Are Democrats fundamentally unserious?

I just watched New York Rep. Eric Massa’s interview with Glenn Beck on Fox News.

It was a dreary, pathetic performance.

Massa, of course, announced his resignation last week following allegations that he had groped male staff-members in his office.

This comes on the heels of Rep. Charlie Rangel’s demotion following ethics allegations, and Gov. David Paterson’s announcement that he would drop out of this year’s campaign.

It follows Jonathan Edwards’ personal and political implosion and comes as a new book appears on the shelves describing Eliot Spitzer’s disintegration.

Of course the grandfather of all these Democratic scandals is Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.

A unifying theme is that all these dalliances hint at a toxic lack of seriousness among Democrats and their leaders.

For better or worse, most don’t involve the abuse of power.

Instead, they paint a portrait of a political party that can’t focus on its goals or its mandate seriously enough to leave the hookers alone or stop pinching bottoms.

I’m not being snarky here. I’m flat-out disgusted.

The shocking thing about Clinton’s behavior wasn’t that he committed adultery, or even that he did it in the White House.

No, the shocking thing was that he was so careless with his own agenda and the responsibilities of his office that he would put it all at risk for a quicky.

Surely, similar misgivings passed through Gov. Paterson’s mind before he picked up the telephone to intervene in an aide’s domestic violence case?

And surely Eliot Spitzer paused outside that hotel room in Washington DC to think about the future of his state, and his oath to bring reform to Albany.

What does it mean that they kept on going, that they betrayed their trust?

When President Barack Obama came to office in 2008, he promised big changes and laid claim to a new gravity of purpose for himself and his party.

But if Dems really care about things like poverty, health care, the budget crisis, and closing Guantanamo Bay — how come so many of them still have time for all this nonsense?

Obviously, Republicans have had plenty of ethical challenges of their own, some of them involving similar adolescent shenanigans.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford took creepy and inappropriate behavior to new levels last year.

Former North Country Rep. John Sweeney is currently cooling his heels in jail; and former state Sen. Joe Bruno — a Queensbury native — probably isn’t far behind.

The difference is that when they were in power the GOP was remarkably effective at advancing its agenda.

There was plenty of sleaze, sure, but they also got the job done.

The North Country’s two Democrats — Plattsburgh Rep. Bill Owens and Glens Falls Rep. Scott Murphy — have avoided any taint of scandal.

Both appear to be serving honorably and ethically.

But there’s a growing risk to them and other Democrats as November 2010 approaches.

Headlines involving Eric Massa’s towel snapping and Charlie Rangel’s tax entanglements could outweigh any headlines trumpeting their actual accomplishments.

And that’s something voters will have to think about.