Sex, Lies, and Newt

The hypocrisy of politicians is something to behold. The glee and zest with which the Republicans in Congress, along with their pit bull Ken Starr, pursued President Clinton, is matched only by their own deeds. One of the primary players who went after the President over his lying about an extramarital sexual relationship, now confesses his own affair during that period. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, now seeking the Presidency himself, has acknowledged his own affair during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

So lets see what we have here. Mark Foley was chasing young male congressional pages, Rudy Giuliani moves his mistress into Gracie Mansion, and Newt is getting some on the side; all the while speaking of moral bankruptcy in The White House. Now Rudy & Newt both want to be President.

Now, I think that monogamy is a convention we have from a societal tradition, as it tends to create stable families. Yet, biologically, it seems we are not wired for it. Given that statistics show a lifetime of monogamy is not lived by a majority of people; and the fact that power and sex seem to go together, it is not surprising that our politicians go outside their marriages at times. I would be quite surprised if they did not.

What is reprehensible is the way these people misused their offices to go after President Clinton for political purposes, all the while doing the same thing they criticized him for doing. This type of hypocrisy is not new. There is an old saying about people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. In the Christian bible, Jesus tells a man not to worry about the mote in his brother's eye, when he has a beam in his own.

What is even more amazing is how these neocons derided Hillary Clinton, even though she did what they supposedly stood for; she forgave her husband and kept her family together. Yet family values Newt asked wife number one for a divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery, and then divorced wife number two to marry his mistress. Who better represents the conservative idea of so-called family values, Newt or Hillary.

These champions of family values are liars of the highest order. Some say confession is good for the soul, but even more than that, it appears to be very politically expedient. Any so-called conservative who supported the relentless pursuit and impeachment of Bill Clinton should take a long look at their values if they support either Gingrich or Giuliani.

All this aside, I don't vote for a President based upon his private sex life. I don't care about that, that is his or her own business. However, I find it sickening how these neocons played the high moral ground, all based upon lies. Just like the darling of the Christian Right, Ted Haggard, who preached against equal rights for gays, preaching that homosexuals are headed to hell; was conducting an ongoing relationship with a male prostitute in Denver; these guys don't practice what they preach. Despite their admirable leadership on many key issues, this "do as I say, not as I do" attitude make them unfit to occupy the Oval Office. They want one set of rules for themselves, another for the rest of us. They tell the sheeple whatever they want to hear to garner votes.

I don't condemn these men for their sexual liaisons, again that is their private business. I do condemn their gross hypocrisy. They owe Bill Clinton an apology.