The Sunshine Empire

With the rash of Republican elected officials getting caught in philandering outside of their marriages it was fun to note that all of them either called for Bill Clinton to resign or voted for his House impeachment and for the failed Senate conviction. This morning I was watching the CNN and noticed that at least one of these Republicans has decided to defend this obvious hypocrisy. Now I’ll give Senator John Ensign credit for having the balls to do so but his reasoning is a tired one used by many pundits and such that were for President’s Clinton’s impeachment. Most will often point to the tenuous charge that Clinton lied under oath. It’s a stretch but perhaps true, yet any sane person will tell you that it hardly rises to the definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors” as the Constitution instructs on impeachment. Yet Senator Ensign seems to be saying that he made no legal transgressions in his scandal.

Now I’m no expert in campaign finance law, but having your mistress who works on your campaign with her husband paid off hush money from your rich dad’s coffers hardly seems kosher. But the do as I say not as I do mentality persists within the Republican party. Deficits didn’t seem to matter until January 20th 2009 to most Republicans. But many say that the political gotcha game of calling rank hypocrisy is tired and childish. Let’s remember that as the rational for the Iraq war fell apart for the lies it was, the main defense was that even Bill Clinton’s administration felt that Saddam Hussein had WMD. This is the same person that four years before that they had attempted to remove from office for lying under oath.