Washingtonpost news updates: ‘Family values’ still matter — when it’s the other party’s indiscretions

Monday, February 27, 2012

‘Family values’ still matter — when it’s the other party’s indiscretions

Do ‘family values’ still matter in politics? As long as it’s not your family. - The Washington Post Print SubscriptionConversationsToday's PaperGoing Out GuideJobsCarsReal EstateRentalsClassifiedsHomePoliticsCampaign 2012CongressCourts &LawThe Fed PageHealth CarePollingWhite HouseBlogs & ColumnsIssues: EnergyTop Blogs

Election 2012 | Felicia SonmezThe Fix | Chris CillizzaFederal Eye | Ed O’KeefeFact Checker | Glenn KesslerOpinionsAll OpinionsPostPartisanLeft-LeaningRight-LeaningTolesCartoonsTelnaesAnimationsLocalColumnist IndexLocalDC: Politics| NewsMD: Politics| CommunitiesVA: Politics| CommunitiesCrimeEducationOn Faith/LocalObituariesTraffic & CommutingWeatherBlogs & ColumnsThe Root DCTop Blogs

Post NowThe BuzzCapital Weather GangDr. GridlockSportsRedskins/NFLCapitals/NHLWizards/NBANationals/MLBDC United/SoccerCollegesAllMetSportsOther SportsBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

The Insider| Mike JonesCapitals Insider| Katie CarreraWizards Insider | Michael LeeNationals Journal| Adam KilgoreNationalCorrectionsEnergy & EnvironmentHealth & ScienceHigher EducationNational SecurityOn FaithOn LeadershipInnovationsOn GivingBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

Ideas@InnovationsPost LeadershipUnder GodCheckpoint WashingtonWorldAfricaTheAmericasAsia &PacificEuropeMiddle EastNational SecurityWar ZonesSpecial ReportsCheckpoint WashingtonBusinessEconomyIndustriesLocal BusinessMarketsPolicy&RegulationTechnologyWorldBusinessBlogs & ColumnsInnovationsOn Small BusinessTop Blogs

Wonkblog | Ezra KleinPost Tech | Cecilia KangFaster ForwardWhere We LiveInvestigationsLifestyleAdviceCarolyn HaxFoodHome & GardenStyleTravelWeddingsWellnessMagazineKidsPostTop Blogs

Arts PostAll We Can EatReliable Source | Roxanne Roberts & Amy ArgetsingerOn Parenting | Janice D’ArcyEntertainmentBooksCelebritiesComicsGoing Out GuideHoroscopesMoviesMuseumsPuzzlesTheater & DanceTVTop Blogs

TV Column | Lisa de MoraesCelebritology | Jen ChaneyClick Track | Chris Richards & David MalitzComic Riffs | Michael CavnaMultimediaInnovationsPhotosVideosThe Washington PostMake us your start page

PersonalizeThe Washington PostAll OpinionsPostPartisanLeft-LeaningRight-LeaningTolesCartoonsTelnaesAnimationsLocalColumnist IndexIn the NewsRon Paul Mitt Romney Hamas Google Rick Santorum Tiger Woods Krauthammer ???initialComments:true! pubdate:01/27/2012 14:46 EST! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:2/10/12 2:46 EST! currentDate:1/27/12 3:0 EST! allowComments:true! displayComments:true!

Photos: GOP candidates at Florida debate

What readers think they really said

The headwear hall of fame

Extravagant D.C. homes

‘Family values’ still matter — when it’s the other party’s indiscretions

View Photo Gallery — ?Candidates participate in the 19th debate of the Republican presidential contest in Jacksonville, Fla., the second Florida debate before Tuesday’s primary.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Melinda Henneberger,

The first Washington sex scandal I remember following involved Daniel Crane, a Republican congressman from my home state of Illinois, who was censured in the (first) House page scandal in 1983.

In July of that year, the House Ethics Committee announced that Crane and his Democratic colleague Gerry Studds (Mass.) had been accused of having sex with teenagers in the congressional page program — Crane with a young woman who was 17, and Studds with a young man the same age. The committee originally voted to reprimand both men, but a little-known congressman from Georgia argued that a mere reprimand wasn’t punishment enough.

Comments

Weigh InCorrections?

Gallery

?A collection of Outlook’s favorite recently debunked myths.

Gallery

?A collection of cartoons on the presidential race.

Yes, it was Newt Gingrich who pushed for their expulsion — and as a result, the matter was put to a vote of the full House, where Crane and Studds became the first members ever censured over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Crane, a married father of six, tearfully confessed that the allegations were true. Oh, not good, I ventured to my staunchly Republican and seriously Catholic dad, who I knew had broken off friendships with guys who, as he put it, “liked to cat around.”

His response surprised me: Obviously, poor Crane was the victim, having either been entrapped or libeled by the liberal media. Because, he said, it’s Democrats who have no morals. (As it happened, Crane was tossed out of office by voters in his conservative district, while Studds was spared in his more liberal one. See?)

Three decades later, I am unamazed that Republican primary voters are willing to look past the three wives and lively past of the former House speaker,particularly after a TV newsguy went after him right in front of Jesus and the American public. The only better scenario for Gingrich than having CNN’s John King ask him about his alleged “open marriage” request to his second wife, Marianne, would have been if King had asked a follow up question twice as sassy.

The debate audience’s standing ovation after Gingrich blasted King for raising the issue helped propel the Georgian to victory in the South Carolina primary. But does Republican voters’ apparent nonchalance about Gingrich’s past mean that infidelity is the new divorce? That is, just as voters eventually accepted divorced political aspirants, are we now so inured to indiscretion that we can forgive a candidate’s moral lapses and still cite family values as a reason for supporting him?

Not exactly. The penalty for such transgressions depends on timing, how much voters liked the guy before and what the other options are. How such private issues are made public also matters, though partisans across the spectrum almost always see reporters as overzealous in going after sexual misbehavior, even if most of us run from such assignments.

In the case of former GOP candidate Herman Cain, allegations of sexual harassment and an affair seemed to get traction only in tandem with his lengthening string of foreign policy flubs. (This month, he told a crowd at the Stephen Colbert rally in Charleston, S.C., that it was, yes, the media that had driven him from the race, because he was too big a threat to the status quo.)

Continued12Next PageEmailTumblrRedditStumbleuponDiggDeliciousWeigh InDiscussion PolicyAbout Discussions, Badges Newest firstOldest firstMost Recommended first SuperFan Badge

SuperFan badge holders consistently post smart, timely comments about Washington area sports and teams.