swing provided that both partners approve and are willing to conduct their relationship like that. An argument can be made as to how true their marriage is if they choose to be with others, but at a basic level this is a private matter between two consenting adults. (Author’s note to Sister Babe if she’s reading this: No Sweetie, I am in no way suggesting swinging for either one of us. Love you, Babe!) And if one partner feels the need to be with others and the spouse disapproves, there are divorce laws to remedy that situation. Or if one feels the need to sleep around, there is an even simpler solution: don’t get married in the first place.
Going back to the betrayal of trust angle, upon taking office, politicians are sworn in to uphold the law and serve the people who elected them as representatives. If you have no trouble betraying a vow to the closest person in your life, why should anyone in the public expect a leader to not hesitate to betray us? No I can’t pretend that my just under three months of marriage makes me an expert on the subject, but even if I were to one day get elected to higher office I would still hold my vow to Sister Babe more important than any I would take to office. Contrary to what the New York Times might say, staying faithful to your spouse and valuing that action in others does not equate being a Puritan. Nor does the sole act of staying faithful make you a saint by itself, but it does at least make some statement about your integrity, and how willing others should be able to trust you.
Over the weekend as I was making final edits I found the perfect quote to tie up this story. Over at PJTVÂ Steven Kruiser posted a comment from one of his viewers who goes by the handle of darth1christo:
The same people who went to extraordinary lengths to enact legislation that restricted inappropriate behavior in the workplace are the first to dismiss these behaviors as inconsequential when one of their own sainted boneheads does something that would get them canned in the real world.
Amen, Darth Christo.
Finally someone who agrees with me! I have been saying this for years; If you will not honor the oath that you have said to someone be it either husband or wife how in the world can anyone trust you for office? The thing is as the article states I see people in BOTH parties doing this and to me it is appalling when I see politicians in either party crying “Look at what they are doing !” When they are doing it themselves.
Do you remember what the clinton team was doing while he was going through his little lapse in judgement? Throwing every other US president they could under the bus. Another words he was pulling every other president down to his level of integrity (what ever that maybe) in order to survive.
And as Weiner is showing his junk to foolish women who thought he was some kind of gentleman, Hillary Clinton is working hard for Lady Gaga to go to Europe to participate in a gay pride event. And where was this event, you might ask? Why, nowhere else but Rome, the Holy See of The Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/hillary-us-ambassador-instrumental-seali
Next up on Hillary’s agenda; reinstating the Lions vs. The Christians at the Roman arenas. Come one, come all. The destruction of Christianity is now beginning.
Plenty of people–especially conservatives–have made these kind of ‘holier than thou’ statements, and later, because of unforeseen conditions, retreated from them.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
As usual, you entirely miss the point of the article. Yes, plenty of conservatives have made the same kind of error in judgement as liberals have, and plenty have made those ‘holier than thou’ type statements as well. That is not in dispute, and the article doesn’t suggest that.
The point that the article is making is that with liberals, once the indiscretions come to light, the inevitable defense of them is, “It shouldn’t matter what happens in their private lives, because they do so much good in their public lives”. I challenge you to find me one instance of a defense made, of a conservative politician, using those words or similar.
And as for this;
The sheer number of politicians private lives, and especially their indiscretions, coming to light, should make that statement null and void. Any such action by a politician, whose life is subject to intense scrutiny, makes it not an ‘unforeseen condition’, but rather, an inevitable outcome. And that, more than anything, should cause them to be the last to “throw stones” at others’ failings, and this is true whether you have an R or a D after your name, or lean liberal or conservative.
Liberal1, shall we talk about how the left wing (who are Progressives, not Liberals) has circled the wagons when one of their own shows they are even pedophiles? Or how they claim to be the party of homosexuals, yet find the greatest smear they can lob against their opponents is the accusation their opponents are gay (which obviously they think calling someone ‘gay’ is an insult, they use it so freely). If you belong to the party that thinks homosexuality is just fine, why do you use it as a club against conservatives?
You see, what you don’t understand is that conservatives hold their elected representatives to a higher standard than progressives do. By modern day progressive standards, George Washington would have been totally unacceptable as a leader. Progressives, in their desire to “fundamentally transform” America, lock arms with those they actually despise. It is called “hypocracy” for the purpose of garnering votes. The means justify the end.
Not to mention that an affair of any kind, gay, straight, or bestial, makes any politician an easy target for blackmail…to me that was the real issue with The Bubba and Lewinsky Show…the man with his finger on the button (so to speak) was putting himself in a position to be blackmailed over a cheap… cigar…
What kind of judgement and maturity does that show? What kind of integrity? Obviously he felt compelled to lie under oath and on nationwide camera, so what else would he have said/done to keep it a secret?
That’s what makes it a High Crime and a Misdemeanor…It’s a gross violation of a sacred public trust.
First off, thanks for posting me, Curt.
And thank you for chiming in Galt – my point exactly.
Lib, I never had any delusions of being holier than thou. In fact, I even said that fidelity alone doesn’t make anyone a saint.
Ask yourself this – if a politician has no problem betraying his wife what makes you think he wouldn’t think twice about betraying his trust to you?
kalashnikat,, hi, russian I presume, hi,
I absolutly agree, to the importance of the model a leader
project to the people, and because of it, he must be true to who he represent,
if he cannot live to the requirements demanded by his position, he must be taken out on the first misconduct,
if not he continiue to get away with more serious misconduct that might involve criminal actions and association,
to criminal activitys from his old friends that are not going away, but seeking retribution for old friend ‘s sake,
if the leader decide to keep his friend as oppose his position as a leader creating a conflict, then he must be taken out also, my views
bye
Of course it matters. We now know that retard Arnold was blackmailed by the left over his love-child to enact a leftist agenda.
Thus, as always, the tolerance of the left in the Republican party has no upside.
Ivan, I hadn’t heard about the blackmail angle with Arnold – can you please share the link?
Brother Bob, you must have been lucky to find 6 wife cheaters in a picture that
is so the same for each, head down and their mouth shot tight the lower lip conceiled
incredible, presentation
bye
Thanks, but I can’t take credit for the pic, Beez. Curt (or whoever helps with the editing) adds those before publishing =8^)
Brother Bob, that’s how good they are, to publish,
and you’re good at writing your POST,
The liberals have outdone themselves in their propaganda war. They are experts at shifting and distorting the original topic. Like cheating on our wife/husband. The liberals will scream how no-one is perfect and that we must overlook another’s persons bad/wrong behaviors because we ourselves have committed them. They have been allowed to use this distorted argument for years now, and get away it in all areas of human behavior.
The liberals mantra of “Whats normal for you, is not normal for others” has a grain of truth in it. But In reality every society has morals, norms, and values which is a society’s foundation. And in reality we all make mistakes, and need to be held accountable for those mistakes. It demonstrates to all that we will not tolerate deviant behaviors, and that everyone in our society follows the values that we as a majority have made into laws in many cases. But liberals know all that, and are out to destroy the old values of our society, and they have done an excellent job at achieving that goal to date. New high School graduates report that they are confused on what is normal behavior today, and college students as well. Our old values like marriage between a man and a woman is now histroy, God and religion have been removed from many of our institutions, and the liberals will not stop until they have both God/religion totally removed from our culture. Even our criminal code of justice has been re-written to the liberals idea of justice, they focus on the criminal, and minimize the victim. So when ever a liberal can keep a politician in office who has betrayed the public trust, they have won. The liberals had to take one for the team in the Weiner scandal because OBi wants to get re elected, otherwise he would still be there. So yes marriage, trust and not cheating is the argument, but not the liberals agenda. Its only one of their numerous tools that they are using to reshape out society as they want it. I have made serious mistakes in all areas of my life, and paid the consequences for those mistakes. It was after I paid those consequences that society and or the people I harmed forgave me for the most part. Some people never forgave me for my actions, and thats their right.I broke their trust in me. I don’t blame them. Liberals just want to leave out the consequence part of that age old formula. Like another liberal saying from Doctor Feelgood, “If it feels good. Do it! You can always talk your way out of the consequences later.” And you know what? For the most part they always do!
When my spouse and I married, I had one request: that if they ever felt the need to cheat, they would move out first. No exceptions. Don’t insult me by cheating and then lying about it. If there is no truth in a marriage, there is no real marriage, only a facade of marriage and once trust is broken, it can never be gained again as the doubt will always remain.
Gary,G. Swenchonis, yes absolutly, and a SOCIETY , specialy those elected in GOVERNING THE PEOPLE’S
MONEYS, ARE TO BE ACCOUNTABLE for their corrupt behavior and disobeydiance to the
LAWS OF THE LAND ,THE CONSTITUTION, THEY HAVE MADE THE OATH TO OBEY AND PROTECT,is in it awfull to breach their oath,
what exemple does it make to see them in such disorder, when the young are witness to it specialy now with open communication to the youngs as oppose to before where some got away by staying incognito easyer,
it seems to come from the one in top positions that don’t have the stuff in their upbrignig, to deal with the power given to them, of course we see that often not everyone can have the ability to lead, and IT SHOW AS SOON AS THEY GET IN THE POSITION, THEIR BRAIN MECHANISEM IS NOT FORM TO TO THE JOB,
THEY MAKE MISTAKE AFTER MISTAKE, UNTIL THEY ARE REMOVED,
but the worse part of it is they bring their country down in the destructive ending with them.
bye
@ilovebeeswarzone: I agree Bee. But whats worse Bee? The politician that is dishonest, and or his own supporters who makes excuses for his/her behaviors. How can we as a nation ever have the type of government that our founders envisioned if we continue to elect people who put those principles last, and not first. Look at the one poll on Fox 70% of people want another choice in the Republican field. What are they looking for Bee? The same thing I am. Someone fresh and new, and someone with the courage to stand up for our conservative values, and someone to take the battle to the liberals for a change. Lets hope that individual shows himherself to be that person very soon.
Gary, great point about which one is worse. To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Who is worse, the scum or the one who elects him?”
If we want better, we had better start demanding better.
@Brother Bob: Sir, and I left out that you wrote a great post. You stated that there is no greater vow, and i agree completely. I think that marriage is another victim of the “throw away mentality” that permeates our society now. back in the 70’s I became fed up with politicians as usual. And then along came Ronnie! And I don’t think that I speak just for myself when I say its been a long darn wait since he exited the stage. But to Obi-Wans statement there is a ton of truth in that remark. And consequences for anyone who ignores it. I used to believe that old saying “That if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” I think that statement is no longer true in our society. Maybe it never was. Now I am not going to throw my vote away on a person who I know will be more of the same old political game. It’s an exercise futility. I have come to realize that I was part of the problem and not the solution by doing the same behavior over and over and expecting different results. Thats why I believe that maybe it is time for a new party. yes I know and understand all the implications that implies, good and bad. But someone needs to step up and actually do something different to break this stranglehold that the so-called professional politicians have on our government. The new movement that we are seeing(finally) here in America may take time to produce the individual that so many Americans are yearning for. So I would rather lose a battle, than the war so to speak. How many of our conservative leaders made a fuss over the New York announcement that they will now allow gay marriages? Most are too henpecked and scared to death of the left to make even a squeak. It has grown so old to sit and watch them sell us out time and time again. I had no idea that Obi Wan had said that! So he really is wise! Hey Lets recruit him for president!