Moral Hypocrisy in Politics

Recently, following the revelations about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s extramarital affair with an Argentine woman, many have charged this politician with hypocrisy. After all, wasn’t it Sanford who, as a congressman in the late 1990s, voted for then-President Clinton’s impeachment on moral grounds? And furthermore, after rejecting stimulus plan funds allocated for the state that he is charged with taking care of, he used taxpayer money for transportation to and from his illicit trysts. Such hypocrisy!

But wait, according to Rush Limbaugh recently, hypocrisy is good! He stated that hypocritical behavior, when exposed, reveals that a society does have moral standards and that they matter. Limbaugh then went further to state that, since Democrats unfortunately tend not to have moral standards, this leads to Republicans being the only party whose politicians suffer from being exposed as hypocrites.

Oh yeah? Then how is it that in New York, arguably one of the most liberal and Democratic states in the country, the elected governor Eliot Spitzer had to resign his post after revelations that he had solicited a prostitute? Folks there were then mighty peeved at Spitzer’s hypocrisy, since he attained the governorship largely on his reputation as a moral, ethical State Attorney. Or what about John Edwards, whose political ambitions disintegrated after it was revealed that he was having an affair while his wife was undergoing treatment for cancer?

But Limbaugh has a convenient (for his profession) capacity to remember what he wants and to forget what he wants. And how many times over the years has he passionately employed the “h” word in reference to those (always politically moderate or liberal) with whom he had ideological differences? But, no, whenever a conservative get into the news and screws up, then it’s a different line: we’re all human, let’s forgive and move on!

I couldn’t care less whether Sanford or Spitzer had affairs or not. It is the question of whether or not they used public money to fund their “outings”. And it’s here that I feel that the charge of hypocrisy is proper, regardless of which party is in power.