Moral Paragons Bennett, Giuliani Weigh In on Sanford
God may work in mysterious ways, but He has nothing on today's Republican Party. As the dueling scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford wash away the last vestiges of the GOP's long-discredited claim to uphold "moral values," gambling addict William Bennett and the thrice-married Rudy Giuliani weighed in on the imbroglio.
Bennett, the former Education Secretary turned conservative columnist and radio host, used his perch at CNN to announce that Governor Sanford is "embarrassing himself":
"I know Mark Sanford. I know him quite well. He needs to get his life back in order, his marriage back in order. He is embarrassing himself.
There is the old notion of indecent exposure, usually that refers to somebody showing some skin, and there's another form of indecent exposure. He is telling us way too much. We're not interested. He needs to stop and take care of his life."
Of course, when it comes to embarrassing himself, Bill Bennett has rich experience to draw upon. In 2003, it was revealed that Bennett squandered as much as $8 million at casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Nevertheless, Bennett continued to mass produce books like The Book of Virtues and The Death of Outrage, each touting standards of moral behavior he himself failed to meet. It's no wonder Joshua Green in his article "The Bookie of Virtue" concluded:
"William J. Bennett has made millions lecturing people on morality--and blown it on gambling."
Then there's former New York Mayor and failed GOP presidential frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. The likely Republican gubernatorial candidate has appeared on Fox News and MSNBC to offer his expertise on the Sanford affair to Neil Cavuto and Joe Scarborough.
And Giuliani's expertise, as the Washington Monthly's Steve Benen detailed three years ago ("High Infidelity"), is serial adultery and rapid-fire marriage:
Giuliani informed his second wife, Donna Hanover, of his intention to seek a separation in a 2000 press conference. The announcement was precipitated by a tabloid frenzy after Giuliani marched with his then-mistress, Judith Nathan, in New York's St. Patrick's Day parade, an acknowledgement of infidelity so audacious that Daily News columnist Jim Dwyer compared it with "groping in the window at Macy's." In the acrid divorce proceedings that followed, Hanover accused Giuliani of serial adultery, alleging that Nathan was just the latest in a string of mistresses, following an affair the mayor had had with his former communications director.
As it turns out, Giuliani in the weeks before his role as Sanford marriage analyst anointed himself the champion of the anti-marriage equality crusade in New York State. (Despite having lived with gay roommates during his separation from Hanover, Giuliani skipped their wedding in May.) As one letter to the New York Post put it:
"Giuliani, who is currently married to his third wife, apparently believes that marriage is the sacred union of one man and a different woman every few years."
Even the ultra-conservative Washington Times was forced to acknowledge the damage done by the Republicans' rampant hypocrisy:
Social conservatives, the once-powerful force that focused the Republican agenda on moral virtue and family values, have suffered a diminished brand on the national political landscape as a steady stream of their icons have fallen prey to the vices they once preached against.
Extramarital affairs, gambling, alcohol abuse, prostitution and sexual pursuit of minors have taken a toll on the GOP.
Perhaps, but those sins are no barrier to regular appearances on your TV screen by the fallen of the Republican Party. Mysterious ways, indeed.
"God's finest little creatures, looking brave and strong..whistling past the graveyard, nothing can go wrong..quoting from the scriptures, with patriotic tears..we got the same old men, with the same old fears" - Don Henley, 1989