So, Gov. Sanford wasn’t hiking the trail after all. And it’s unlikely that he spent the past days driving along the coast of Argentina. He may well have been trying to clear his head, but it doesn’t appear that the “bruising legislative session” was the only thing troubling him.
I’m not going to criticize his affair. That is a private matter. And it’s up to him and his family to determine the ultimate outcome. It’s likely to scuttle any hopes of running for President in 2012. But it’s the ongoing hypocrisy of the Republican Party touting themselves as the party that upholds family values that I object to most. Earlier this month, another family values champion, Nevada’s Senator John Ensign, admitted to an affair. They are simply the latest among their ilk to have to admit that they have failed to live up to the standards they attempt to impose on the rest of us. It makes their hypocrisy and cynicism all the more odious when they have the gall to make such a huge stink when Democrats have feet of clay. Let us not forget that Mark Sanford was among the most vocal critics of President Clinton when his affair became public, as was the thrice-married Newt Gingrich, who was himself carrying on an affair as he called for the resignation and impeachment of the president.
The interesting thing about the whole family values deal is that those who preach the loudest seem to have the hardest time living up to their own standards. It’s curious that those who preach the importance of family values have, as a group, the highest divorce rates, the highest teen pregnancy rates. And that’s only the sexual escapades. Let us not forget the outright graft of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Jack Abramof, Bob Ney and others.
The Republican Party has become a laughing stock, an embarrassment to the entire country as well as to its history. Minorities are leaving it in droves — thanks largely to the racist comments of Gingrich and others in response to the nomination of Sonia Sotamajor as a Supreme Court justice. The racism of the Republican base was on full display during the campaign. How it can possibly recover enough to be a viable political party again is a mystery. We need to have at least two vibrant political parties in this country. But today’s GOP is neither vibrant nor viable. One can only hope that saner, more pragmatic conservatives will come together to form a new party, leaving what’s left of the GOP to complete its death spiral and vanish from the American political scene. Finally, true to form, Fox News incorrectly (but intentionally?) identifies Sanford as a Democrat. If this were the first time Fox did that, it might be explained away as an error, but it has happened repeatedly when one of their own strays. Unfortunately, those who depend solely upon Fox for their “news” probably won’t catch the error. Their viewers don’t seem to have an over-abundance of smarts. They’ve totally bought into the “fair and balanced” meme as well as the “liberal media” one. Sigh. Someone just needs to stick a fork in the Republican Party. They’re done.
