Campaign 2008: Adultery Becomes Ho-Hum
Posted on Mar 13, 2007
Bill Boyarsky
Remember how the country held its breath while the Senate voted on Bill Clinton’s impeachment and he survived by just a few votes? He paid a high political price for violating the no-nonsense commandment “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” and lying about it.
The era of the Scarlet A in politics seems so long ago, especially today, as the three top candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are confessed violators of the commandment, yet their sins are relegated to surprisingly low positions in news stories about their prospects.
Not until the 11th paragraph of the Wall Street Journal’s rave story on Newt Gingrich (“He’s Back”) was there a mention of “two messy divorces,” and not until the 17th paragraph were there more details, tactfully presented. The admitted violations by John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are dealt with in similarly restrained fashion. In each case, they are treated analytically, as political problems to be overcome. There is hardly any condemnation from the Republican religious right.
It’s easy to say this is hypocrisy. There is a good amount of hypocrisy on the part of the media and the religious right. But I think there is something else at work.
First, let’s talk about the media. Seldom have so many reporters been roused to such investigative intensity as those on the Clinton adultery trail, first in Little Rock and then the White House. Pursuing tips from various anti-Clinton Arkansans and right-wingers, reporters eventually nailed him. .....(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070313_campaign_2008_adultery_becomes_ho_hum/