Unnecessary Piling On

Sen. Larry Craig did (or at least pleaded guilty to) a misdemeanor crime of a dubious nature. The whole incident from all accounts is at the very least bizarre and his present claims to having done nothing wrong seem to directly contradict his guilty plea. I would almost be willing to chalk this up to misunderstanding and police over-reach if it were not for that guilty plea. And his claim that the officer solicited him. According to the tape as I heard it, he tells the officer "you solicited me", but then the way he tells the story, there was no solicitation of any kind. He was simply reaching down to pick up a paper when he saw a police badge. It doesn't add up. At all. Go home, Sen. Craig, you are finished.

That said, there is no need for the incessant cries of "hypocrisy" and so on from the left, declaring incongruous the conservative stand for "traditional values" against a backdrop of never-ending corruption and moral morass (pun intended) from their end of the political spectrum. The problem is, when you set out as the champion of traditionally held beliefs and transgress them it is easier to be called a "hypocrite" than to call out someone who believes things need to change who then toes the conservative line. Conservatives are just happy you are "doing the right thing" on that particular issue. I think there should be less pointing fingers on moral issues, in a general sense, and more introspection (as an aside, I don't know how the Congress got tied up in making policy on "moral" issues in the first place. Where in article 1 of the constitution does it mention socio-cultural policy? [well, other than saying slavery could not be outlawed until at least 1808, which even then, I believe they'd argue had more to do with commerce than moral virtue]). There are no saints in Washington, and just because you don't (or can't) always live up to the ideal standard you believe in does not make you a hypocrite, does not make you a liar or a cheat or a criminal. It makes you human. But you have to try to do better or you are unforgivable and make fools of those who would forgive you. To quote Ben Franklin, "To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish".

That said, the conservatives need to realize that the sort of forgiveness they are advocating for Sen. Craig does not (or at the very least should not) only be extended to fellow conservatives. When are the Tom DeLay's of the world going to start advocating forgiveness for Michael Vick or Bill Clinton? No, forgiveness does not extend across the aisle, or out of the hallowed halls of Congress (unless it's for a fellow GOPer). Who cares if the other side piles on your guy when he falls, you should be the bigger pers...who am I kidding, these are politicians we're talking about; Bury the other side! Kill! Kill! Kill! Vote for me, because while I may not have anything to offer, look at those other guys, they're scum! Larry Craig was entrapped! Heckuva job, Brownie!

In other piling on related news:
Picking on kids is never the right thing to do, but nobody's perfect and this was too good to pass up (forgiveness please).