Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Difference BEtween Republicans and Democrats

In the aftermath of the Mark Foley scandal, you probably have heard Republican apologists make this argument: the difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Rep. Foley's behavior was unnaceptable and that he was forced to resign from office while the immoral Bill Clinton was supported by his party.

Let us take a close look at the logic of this statement: the evidence is mounting that instead of forcing Mark Foley out of office for his behavior, it seems that for a number of years his behavior was ignored and actually tolerated because of his fundraising and electability.  It may be that even the Republican speaker of the House may have known something about all this and did nothing - until the whole thing became publicly known.  And to cap it all off, Mark Foley resigned BEFORE anyone put any pressure on him to resign.

To these charges, Republican apologists then say they also demand that those who knew also should resign; thereby cleansing the Party from all guilt.

Please! 

The fact remains that the bulk of current scandalous behavior resides on the Republican side of the aisle.  For every Bill Clinton you had a Henry Hyde and Newt Gingrich; for every Democrat on the take you have numerous Republicans taking money from Abramoff or profiting from Halliburton.

But here is the key to the Republican apologist thinking: morality is all about sex and that Republicans are granted forgiveness by God.

Yes, in the twisted mind of the Religious Right/Neo-con Republican, torture is not a moral issue; all things sex are moral issues.

The Deomcrats, to their detriment, but also to their credit, do not claim they are more moral than Republicans or blessed by God.  A large portion of the American Electorate hearing the Republicans claim exactly that, believe it and vote Republican.

The result: sex outside marriage is the great moral outrage of our time while torture is just another foregn policy tool.

They can keep their blessings.

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