Outside the primaries, politicians behaving badly
As voters went to the polls today, two stories broke that perpetuate some of the worst stereotypes of politicians:
Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has reportedly touted his war time service in Vietnam. The New York Times reports the front runner for the state’s Senate seat got five deferments and never went to Vietnam during the war.
Republican Mark Souder, a sitting Congressman from Indiana, resigned today after admitting he had an extra-marital affair with a staffer. It was reportedly the same staffer that interviewed Souder, an Evangelical Christian who spoke often about “family values,” on the superiority of abstinence education over sex education.
Yuck. Both men now seem worthy only of dismissing entirely.
There is one element of their combined story that I’ll watch: which one will be the subject of debate (or rancor) next week.
Blumenthal is digging in his heels. He says the Times reporting amounts to an “outrageous distortion.”
Souder quit.
We’re about to hear (ad nauseum) the old saw, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up.”
I’m sick of both.
I MIGHT accept Blumenthal’s claims of a “misstatement” if it had happened once. But the fact that he admitted it happened repeatedly hints at something more than an honest mistake. Especially from a man who, as the state’s top lawyer for nearly 20 years, knows the importance of being careful with words.
Why do we expect more from politicians? I mean, really- why? It seems the higher the office the more they believe they’re untouchable and insulated from the reality of the truth. Our political service system needs a little tweeking, we need to do away with the perks, the ability to amass power and money through their office. We need to do this not just for us, but to remove some of the temptation from these people who are just human. Going to Washington used to be a hardship, something men like Washington did because they were needed, not because they couldn’t stay out of the limelight.
Maybe it’s my idealism showing through but things are only getting worse and we keep sending the same failed men and women back time after time because they have a familiar name or they wear an “R” or “D” after their name. Isn’t it time to ask more of them and of ourselves? Term limits, real limits on donations (or no limits, make up your mind!), limits to the time Congress can stay in session perhaps or limits to exposure to media, I don’t know, something to take the “celebrity” out of politics and to put the “service to your fellow citizens” back.
I know, shut up Bret, you’re dreaming again…
Blumenthal may actually survive this in my opinion. He sounded very confident without a bit of remorse today. Sounder on the other hand was the weeper, I think he was mainly weeping because he got caught but who knows. I don’t know which I prefer? I don’t have a problem with social conservatives, I support abstinence education, but the problem of course is that he hurt his cause he says he cared about more than any political foe could ever do.
On a better note Rand won today, besides liking his name I think he might be a vanguard of conservatives who are going to move away from social issues toward libertarian principles which is probably a winning formula in the long run.
Yes.Rand Paul. What we need is another legacy pol, somebody’s son, ala Paterson, Cuomo, Bush…
Bootstraps and fresh blood!