GOP fears for credibility after scandals

[Sapphire Blue]

GOP fears for credibility after scandals
By: David Paul Kuhn and John F. Harris
Jul 11, 2007 06:10 AM EST

Lust, predation, hypocrisy. These behaviors were observed in humans, including Washington politicians, even before Republicans roared to power on Capitol Hill in the 1990s.

But the agony of Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) -- a self-proclaimed social conservative exposed Monday night as a customer of an escort service -- is one more float in a long and flamboyant parade of sexual follies and scandals served up by his generation of congressional Republicans. Previous attractions include former House members Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Bob Barr, Bob Livingston and Mark Foley.

Embarrassment for the GOP was entertainment for many others, as people in Washington and around the nation chortled over the latest stubbed toe for a crowd that took power, and held it, in large measure by decrying the decay of traditional values and by issuing censorious attacks on the personal failings of political rivals.

Beyond the chortling, however, the Vitter scandal is a small piece of a much more significant development: The demoralized state of the social conservative movement on the brink of the 2008 election.

"It's the hypocrisy that people can't stand," said Michael Cromartie...


Continued @ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/4873.html

Republican Hypocrisy Revealed: http://www.armchairsubversive.org/

[TahitiNut]

1. What credibility?

:eyes: Politico-dot-com is engaging in myth again.

[NewJeffCT]

2. aww, I'm all broken up about this

what a shame. Do they want any cheese with their whines?

:nopity:

[Jackpine Radical]

3. What's the big deal? He didn't lie under oath about sex.

:sarcasm:

[VP505]

4. They have about

as much credibility as they do morality, except when it comes to the Dem's then they are as pious as the Pope demanding all sort of contrition and atonement with NO punishment too severe...

[Mandate My Ass]

5. So, the facts *do* have a liberal bias

And the facts in this case are that neocons are sleazey, greedy, amoral, deviant, dishonest, disreputable, scheming, sacks of pustulent and toxic ooze who try to claim the moral high ground while simultaneously lying, cheating, stealing, bullying and pontificating about their endangered but dogged godliness in the face of the heathen decay of society. Credibility? Puh-leeze. :eyes:

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Shit. Think of how much we've had to expose before they even got

to the point of starting to worry about it.

[KingFlorez]

7. They never had credibility in the first place

It's just gotten to the point where they cannot claim higher moral or ethical ground than anyone else.