I blame Glenn Beck for the parking ticket I got last week.

It’s that once they fail, they both claim forgiveness from the same God that was supposed to consign them to damnation

Yep.  This.

Gay, and engaging in consensual sex, hurting no one?  “You’re sinful and going to rot in Hell, and I don’t consider it a legal problem if some straight guys with baseball bats sends you there a few decades early.”

Republican, and cheating on your wife, causing her a great deal of emotional pain?  “I am sinful and the Lord forgives me, and incidentally I’m going to stay in office because mere sinfulness does not make me a second-class citizen undeserving of the job I got myself elected to do <strike>and its six-figure salary and various perks</strike>.”

Didn’t Sanford begin the affair while Bush was in office?

And what about Ensign? I don’t want his ethically-challenged actions to fade. Why and how is the President responsible for Ensign’s actions?

I really really strongly dislike these people.

@teac - It’s all very simple.  Years of libruls questioning GWB intelligence and motives for destroying the country and handing over the Treasury to HalliburtonExxonCitiChase made them (Gopasaurs) feel unappreciated and weak.  Unlike Commander Codpiece, they couldn’t land on an aircraft carrier to show how macho they were, so they scouted out some random StafferProstituteEMailPenPal to get come lovin’ and appreciatin’.  Men are like that, ya know.
But they’re forgiven by God, so it’s all good now.

Has one of these GOP sex hypocrite assholes EVER had to pay any immediate political price for their mistakes?

I’m going down the recent list and coming up with zilch… Craig, Vitter, Ensign, Sanford - not one of these shitbags resigned when their indiscretions hit the press.

Contrast that to McGreevey, Edwards, and Spitzer.  The two who held political office at the time both immediately resigned, and the third was excoriated heavily in the press by people on both sides of the political aisle, and he was effectively removed from any participation in the Obama Campaign from that moment forward.

And what calls me the most is that in 1998, in the middle of the Lewinsky debacle, then-Congressman Mark Sanford and then-Congressman John Ensign BOTH publicly called for Clinton’s resignation over the affair.

Fuck these people.

Dammit, I meant “what galls me the most”.

And what calls me the most is that in 1998, in the middle of the Lewinsky debacle, then-Congressman Mark Sanford and then-Congressman John Ensign BOTH publicly called for Clinton’s resignation over the affair.

Wow. I did not realize this. Really, I think this should be more widely publicized.

“Years of libruls questioning GWB intelligence and motives for destroying the country and handing over the Treasury to HalliburtonExxonCitiChase made them (Gopasaurs) feel unappreciated and weak.”

...Besides, Klinton ruined the moral fabric of America through his unbelievably sleazy conduct that was totally unlike, and cannot be compared to, the understandable human failings of good Christian Conservative men like Sanford, Gingrich, Burton, etc. 

In fact, the Democrat Penis from Arkansas stole the election of 1992 away from its rightful winner, the Honorable George H. W. Bush, so in fact everything that has happened since November of ‘92 is William Hussein Klinton’s fault, including Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror (which was worse than Hitler), North Korea, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, domestic spying, torture of detainees, the housing bubble, global warming, and the election of The Most Liberal President of All Time and Secret Mooslim, Barry Hussein Soetaro Death To America Obama, who, by running for office cause the collapse of Wall Street and the rise of ACORN and Bill Ayers as our MooslimoFascistSocialiloCommunist overlords who even now are handing the United States of America over to the United Nations, who will enslave all white conservative Christian Americans and force them to worship Allah.

In fact, the event that set America on the road to ruin was the 1932 election of Franklin Hussein Roosevelt, who ruined the vibrant American economy and single-handedly brought about the “Great Depression” and put Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Hitler, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh into power and caused WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and The ‘60s “counter-culture”, and caused the blasphemous birth of “rock and roll” and “rap” music, which plague America to this very day.

In summary, every bad thing that has ever happened in American and World history is directly traceable to Liberals and their evil liberal philosophy of liberalism, and it’s only been the continual struggle of Conservatives against this primal threat to mankind that has prevented Satan from fully assuming control of Earth and humanity and ensuring mankind’s destruction.

So, if you’re grateful we’re not all burning in a lake of fire right now, thank a True Patriotic American Conservative…

I actually have to say that in Spitzer’s case, it was a pretty typically Republican scandal even though Spitzer is a Democrat—public moralizer, private vice. (I don’t know about McGreevy—I know he was in love with the guy, but other than that I don’t know much about the background.)

Ensign needs to resign ASAP.

He paid his paramour, her husband, and their 19 year old son salaries while he was carrying on the affair. RNC money. Huge ethical violations with each and every monetary transaction.

Sanctimonious thieving lying hypocritical shytebag.

Republican, and cheating on your wife, causing her a great deal of emotional pain, and disappearing from the state you govern for five days without leaving anyone else in charge or telling anyone where you are or how to reach you?

FTFY

Whoa, whoa, let’s not get too upset about the misappropriation of RNC money. In fact, let’s all have affairs with Republicans so we can misappropriate more of it.

So far as I’m concerned, this business helps prove that Protestantism is one of those movements which starts out as a cause and then develops into an organization before it devolves into a racket.  I came to this realization a few weeks ago when I realized that the Dutch Reformed establishment in the Midwest is now a subsidiary of Amway and that it’s not the other way around.  (I’m a slow learner.) 

I no longer buy the proposition that people like Sanford are invested in the faith which they claim as their own.  They’re in the postmodern position of expecting their audience (us) to believe that they adhere to religion and of expecting us (therefore) to issue them Rotten Behavior Passes galore on the strength of that conviction.  The act of faith on which they depend is no longer one which they are willing to make themselves, it’s one which they demand from the public at large (and which they are willing to extort if need be: that’s the reason for the ferocity of most varieties of Dominionism).

I say all this because I don’t consider it to be possible that Mark Sanford actually confuses himself with King David.  I don’t consider it possible because he might as well decide that he’s Napoleon in disguise and because I grew up in a world where claims of that kind were generally regarded as the signal for Nice Men equipped with butterfly nets and driving ia pretty ice-cream truck to emerge on cue from the bushes. 

Now I don’t like or think well of Mark Sanford but he has up till now impressed me as a fairly sane fellow, insofar as anybody who chooses to spend his or her life playing politics can be said to be sane.  Ergo, he can’t place an iota of credit in a single word he’s saying, but (rather) understands that he’s got his rôle to play (what else has all that Promise Keeper stuff ever been about, anyway?) and that his is the rôle which is conventionally supposed, within the walled garden of the right-wing milieu, to be the one which has the effect of mollifying the suckers (again, us).

At least McGreevey has come clean, out of the closet, and is fully responsible for the shitstorm he created.

Interesting how much privilege plays a part in this.  In the Republican playboook, people who are poor because they lack opportunity are fully responsible for their poverty.  Ditto for people who lack opportunity due to racism.  The only people who are responsible for their sometimes desperate or stupid behavior are people at the bottom who often lack good choices.  The wealthy and privileged republicans blame society, their enemies, those who point out the failings of their worldview because it is unworkable (which they have just demonstrated to be true), etc.

That sounds communist to me - the only trouble is caused by thought crime against the ideal state of being, not the unworkable nature of that ideal state!

In fact, let’s all have affairs with Republicans so we can misappropriate more of it.

I’m sorry, but some sacrifices are just too great.  Having relations with a Republican is certainly among them.

A friend of mine who lives in South Carolina and is plugged into Republican circles tells me that the word on the street is that Sanford is going to resign and move to Argentina.

(what else has all that Promise Keeper stuff ever been about, anyway?)

I have no clue.

But y’know, I kinda feel that if one must join an organization to bolster one’s ability? willingness? ____? to keep one’s promises, maybe one’s core beliefs in the ethics of keeping promises weren’t all that strong to begin with.

All sound and fury, signifying nothing.

libdevil, I agree.  Much as I’d like to have some of their money (I could surely use it) I just wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do the necessary.

To conservatives, religion is just a nice sharp tool they use to keep the Plebes under control, and to bash Progressives with whenever possible.  It doesn’t apply to THEM, goodness no!  They are above the Law, in fact they are above the “Rules of God”, who is an Elite Conservative, after all.

David?! in Kings 2? that David? as in “David and Bathsheba and Uriah and Nathan” David?  You mean he’s planning to murder his Argentine paramour’s husband by treachery, and then take her home to Columbia as his second wife?  That ought to get the S.C. voters’s attention.  Well, I hope the Argentinian husband is also paying attention.

And what calls me the most is that in 1998, in the middle of the Lewinsky debacle, then-Congressman Mark Sanford and then-Congressman John Ensign BOTH publicly called for Clinton’s resignation over the affair.

Wow. I did not realize this. Really, I think this should be more widely publicized.

I found it in the Los Angeles Times...

And yes, it does need to be more publicized.

You mean he’s planning to murder his Argentine paramour’s husband by treachery, and then take her home to Columbia as his second wife?  That ought to get the S.C. voters’s attention.  Well, I hope the Argentinian husband is also paying attention.

Nah, he’d have to take three or four other wives first; that’s pretty normal by GOP standards, but you just can’t have them all at once.

I just hope Sanford doesn’t start dancing near naked in the street.

Because I really don’t want to see that.

I only procrastinate because the arrogance of _insert right winger_ has sapped my strength of will!

Eh, nothing new.  Not much diffference between “the Devil made me do it” and “Obama made me do it.”  Actually since they think he’s the devil incarnate or the anti-Christ, there’s not much difference at all.

I know a guy who will not take responsibility for any mistake that he makes.  He’s a sociopath.  If he’s at a restaurant and the waiter misunderstands him, it’s the waiter’s fault for not listening closely enough.  If he misunderstands that waiter, it’s the waiter’s fault for not speaking loudly enough.  I’m pretty sure he’s a Republican and he seems to be a perfect representation of them.

Hmmm ... I think we need a drag avatar of a male comedian here:

Geraldine: “The DEVIL made me do it!”
Church Lady: “Could it be ... SATAN?”

I just hope Sanford doesn’t start dancing near naked in the street.

Well, if he does it’s going to be (lemme see, who haven’t we used)....

Oh, yeah.  It’s Howard Dean’s fault because he’s a doctor and a Democrat which means he’s a witch doctor which means that he set a Mark Sanford doll on fire and Guv had to shed the clothers and…

Rightwingers worship themselves. Their god is in their pants, their constant claims of heaven notwithstanding. As such, their sins are forgiven the moment they are caught—if they’re not caught then it’s not a sin. Meanwhile, everyone who is not them is, by definition, a sinner. If I’m a rightwinger and you’re not, you have insufficient me-ness, and, as such, your sins cannot be forgiven.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

—John Kenneth Galbraith

I no longer buy the proposition that people like Sanford are invested in the faith which they claim as their own.

QFT.
You should know, though, that Protestantism pretty much fell to crap very long ago. Any doctrine worth a damn will be Protestant, but your average Protestant’s doctrine is damnable.

He paid his paramour, her husband, and their 19 year old son salaries while he was carrying on the affair. RNC money. Huge ethical violations with each and every monetary transaction.

So long as it isn’t taxpayer funds, I’m actually cool with this. Republicans embezzeling from other Republicans is meet, good, and proper.

I blame Vitter for waking up late for Seattle’s Gay Pride Parade.

Luckily most Americans have more than 2 brain cells floating in their skull so the repeated “Vote for Me because I’m holier than Thou” is starting to wear thin.

But then again this line of politicing has been standard for thousands of years and the majority still fall for it.

There is forgiveness for sin but they’re skipping the penance part.  At minimum he should resign or stand in front of the Capitol blg. in sackcloth and ashes or something.

These Rethugs act like asking for forgiveness is the same as hitting a ‘reset’ button.  “‘Kay, I said I was sorry I robbed the bank can I have my tellar’s job back?”  Just because I am requried to forgive someone doesn’t mean I am required to trust them….ever again.  It means I’m required to stop hating them.  I hope Mark Sanford finds a good job someplace but not (ever) in a position of public trust.

“And what calls me the most is that in 1998, in the middle of the Lewinsky debacle, then-Congressman Mark Sanford and then-Congressman John Ensign BOTH publicly called for Clinton’s resignation over the affair.”

Clinton is manifestly a better person than John Ensign. He helped Lewinsky get a job after their affair. Ensign fired his former lover.

Thanks so much for bringing attention to this neglected subject.  I have written several posts over the last few months about the pathological inability of conservatives to take responsibility for anything they have done, whether it is the role of deregulation in destroying the economy, the vast damage their belligerent foreign policy has caused in the mideast, the inevitable consequences of their global warming denial, and so many more.  The ultimate example of this, I guess, is their willingness to buy into Jonah Goldberg’s lunatic contention that the Nazis were liberals.

This phenomenon is not, I think, a mere amusing eccentricity.  It is a central motivating factor in their construction of a total alternate version of reality, which they use to justify their hateful agenda.  A great example today can be found in the many conservatives who are hailing the military coup in Honduras as a victory for democracy.

I don’t really know what you do about the 20% or so of the American people who seem willing to believe anything that suits their self-interest at the moment, but what I know we can’t do is ignore it.  Until we can find a way to crack this facade of denial, they will continue to plague us.

I just hope Sanford doesn’t dance naked in the streets or something…

Well, if he does it’s going to be (lemme see, who haven’t we used)....

Oh, yeah.  It’s Howard Dean’s fault because he’s a doctor and a Democrat which means he’s a witch doctor which means that he set a Mark Sanford doll on fire and Guv had to shed the clothers and…

LOL!  Great guess, Magis, though I was thinking of the time when King David danced through the streets of Jerusalem while wearing nothing but an ephod (which is a loincloth, girdle, something or other).  His wife Michel makes fun of him for dancing half naked in public, so God curses her to “never bear children”.

So remember folks, if you don’t want kids, be sure to make fun of Sanford.  It’s painless, plus it’s quicker and cheaper than a vasectomy or a tube tying.

Modern conservative morality is dysfunctional because it’s not morality at all

Yup.

The thing that gets me about conservatives is their pervasive belief that laws simply do not apply to them. All laws, any laws - city, state, or federal laws, international treaties, UN mandates - all of these laws and rules can be broken at any time by any conservative for any reason. If you then criticize them for this, you are an IslamoMarxistSocioCommie or whatever they are calling decent law-abiding people these days.

This contempt for laws by conservatives extends from the very top (I give you Dick Cheney (and no backs)) to the very, very bottom. As an example of the latter, I present my two-doors-down neighbor. The city where I live has a leash law - all dogs outside must have leashes. I see dozens of neighborhood people walking their dogs past my house. All are on leashes except one. Guess whose?

There is a traffic light at the base of my street with a sign saying “No Turn On Red”. Most people wait till it turns green to make their right turn. But not my wingnut neighbor. He barrels up in his giant pickup truck or his giant SUV (both festooned with “Bush-Cheney” and “McCain-Palin” stickers) and turns right on red without even stopping. THAT’ll show those libtards who’s the boss!!

The worst thing about this guy is that I often see him in hospital scrubs, meaning he is taking his right-wing attitude into a place where people are supposed to be healed.  God, I hope I never get sick on his watch.