Maureen Dowd loves to talk sex.
What else could give Dowd such pleasure as mocking a Republican governor's sexual misconduct? Probably not much.
Writing in today's New York Times, Dowd really enjoys herself.
She's not the only Leftist to be wallowing in Mark Sanford's Excellent Argentina Adventure, nor is she the only one to draw comparisons between Sanford and Bill Clinton.
In her predictable "conservatives are hypocrites" column, Dowd writes:
In a weepy, gothic unraveling, the South Carolina governor gave a press conference illustrating how smitten he was, not only with his Argentine amante, but with his own tenderness, his own pathos and his own feminine side.
He got into trouble as a man and tried to get out as a woman.
He wanted to get his girlfriend a DVD of the movie “The Holiday,” presumably the Cameron Diaz-Kate Winslet chick flick about two women, one from L.A. and one from England, who trade homes and lives. He was fantasizing about catapulting himself into an exotic life where stimulus had nothing to do with budgets.
With Maria, he was no longer the penny-pinching millionaire Mark, who used to sleep on a futon in his Congressional office and once treated two congressmen to movie refreshments by bringing back a Coke and three straws.
No, he was someone altogether more fascinating: Marco, international man of mystery and suave god of sex and tango.
Mark was the self-righteous, Bible-thumping prig who pressed for Bill Clinton’s impeachment; Marco was the un-self-conscious Lothario, canoodling with Maria in Buenos Aires, throwing caution to the e-wind about their “soul-mate feel,” her tan lines, her curves, “the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of night’s light.”
Mark is a conservative railing against sinners; Marco sins liberally. Mark opposes gay marriage as a threat to traditional marriage. Marco thinks nothing of risking his own traditional marriage, and celebrates transgressive relationships.
...Sanford can be truly humble only if he stops dictating to others, who also have desires and weaknesses, how to behave in their private lives.
Leftists like Dowd either still don't get it or they don't want to get it.
Bill Clinton was not impeached for his adultery. It wasn't about his personal transgressions. Clinton lied under oath, obstructed justice, and abused his power. His actions turned a personal failing into a very public matter.
Clinton did not just have an affair and lie about it to his wife, family, Cabinet, aides, and the American people. Rather than admit to his actions and man up, he knowingly denied that the statements he made under oath were lies until DNA evidence forced him to acknowledge what he did.
As a result, his law license was suspended by the Arkansas Supreme Court and he was fined $25,000. He was disbarred from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Those penalties aren't typical for private matters.
Dowd casts plenty of stones and piles on "Marco" Sanford -- humiliating him, quoting his e-mail messages to his mistress, and charging that the conservative "Marco sins liberally."
There's no question that Sanford brought this on himself. He betrayed his wife and let down his constituents.
Sanford disappeared. He was derelict in his duty as governor of South Carolina. That's a serious public matter. His actions took the affair out of the private realm.
Clearly, Sanford's failings are more than just personal. Clinton's marital failings, too, were more than just personal.
Dowd and her Leftist cohorts stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that fact when they cry hypocrisy on the part of conservatives.
Moreover, in terms of hypocrisy, did Sanford ever claim that he wasn't a sinner? I don't know, but I doubt that a Christian would make such a claim. If he did, it would be false. Guaranteed.
Dowd concludes:
The Republican Party will never revive itself until its sanctimonious pantheon — Sanford, Gingrich, Limbaugh, Palin, Ensign, Vitter and hypocrites yet to be exposed — stop being two-faced.
"SANCTIMONIOUS PANTHEON"?
"HYPOCRITES YET TO BE EXPOSED"?
"TWO-FACED"?
Good grief.
How many sanctimonious, two-faced hypocrites are there in the Democrat Party?
One is president.
How many sanctimonious, two-faced hypocrites are among the ranks of the Left? How many are "yet to be exposed"?
Smug Leftists like Dowd are not without sin but they do present themselves as holier-than-thou. They don't seem to realize that they are nauseatingly self-righteous.
3 comments:
With governor Sanford, the issue is the dereliction of duty and malfeasance. Mr. Sanford left his state unattended for days knowing full well that his has the sole power the deploy the national guard in case of emergency of other crisis. He was unreachable and no body knew his location.That's irresponsible! Moreover, he used state resources to visit his mistress last year in Argentina on his way back from a business trip to Brazil. He used bad judgment and his behavior was erratic. Were he to follow his own standards, he will resign. As far as Clinton goes, the situation is completely different. He had an affair, lied about it, got impeached on two counts and found not guilty on both counts in a senate trial. Clinton never abandoned his duties or pretended to be a paragon of virtue like Sanford did. Sanford is in a league by him self. And trying to excuse what he did by invoking Clinton or any other political figure is cheap.
With all due respect, you misunderstand what I wrote if you think that I'm trying to excuse what Sanford did.
If Sanford doesn't resign soon, I think impeachment proceedings should get underway.
And I don't invoke Clinton. Dowd does.
You follow her your lead in your comment, dismissing the reality of Clinton's behavior.
It's arguable whether Clinton abandoned his duties. By Clinton's own standards, he had a "critical lapse in judgment."
Clinton did not just have an affair and lie about it to his wife, family, Cabinet, aides, and the American people. Rather than admit to his actions and man up, he knowingly denied that the statements he made under oath were lies UNTIL DNA evidence forced him to acknowledge what he did.
As a result, his law license was suspended by the Arkansas Supreme Court and he was fined $25,000. He was disbarred from the U.S. Supreme Court.
I don't think they do that to every lying, unfaithful lawyer. Do they?
Maureen Dowd won her Pulitzer trashing Bill Clinton's misbehavior, Sex scandals are her beat. What she does so well in this column is contrast Sanford's public words with his private actions. I call the way she does it a Dowdversion and this column is just full of them. And saying one thing and doing another is the very definition of hypocrisy.
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