Duplicity

Beside the word “duplicity” in the dictionary should be a picture of the Republicans, especially when it comes to the issue of sex. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to have Larry Craig out of office, but the means by which he went leaves me deeply troubled. The political party that has claimed the mantle of “family values” certainly hasn’t valued my family, and Senator Craig was no exception.

What infuriates me is that Craig is expected to resign, but the GOP has been almost completely silent about Louisiana Senator David Vitter. Vitter’s name was found in the phone records of an infamous Washington, D.C. madam. Vitter acknowledged his involvement with her, and even Fox News reported that D.C. prostitutes weren’t the only ones he enjoyed. () Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I checked prostitution was illegal in both Washington and New Orleans. In fact, the government is vigorously prosecuting the “D.C. Madam” but not bothering her Senator customer.

Both of these men ran for office on right-wing, religious fundamentalist, family values platforms. One had to go; the other created a brief stir and went right back to work as if nothing happened. Both campaigned hard to protect marriage from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender taxpayers, but dishonored their own marriage vows with illegal activity. Both men are hypocrites, but the greatest hypocrisy seems to be in how the Republican Party demanded that Senator Craig resign, but thought Senator Vitter should be forgiven.

Is the difference that soliciting sex with a man is somehow more sinful than soliciting sex with a woman? Was it that Vitter paid for his sex, but Craig sought it for free? Or was it that the Governor of Idaho is a Republican and would appoint a Republican successor while the Governor of Louisiana is a Democrat and likely to appoint a Democrat if Vitter resigned? So which hypocrisy motivated the different reaction? Do Republicans only care if you are caught violating your marriage vows with someone of the same gender? Or do they only care which party will retain the office? Either way, those certainly are not MY family values.

There is a grave danger in letting EITHER party play fast and lose with the “V” word. Frankly, I haven’t seen much integrity on either side of the aisle. What I’d like to see is a return to what once was the core value of the Republican Party: Get the government out of our private lives. Still, it is vital that we object vigorously to the duplicitous way these two men have been treated. We cannot afford to let gay adultery be treated as somehow worse than heterosexual adultery. Ultimately, what both these men did was between them and their spouses. When they are up for reelection then they should be judged by the voters based on the job they’ve done. Frankly, I think they both should be defeated, but that has nothing to do with whom they have sex with.