Quote:
Originally Posted by greekchef
I am the lone democrat in a family of conservative republicans and I am already hearing comments like "Bill Clinton was considered a hero but let a republican make one mistake, etc..... Dear Lord! John Ensign and Mark Sanford both said that Bill Clinton should have resigned as a result of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Sanford called Clinton's actions inexcuseable. Now both Ensign and Sanford have been caught with their pants down and there is a public outcry for them to live up to their own statements: resign because of their behavior. But the response is that those suggesting that they should resign are to quick to condemn and not willing to forgive. Give me a break! This is totally about Sanford's own statements about politicians getting caught with their pants down. Hypocrits
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I'm in favor of Sanford resigning, but I'm not sure that the issue with Bill Clinton was exactly the same. The affair was a factor in his impeachment, but it was really just the subject about what he was accused of lying under oath about. Or am I misremembering the scandal?
I suspect that if SC investigates Sanford's trips to Argentina, the issue will escalate to something clearing resignation worthy, but it's hard to make the claim that an affair alone necessarily disqualifies a politician, if we're using history as our judge. (Personally, I've already said I consider it disqualifying, but I don't think history bears it out as a matter of expected conduct. Do you think we'll never hear from John Edwards again, for instance?)
I think using Clinton as the standard is kind of strange because "his affairs" were caught up in sexual harassment allegations and dishonestly about the affairs. I mean, the Bimbo Eruptions (was that the term?) were fairly common knowledge even at the time he first ran for President. I think people forgave him the affairs pretty easily. The expectation that he could avoid testifying honestly about them in a lawsuit related to his similar behavior was too much to ask though. Being President + the affairs + using the actual oval office for tryst + arrogance about avoiding telling the truth = a different set of problems than this particular dumbass in South Carolina.
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