It *would* be a welcome development. I reckon it'll happen when pigs fly.

Don't forget McCain ( Skeletor).

a chance to "lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness" and "to understand we are all in need of some grace."

How Peggy Noonan of him. Sorry, but this comment puts me in rock throwing mode. I am so tired of Republicans calling people traitors, commies, deadbeats, etc., and then ask, "Can't we all just be civil?" It's time to really kick Lucy in the ass instead of going for the football again.

I doubt Inglis' sincerity. He's not saying this stuff out of principle, but because the GOP is in deep shit and sinking.

Those moralizing, hypocritical pukes dug their own grave; let them rot in it.

Yes Steve, good points. But there's some trouble out there about the handling of D v. R (or is that, "D"? heh) affairs.
1. The Rs and their religious constituency buy into the idea that it doesn't matter what their boys do, if they just confess and ask forgiveness. Newt takes the Catholic version, most Regigocans follow southern protestant lamb-wash tropes. It's a scam to avoid responsibility.
2. Why was Eliot Spitzer hounded from office so soon, John Edwards wiped off the political map in an instant, but R malefactors often get nursed along (in McCain's case, literally, but I mean ....) in their careers? Rudy G seems to pay no price for his indulgences, when it even involved use of public money and collaboration. There's some application of IOKIYAR in this too.

And if we include the '90s, embarrassing adulterous admissions were made by Tim Hutchinson, Henry Hyde, Dan Burton, and Bob Livingston.

Don't forget my very favorite Clinton castigator who then had to make some confessions of her own: Helen Chenoweth.

Peak Oil and melting glaciers will finally put an end to all this idiotic tabloid punditry and scandal-sheet politics. Nature laughs last. And the joke's on us.

Honestly, on the Reichter scale of Republican hypocrisy, this is barely a tremor. An adult, female, who isn't a prostitute, employee or staffer for Sanford? I actually kinda like the guy more now. I can only hope my midlife crisis is nearly as dramatic. Beats buying a sports car and screwing your neighbor's wife or a coworker. A sitting Governor, dropping everything, telling no-one and flying out to Beunos Aires for a little action? Now THATS turning the crazy up to 11 and tearing off the dial.

Let's see. Republicans, party of:
Family Values? Check
Fiscal Responsibility? Check
National Security? Check

All they've got left is angry rich white guys.

Agree with others that Inglis's sudden desire for the GOP to lose its sexual self-righteousness is simply a result of his own guys' hypocrisy being so spectacularly exposed of late.

But the really interesting question to me is: Could the GOP do this even if it wanted to? We've talked a lot about how the Republican party cannot abandon its racism, sexism and regionalism if it wants to keep its only real base: (generally older) white Southern men who are racists, sexist and regionalist.

Can the party really cease being a bunch of pious-ass Jesus freaks who can't resist publicly haranguing others for their sexual choices? Especially when the religious right demands this kind of talk on a regular basis?

I don't believe it can. And so comic circuses like Craig's and Ensign's and Sanford's will play out again and again, over and over.

Meanwhile in the real world; people are losing their homes and jobs, unemployment is set to pass 10%, abroad predator drones are killing innocent people, and a car bomb kills 60 in Sadr City.

Keep sniffing panties!!

Yep. Inglis would have the right idea if he meant anything other than "Let's not get all outraged about sex and misappropriation of public funds when it's one of our people who does it."

Let him apologize for hounding Clinton and that might be a start.

somehow, i'm not feelin' the love when some dude named bob from south carolina -- who pursued clinton with a fervor to impeach the presidential penis --wants to talk about the "rot" of "self-righteousness."

language is dead; long live the nihilistic madness of babel...

ooooooor maybe Inglis is thinking about what might turn up if someone were to go through his emails and watch him a little more carefully. Jus sayin'.

The political Pharisee revealed as lecher and hypocrite is a long established American narrative. See the character Boss Finley in Tennessee Williams' The Sweet Bird of Youth, played in the 1962 film by Ed Begley. It's all there.

Hey, knock off comments about the late Helen Chenoweth. How could she have fended off the charms of a lover giving her a case of canned salmon?

Yeah, Inglis says that now, until the next democrat gets caught with his (or her) fly open. Screw him.

John Stewart had a line last night that really encapsulates this whole mindset:

"Gov. Sanford -- a conservative heart, but a liberal penis."

While funny, it reinforces that whole "Dems are the ones who sleep around" meme that doesn't really match reality.

As far as why folks in power seem to have issues keeping their clothes on, power is one helluva an aphrodisiac for some people.

After all, it's not like Sanford or Newt are all that handsome -- my wife said Sanford looks like a Sesame Street puppet -- so there's gotta be something going on there. Power is the only thing that makes sense.

**shrugs shoulders**

Since his return to the House, Inglis has moved towards the center. He voted with the Democrats to oppose the surge in Iran. He has criticized RepuG positions on climate change and off shore drilling. He has moved away from his former assistant, Demented. He is becoming, increasingly, vulnerable in the very conservative Northern climes of his state.

To his credit, he was one of the few to honor his committment to only serve three terms during his first time in the House. Ironically, the afore mentioned Chenoweth was one of the others to honor that term limits pledge. No, "Doc" Hastings, he or she.

Ah, Tim Hutchinson, our former Pentecostal preacher-turned-senator...people tend to forget about him. At the time his "indiscretion" with a staff member (Randi with an "I") was exposed, the joke around our statehouse was that perhaps Hutchinson had taken that Biblical bit about how "my rod and my staff, they comfort me" just a bit too literally.

You mentioned the 90s and not one mention of Bob Packwood?

I can't get enough of these Clinton-impeachers self destruction!! I think the SC legislature should grill Gov Sanford on how often? What positions? Which room of the house? What was spilled on her clothes? And if he doesn't like that--charge him with perjury!! And overthrow an honest election in which the citizens of SC chose him. That would approach what Mark Sanford did in the 90s. Grrrrr. Self-righteous bastards!!! They could dish it out but they can't take it like a man.

No, nisl, we have not forgotten Bob P in the PNW - It is only because the focus is currently on Sam Adams.

Look the only story with Sanford is his crazy AWOL behavior while governor of the State of S.C. What really pisses me off is the number of commenters, bloggers, and pundits treating adultery as a capital offense. The need for sex and sexual intimacy is one of the most fundamental needs there is. When that need stops being fulfilled in one direction, its going to find a way to be fulfilled in another. Almost anyone who has been married for a period of time understands that the marriage can be a prison. The vow of fidelity ends up being a vow of castity. Sure, there are some marriage that remain healthy across the board, but I would hazard a guess that most don't. In fact, many, many marriages are functioning institutions for raising children long after the husband and wife have stopped having any sort of relationship. The marriages stay together because, provided the spouses are civil, it is a better and more secure environment for the kids. In short, they stay together out of convenience for all parties, and both sides knowingly play the part. It is an infinitely practical and necessary institution for a society, but nonetheless it is a slow death for many. In a way, I admire Mark Sanford. Reading Sanford's emails to his lover, I have to say I think I like this guy for all his craziness. He seems to have a capacity to really be alive to the moment. This woman really caught him off guard, took him in a direction that he never expected. Mrs. Sanford should have been grateful that Ms. Argentina put some light back into her husband's eyes, but we don't think that way in this Country. Sexuality is purely proprietary. American attitudes towards sexuality and marriage are an embarrassment. Politicians of all strips should agree to drop the self-righteousness, and alos stop apologizing for these affairs. Apologize to your spouse in private, apologize for being a hypocrite, but stop apologizing for something that is a normal and natural result of human sexuality. More couples should be open and frank with each other about what marriage has done to their relationships. Above all, everyone should just fucking (no pun intended) lighten up on this issue. It reflects badly on us as a Country.

Don't forget W's dad and his honey.

Scott, the complaint isn't about having sex outside of marriage. Many do it. The complaints are about hypocrisy and irresponsibility. Like leaving no one in charge of the office, like thinking the rules don't apply when you're running for president. The rules for politicians and extramarital affairs are pretty clear at this point: don't. If a politician does, any politician, they can expect a media frenzy.

But Republicans have made great strides of late in closing the gap with Democrats, and by some measures, have taken the overall lead. Mark Sanford, John Ensign, David Vitter, Larry Craig, and Mark Foley are all pretty recent. If we look back just a little further, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich obviously come to mind. And if we include the '90s, embarrassing adulterous admissions were made by Tim Hutchinson, Henry Hyde, Dan Burton, and Bob Livingston.

What, no love for Bob Dole and John McCain, the first and second major-party presidential nominees to be open and admitted adulterers?

Inglis sees an opening for the Republican Party, a chance to "lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness" and "to understand we are all in need of some grace."

How convenient for Mr. Inglis that he has had this epiphany, but I call bullshit. The entire schtick of the Republican party is based on their claim to a superior morality.

If and when another Democrat is caught in an affair, Inglis and his ilk will find some reason why it's different than this situation with Sanford and therefore, once again, beyond the pale of acceptable behavior.

A hearty FU to Inglis and his fellow travelers.

"The difference, of course, is that only one of these two parties...seeks to use government to impose its sense of morality through public policy"

Democrats and liberals seek to impose their "sense of morality" through public policy all the damn time. It would be nice if we could recognize that and avoid the self-destructive fiction that only the other guys ever moralize.

Mike

We always hear variations on this theme when a Republican gets caught with his pants down. Expect it to evaporate without a trace the next time a Democrat is caught in a sex scandal.

And of course, when Democrats conduct themselves like good family men they're routinely smeared with innuendoes that they must be gay.

Mike:

It depends on the definition of morality. Some of us think it's profoundly immoral to let our fellow citizens go without the necessities of life. There's a difference between using the resources of government to improve the lives of the people (e.g., providing health care to the poor) and using them to dictate personal behavior (e.g., curtailing rights of gay citizens).

Shortstop, thanks for reminding us of Helen Chenoweth. It's a useful reminder that men are not the only ones who can't keep their pants on when they get intoxicated with their own importance.

And de mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that, but -- Chenoweth died in an automobile accident when she was thrown from the car because she wasn't wearing a seat belt. Everyone else in the car survived the crash. So I guess the self-proclaimed libertarian went out the way she would have wanted to go.

I actually kind of agree with Mike, insofar as all legislating involves some moral judgments. The difference is in the hypocrisy. What the R's do (at leas for the last 15-20 years or so) is make morality a wedge issue, turn sexual rights into gender politics, talk up the sanctity of marriage, and generally push the narrative that liberals are immoral heathens. Then something like this happens.

It's not really analogous when a D cheats on his wife, because, generally, the D never claimed to be holier than thou. An analogous situation would be if a D pushed for gay marriage legislation, then got arrested for throwing beer bottles at gay people while yelling "faggot." Then you'd have the hypocrisy we all love so much.

So I guess the only solution is for the Republicans to just drop their push in any kind of traditional values all together.

I mean really who needs them? Just let things drift along until morality settles on some solution.

Looking back even further, Gary Hart, JFK, and even FDR come to mind.

Steve, how could you (like so many in the MSM) fail to mention the curious fellow who probably leads the pack in this category.

I speak of perhaps the biggest womanizer of them all, one Lyndon Baines Johnson. He made skirt-chasing a crude daily habit when he was working in D.C. and was rather aggressive about it -- including trying overtly to hook up with Jackie K. not long after Dallas ferchrissakes, and then the literal skirt chasing attempt he put on the 20-something journalist daughter of majority leader Mike Mansfield, who had to run for the exit in the Oval Office as Lyndon moved closer for a variation on his patented "Johnson treatment".

Crudely fondled other women right in front of his long suffering wife. Unlike Harding, produced at least one confirmed child out of wedlock.

LBJ famously bragged : "Hell, ah've had more women by accident than Kennedy ever had by design!"

Well, unlike the modern Repub hypocrites, at least he didn't build a political career on falsely claiming to represent wholesome family values.

Re Bob Packwood, his offense was abuse of power, sex was the method he used. It was not consensual as with those Steve noted.

Martin Van Buren really got the infidelity ball rolling 1837 when his Presidency was marred by the Caroline Affair.

Where Republicans really shine though is in sex crimes,

http://www.republicansexoffenders.com/

mlm - Agreed. Still I think Joe Klein's post has it about right.

But with his governor now felled by similar temptations, Inglis sees an opening for the Republican Party, a chance to "lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness" and "to understand we are all in need of some grace."

Dear God!!! Is Bob Inglis advocating EMPATHY!?!? Empathy, that most dreaded of all liberal values? Aieeeee!!!! Aieeeeee!!!! Heretic, heretic, burn him, burn him!!!!!

IOKIYAR, people. Don't you know?

"There's a difference between using the resources of government to improve the lives of the people (e.g., providing health care to the poor) and using them to dictate personal behavior (e.g., curtailing rights of gay citizens)."

Not as much as you think. Improving the lives of some people usually involves taking stuff away from other people. And I can't believe anyone who's ever heard of things like "busing", "sexualy harassment" or "anti-smoking laws" could argue that liberals don't want to dictate personal behavior.

Mike

You forgot the most recent GOP candidate for President.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that the media continue to use such divisive and judgmental words like "affair" and "adultry." These words convey immoral and even illegal acts (under the laws of South Carolina). Surely the media need not concern itself with such judgmental words. Instead, shouldn't the media just say that Gov. Sanford engaged in "enhanced extra-marital techniques"?

mlm and Scott (to a degree) have it right re hypocrisy as far as I'm concerned. Still, it baffles me that adultery is treated as the worst possible crime in this country, and the media goes along. There is more to the hypocrisy, though. IF Gov. Sanford had been found to, say, have been beating his wife and tearfully confessed, his popularity would soar. It's OK in this country to hate a woman but not OK to love one too many.

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