posted on March 13, 2007 06:54:58 PM new
EDITORIAL
Candidate confessional hour
Now is the season, apparently, for Republican presidential candidates to air their past indiscretions.
March 11, 2007
HERE'S THE THING about trial balloons: They soar higher if you unload some ballast. Hence the shedding of personal baggage by many potential contenders for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2008, who recognize that the weight of their past indiscretions could hold them down later if they don't dump it now.
The most dramatic of the season's unburdenings to date came last week from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is exploring a run for his party's nomination. He admitted during an interview with evangelical Christian leader James C. Dobson that he was having an extramarital affair even while leading the impeachment drive against former President Clinton over the latter's affair with Monica Lewinsky. This does not make him a hypocrite, huffed the twice-divorced Gingrich, because that whole impeachment thing was about Clinton's perjury, not what he did with Lewinsky.
Whether his audience will buy this remains to be seen. But if they don't, they can always consider Republican front-runner Rudolph W. Giuliani. As mayor of New York, Giuliani underwent a spectacularly messy separation in 2000; after his mistress was forbidden to set foot in the mayor's mansion, Giuliani lived briefly with a gay couple. And he is now trying to reconcile with his son.
This kind of thing doesn't play well among the conservative base, so Giuliani uttered the first of his last words on the matter on Monday: "The responsibility is mine," he said during a visit to divorcé-friendly California. "The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we're going to deal with all these difficulties."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is twisting himself into rhetorical pretzels trying to explain away a personal lapse that's even more unforgivable among social conservatives than sins of the flesh: his past support for gay rights and abortion, among the many issues on which his views have "evolved." Not that he necessarily believes in evolution anymore.
The strategy is to describe past mistakes in one's own terms, before opponents describe them in theirs. Taking responsibility for indiscretions now blunts criticism of them later. The phenomenon is especially pronounced this year among Republicans because one of the party's most powerful constituencies — evangelical Christians — has yet to coalesce around a candidate. It may be so desperate for a viable conservative candidate that it's willing to give serious consideration to the likes of Gingrich and Giuliani.
This may be just the beginning, so hunker down and watch for falling baggage. Seldom have so many candidates been prepared to confess so much to so few.
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_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
I believe that in the consideration of a candidate for president that it's best to focus on their positions on issues rather than their personal lives. In what way does knowledge of sexual behavior or number of wives illuminate the character of a candidate?
Bush, for example with only one wife will go down in history as the worst president in U.S. history.
posted on March 13, 2007 08:43:15 PM new
Helen, I get your point. However, what makes these guys' lives newsworthy is the sheer pious hypocrisy. Their being on God's side, vs. the godless liberals. Their pandering to the religious right, which definitely doesn't like extra-marital affairs.
It was the same in our 21 looooong years in Utah. The bishops who refused to report molesting fathers to the authorities but preferred to handle it themselves (and thus keep it out of the newspapers). The church leaders who refused to see the gay sons returned early from the mission fields in disgrace.
HYPOCRISY is the key.
Unfortunately, though, I suspect the unthinking Republican conservatives will vote for ANY Republican Presidential candidate over what they consider the immoral liberals. The liberals, by the way, who in their caring for the poor and less fortunate, are hewing more to Jesus' line than Newt Gingrich ever will.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
[ edited by roadsmith on Mar 13, 2007 09:44 PM ]
There is no doubt that the right wing who support these guys are hypocrites, Roadsmith. If these guys were candidates on the Left can you imagine the smear and tawdry stories that would proliferate the news from the right.
But it seems to me that you are suggesting that if they play dirty that we should play dirty...a kind of tit for tat. Maybe that's politically expedient but to me it seems hypocritical to think that Bill Clinton should not be pilloried for sexual dalliance and then proceed to pillory the sexual exploits of Republicans.
posted on March 14, 2007 07:57:21 AM new
You're right, Helen, it's politically expedient and politically smart, politically necessary.
If conservatives believes a person's private sex life is SO important and everyone's business then it's only right to show their candidates for what they are.
I, personally don't care about their multiple divorces...that's life and I can look at their political history and judge them(that's bad enough!)....HOWEVER, they deserve a big dose of Reality Check about their double standards.
posted on March 14, 2007 10:31:28 AM new
Helen: You said "it seems hypocritical to think that Bill Clinton should not be pilloried for sexual dalliance and then proceed to pillory the sexual exploits of Republicans."
Many of us Democrats pilloried Bill Clinton WHEN IT HAPPENED. Bill is not running for President. To beat that dead horse now would be exactly what the Republicans do when they STILL beat up on Jane Fonda, for Gods sake. Just 35 years later, LOL.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
Well then, if this kind of issue is important to you and a value that you share with the wingers, you should have a field day using it against them during this election.
After the Bush debacle, even if they find a bedroom paragon of virtue to run, they don't have a chance in hell.
