BCT Editorial – 10/10/06

This page was last updated on October 15, 2006.

Scandal mongers; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 10, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The time has come for politicians to unite and solve the nation’s critical issues

“It had to happen sooner or later.

“Republicans, who have ridden a high tide of morals-based politics into the White House and a majority of Congress, now find themselves twisting on a scandal-plagued rotisserie of recriminations fueled by Democratic counterparts.

“Yes, Republicans are as capable as Democrats of human temptation.

“But then everybody knew that already, or they should have.

“Politicians are politicians, no matter what the flavor, and they will say and do anything to get your vote. Just because the GOP endorsed family values didn’t mean they actually practiced what they preached. As for Democrats, well, their shortcomings have been well documented.”

[RWC] Let me get this correct. A representative exchanging sex-related e-mail messages with former House pages indicates the GOP doesn’t practice what it preaches? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I didn’t paint all Democrats as cheaters when a married president carried on a sexual affair in the White House with an intern only seven years older than his own daughter.

Let’s look at how Democrats and Republicans handled these two affairs.

In the Mark Foley case, Mr. Foley resigned and all Republicans condemned his actions, though it’s not clear he did anything illegal.

In the Clinton/Lewinsky case, Mr. Clinton lied to the American people and committed perjury, yet Democrats nearly universally defended Mr. Clinton.

Finally, consider what else the paragraph said. When Republicans set high standards and don’t always meet them, that’s worse than Democrats who misbehave because Democrats set their standards lower. Talk about a twisted view of the world!

“But Democrats, who are now salivating to exploit the tempting political capital created by recent Republican sex scandals, should consider this: Where does it end?”

[RWC] “Republican sex scandals?” Where did the plural come from? In the Foley case, to date we don’t even know if any sex acts took place. To date, the scandal is solely about e-mail from one homosexual to others he believed to be homosexual.

Remember, Mr. Foley is an unmarried homosexual. If sex acts did take place, is it a “sex scandal” when a single homosexual has sex with another single homosexual and both are over the age of consent? I suspect the Times has two answers to this question. I believe the Times would answer “yes” for a Republican, but “no” for a Democrat.

“Over the past 10 years, Republicans have skewered Democrats with scandal after scandal with no consideration for what that was doing to the political process. The country was treated to daily doses of Whitewater and Lewinsky and the Starr report. But where did that get us in terms of solving the nation’s most pressing problems?”

[RWC] This is the second editorial attempt in a month trying to treat Republican “scandals” as equivalent to those of the Clinton administration.

Let’s recap. Earlier this year, based on the information available to it at the time, the FBI concluded Mr. Foley had done nothing “actionable.” That was also the conclusion of news outlets that had the same info. That could change, of course.

Now let’s look at “Whitewater and Lewinsky and the Starr report.”

· Regarding Whitewater, there were at least 12 individuals convicted for various felonies, including the Clintons’ business partners and the governor of Arkansas for fraud. Clinton pardoned one of those business partners (Susan McDougal) on his last day in office. Despite all the obvious criminal activity and convictions in the Whitewater scandal, the editorial “Double standard” referred to Whitewater as a “GOP-manufactured scandal.”

· Regarding the Lewinsky affair, Mr. Starr didn’t seek out that investigation. Attorney General Janet Reno and the Special Division of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit assigned Mr. Starr to investigate this mess after he was presented evidence Ms. Lewinsky planned to commit perjury in Jones v. Clinton. The background of the investigation is contained in the Independent Counsel’s report on the Lewinsky affair.

· Though the Senate didn’t convict President Clinton on his impeachment charges, it was clear Mr. Clinton committed perjury in his deposition for the Jones v. Clinton case. As a result, the Jones v. Clinton trial judge cited Mr. Clinton for contempt of court, his Arkansas law license was suspended for five years, and he settled the Jones case for $850,000.

“Nowhere.

“It is time for gotcha’ politics to end.

“It is time to put ideology aside and get down to the business of running the country.”

[RWC] “It is time to put ideology aside?” Ideology represents our principles, whether conservative, liberal, or whatever. We can’t truly “get down to the business of running the country” if we check out principles at the door.

“It is time for politicians on both sides of the aisle to start doing something (not just talking) about the things that matter most to America.

“Things like Medicare, which is on the verge of collapse. And Social Security, which teeters on the brink of bankruptcy with each retiring baby boomer. And a burgeoning national debt. And Iraq. And, well, we could go on and on, but you get the point.

“For too many years, our leaders - both Republican and Democrat - have used the tawdry failings of their political opponents to keep their seats of power. Instead of making hard decisions that could cause pain come election time, they practiced the politics of divisiveness and doped voters with the opium of ideology.”

[RWC] Who’s not “making hard decisions?” Was it an easy decision to take us to war in Iraq? Is it easy to keep up the fight when you’re constantly being bashed for it? Oh yeah, that’s right. President Bush had been plotting this since the failed 1993 Iraqi plot to assassinate his father.

“The tide is now turning. Voters are wising up.

“Polls have shown that Americans want leaders who can fix what is broken, not those who can preach from the pulpit of recrimination.”

[RWC] Seriously, the Times needed a poll to know this?