Profiles in Hypocrisy

As I write this, I don't know if Senator Larry Craig is actually guilty of lewd conduct or if his arrest is the result of an overly zealous policeman. He's probably guilty. I have no reason in particular to doubt it. But for the last few days, all I hear is how he's a hypocrite because he's gay yet he's a conservative lawmaker legislating against gay marriage, etc. So therefore, he's a BAD man. Why, it'd be different if he was openly gay. No problem with openly homosexual Senators having illegal anonymous sex in airport bathrooms. But he's a Republican and therefore he's red meat for the liberal media.

I heard one talking head lawyer on Fox News who asked something on the order of "Is it too much to ask that our Senators legislate their consciences?" Huh? Did she pass the bar exam in Naiveistan? Our legislators are supposed to legislate their consciences? That's a good one. Funny, I though they were supposed to represent the people who elected them and legislate accordingly — never minding personal bias. But perhaps I'm as naive as she...

The evil that Senator Craig is being accused of is not so much lewdness as hypocrisy. Acts gay — but votes anti-gay. Shocking! Well, I wish the Left would admit that Republicans too are human, and subject (as are Democrats) to personal failings and Personal Demons. There is such a thing as telling others what to do, yet thinking the rules do not apply to you (hypocrisy). And then there's promoting values that one believes in but are personally having trouble living up to. By the Left's definition of hypocrisy, a person who is bad at math yet promotes more rigorous math education would be a hypocrite. I might say he's just "wiser for wear..."

The Left, not big on promoting traditional social values, has a different standard of "good." For instance, the Most Holy "Zero Carbon Footprint." What if the Reverend Prophet Al Gore, who exhorts us all to lower our carbon footprints, himself lived in a huge energy-hog of a mansion? He what...? He does...? Well, I'm sure he's not a hypocrite. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume his actions are the result of a Personal Demon. Some sort of energy addiction... Perhaps he wasn't allowed to play with electricity as a child.

Look, probably no one knows better about the evils of gambling than a gambling addict. A gambling addict who is a law maker might be very much inclined to pass laws against gambling, knowing full well how it can destroy people and families. He might even do so in an attempt to stop his own addiction. I don't think that makes him a hypocrite, I don't think that it invalidates his anti-gambling efforts, and I don't think it argues against anti-gambling laws. I do think it makes him a sick person — and probably not fit to be a legislator.

The same may be true with Craig. Assuming he is compelled to seek the illicit thrill of obscene, dangerous, nasty, anonymous, and illegal sexual encounters (gay or otherwise), that does not mean — as the Left heavily implies — that his socially conservative legislative efforts to the contrary are hypocritical or somehow suspect. And, to please our Fox News talking head (sorry, didn't catch her name), it might well mean that perhaps Craig is legislating his conscience. He may indeed feel that gay marriage is destructive of the fabric of society — but that conviction doesn't stop the cravings of his shameful Personal Demon.

Contrast this with Governor McGreevy who publicly humiliated his wife by having a homosexual affair and then went onto say he was proud to be a "Gay American." (Prefixing the word "American" with another group is a way of glomming onto protected status, like African American, or Native American.) He violates her trust and then goes out on the talk show circuit declaring his "pride"! What an everlasting scumbag.

If the accusations against Craig are true, then I do think it appropriate that Craig has stepped down, and not because he is a homosexual or a hypocrite, but because he engages in compromising activities. Any person who is privy to national security secrets should not have skeletons in his closet. And that leads me to a story told by a good friend of mine who used to work for a government contractor. She tells of a person who was being interviewed for a Secret Clearance. One of the things they look for is a situation that the candidate wants to keep hidden as it could be used as leverage for blackmail. The interviewer asked the applicant, "Is there anyone in your family that you're ashamed of?" The applicant, not grasping the implication of the question, replied, "Well, my little brother's a bit of a wuss, but we're hoping he's gonna grow out of it." Ah, if only the Left would just "grow out of it".