Mar 11th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans
Interestingly John Ensign, like David Vitter but unlike Elliot Spitzer or Eric Massa, hasn’t yet been driven from public life:
Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles.
Mr. Ensign, Republican of Nevada, suggested that a Las Vegas development firm hire the husband, Douglas Hampton, after it had sought the senator’s help on several energy projects in 2008, according to e-mail messages and interviews with company executives.
Man, that John Edwards sure is a scumbag!
66 Responses to “Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans”
Register
RSSLogin
Yglesias Tweets
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Budget
China
Chris Dodd
climate
Crime
DC
Economics
Economy
education
Energy
Environment
Financial Regulation
Health Care
History
Housing
Ideology
Immigration
India
International Relations
Iran
iraq
Japan
Labor Market
Media
Monetary Policy
Music
National Security
Parking
Paul Ryan
Political Reform
Poverty
Public Health
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Religion
Science
Social Security
Sports
Stimulus
taxes
Trade
transportation
Urbanism
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
March 11th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Mark Foley was driven from public office, but then again, he was hitting on underage boys, so I suppose there’s a legal sliminess there as well.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Well it’s up to cowardly democrats to come to the defense of their own. You notice the republicans ALWAYS do.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:08 am
The Massa scandal was much more hilarious. And Edwards had a real chance to be the president. David Vitter was a weird case though.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:09 am
These days it’s so surprising when the affair involving a married republican leader involves a heterosexual relationship that the media doesn’t know what to do with the story.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:11 am
In addition to Mark Foley, Bob Livingston was also driven out of the office (as Speaker of the House) a few years back.
So, of course, Matthew is flat out lying.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Oh, and let’s not forget about Larry Craig.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:14 am
And Mark Sanford. That was an “interesting” sex scandal involving a Republican, although he wasn’t driven from office.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Matt – you really opened yourself up with that ridiculous headline. You cherry pick a Republican sex scandal that didn’t cause a ruckus, and point out some Democratic ones that did, and you decide that is a trend? Please Matt, drink some more coffee before posting this morning… What you are saying is probably true over the last year, but certainly not over the long run.
Megan McArdle had it right last week. The Democrats get more scandals when they are the majority, and the Republicans get more scandals when they are the majority. The bigger the majority, and the longer the majority lasts, then the worse it gets. It isn’t the media’s fault. Republicans or Democrats are not inherently different in some way. They are all human, and power corrupts. Try not to take it personally when it is your party’s turn to get caught with cash in the freezer or their hand in the intern’s pants. The only way to really fix it is term limits. Kick them out before they get too corrupt.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Google search results:
“Rep. Eric Massa” 2,470,000 results
“Senator John Ensign” 43,600 results
groping “Eric Massa” 25,400 results
“Douglas Hampton” “senator John Ensign” 1,380 results.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Oh, and let’s not forget about Larry Craig.
Great idea. That should become a timeless rallying cry for Republicans. “Oh, and let’s not forget about Larry Craig!” Man, I hope that catches on, and is used at every single Republican event from now on.
Of course, far from being hounded from office, Larry Craig, in fact, served out the remainder of his term. He didn’t seek re-election, it’s true, unlike diaper dandy David Vitter. But he didn’t resign, the way Massa and Spitzer did.
But IOKIYAR.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Massa resigned, of course, because naked Rahm Emmanuel needed to pass the health care bill.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Democrats piss themselves and resign. Republicans stand their ground and let it blow over. Democrats take the news media far too seriously, and yearn for their approval. Republicans treat the news media like the irritating ciphers that they are. Vitter has a 20 point lead in more-Christian-than-thou Louisiana three years after it became public knowledge that he was diapered by a whore whose madam later died under mysterious circumstances.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:23 am
“Rep. Eric Massa” 2,470,000 results
“Larry Craig” – 11,800,000 results
March 11th, 2010 at 10:26 am
The fact that sex scandals are lethal the Dems but not to goopers is the direct result of the GOP owning its own propaganda mills, which can work in a concentrated fashion to make a sex scandal stick with important opponents. Kostya’s results are just the latest evidence of how skewed right our “liberal” media is.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Actually, i don’t know how the press–whom i agree most of the time will purposely focus on the least useful stuff–could have NOT jumped all over a story that included both tickling a staff member until he cried, and also, as a special added bonus, an argument involving a naked Rahm Emmanuel!!
i’ve been laughing for a week.
and for that, i am grateful to our tabloid-corrupted media.
if nothing else, the press can at least serve us up a healthy laugh now and then.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Larry Craig has been in national politics for about 20 years.
John Ensign has been in national politics for about 15 years.
Eric Massa has been in national politics for about one year and two months. His scandal surfaced only two weeks ago.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Please Matt, drink some more coffee before posting this morning…
Yeah, this post is fail. Larry Craig was the most talked about sex scandal in years. I am surprised that Vitter didn’t get more run, considering the diaper angle. The girl Spitzer fucked was hot, so I don’t see what the big deal was.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Scott:
Of course, far from being hounded from office, Larry Craig, in fact, served out the remainder of his term. He didn’t seek re-election, it’s true, unlike diaper dandy David Vitter. But he didn’t resign, the way Massa and Spitzer did.
But IOKIYAR.
It’s all so unfair! Matt can be counted on to be loyally partisan when it comes to sex scandals no matter the facts. Larry Craig was a laughingstock, but then again so was Bill Clinton.
According to Wikipedia, Massa appears to be of the Firebagger type who wanted to kill the bill, so good riddance.
“During the 2006 campaign, Massa positioned himself as strongly opposed to the Iraq war and unrestricted free trade, favoring instead fair trade. Other issues in his platform included expanding farm aid programs, as well as bringing homeland security money to the 29th District.”
I just think it’s funny that Emanuel – knowing Massa has sexual issues – decided to yell at the retard in the nude at the House gym.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:39 am
“Eric Massa” 20,500,000 hits. Nice selective Googling, Al.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Also,
“During the 2009 Netroots Nation convention held in Pittsburgh, PA, Massa told a group of activists that he “will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.” in regards to single payer health care system.”
Nice nutsroots…..
March 11th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Al, you are either lying or your reading comprehension isn’t real good. Matt didn’t say that NO Republicans were ever punished. But being a right-wing tribalist, you just have to go with whatever you think makes the “other” look bad. How tiresome. It makes me want to go all tribal on your ass, but what a waste of time.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Larry Craig was the most talked about sex scandal in years.
I’m not so sure. It was talked about plenty by political junkies, but I don’t think it penetrated (ahem) the mass consciousness of the general public. I bet if you walk up to random strangers and say the name “Larry Craig” more than half won’t know what you’re talking about.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:51 am
The key difference isn’t whether the scandals get talked about, it’s what the scandal subjects decide/are forced to do. The Republicans Craig, Vitter, Sanford and Ensign all stay in office, and Vitter even runs for re-election. Spitzer and Massa resign, and Edwards, though not in office at the time, is effectively destroyed as a public figure. Republican voters and the mass media exhibit a far, far higher tolerance for sexual and ethical misbehavior from Republicans than is tolerated among Democrats.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:01 am
but I don’t think it penetrated (ahem) the mass consciousness of the general public. I bet if you walk up to random strangers and say the name “Larry Craig” more than half won’t know what you’re talking about.
Are you kidding? You don’t remember all the gay jokes about tapping your foot under the stall? It was on pretty much every talk show.
The key difference isn’t whether the scandals get talked about, it’s what the scandal subjects decide/are forced to do.
The thing about resigning is it’s voluntary. People tried to get Sanford to resign, but he refused. Spitzer or Massa could’ve done the same. They’d lose re-election, but Sanford will too.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Are you kidding? You don’t remember all the gay jokes about tapping your foot under the stall? It was on pretty much every talk show.
Yeah, for a few weeks while it was going on. But a few years later, I don’t think most people even remember that those jokes were specifically about Larry Craig, or that he was a Republican Senator.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:06 am
It is also about what’s really important. Who cares about the sexual exploits of politicos? As long as they play around with the genitals of consenting adults.
Ensign is charged with something far more serious than sex play, and yet I couldn’t find even 1,500 hits about the issue this morning on Google.
And, such Google searches aren’t about the “media” as much as they are about us.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Spitzer resigned because he was under a threat of indictment. Impeachment of Sanford only was discussed. Massa is a different type of nut job entirely.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Yeah, for a few weeks while it was going on. But a few years later, I don’t think most people even remember that those jokes were specifically about Larry Craig, or that he was a Republican Senator.
That’s what was funny about it, the hypocrisy. Republicans always go on and on about family values and morality.
Even Bill Clinton would be going around making these treacly sanctimonious speeches and passing laws like the Defense of Marriage Act. Meanwhile he was banging the help.
All the partisan splitting of hairs about “It depends on what the meaning of the words ‘is’ is” is laughable. All it does is make people cyncial and turn them into independents.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Yep.
In the spirit of March Madness, I suggest we all do our best Dick Vitale voice and call Vitter “Diaper Dandy”.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:29 am
A better alternative would be to stop giving so much of a damn about politicians’ sex lives. I’m all for creating the office of the White House Concubine, and assuming that the president has done such things with her (or him) that anything else pales in comparisson.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:33 am
It’s on the front page of the NYTImes online, and has been for more than 12 hours. Does Matt no longer read the Times, preferring to watch Glenn Beck instead?
March 11th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Um, point taken but, uh, Edwards denied paternity of his child, forced a staffer to claim paternity, lied about it up and down, etc. Ensign is scum, for sure. But Edwards is the scum of the scum, because you don’t treat children that way. You just don’t.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Yeah, for a few weeks while it was going on. But a few years later, I don’t think most people even remember that those jokes were specifically about Larry Craig, or that he was a Republican Senator.
Yeah, for sure. He’s just that pervert guy in the airport bathroom. But a few years from now, nobody’s going to remember that Massa was a democrat: he’ll just be that tickling homo congressman.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias » Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
You should extend your conspiracy all the way back to Gary Condit and include the Illuminati in there somewhere.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Let’s remember that Foley was only forced from office after the press found out about it and public opinion rallied against him. The Republican leadership had long been aware of his ‘activities’ and essentially slapped him on the wrist. Even the Washington Times called on Hastert to resign for slipping the incidents under the rug.
By contrast, when Hoyer learned of the allegations he took them to House ethics committee post haste. Quite a contrast.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Is this post serious? Sullivan needs to rename his “Yglesias” award.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Re: The girl Spitzer fucked was hot, so I don’t see what the big deal was.
I actually felt really sorry for ‘Kristen’ when I heard about her life story- it must be terrible to be repeatedly used for sex by scumbag DC politicians. I hear she’s a well paid relationship columnist for a magazine now, which I’m glad to hear, and I hope she has a happy life. Poor girl.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I actually felt really sorry for ‘Kristen’ when I heard about her life story
She came from an upper middle class family. Her father owned a small business and her stepfather was a surgeon. She claimed that she fled home because of abuse, but others deny that. (Plus she adopted her stepfather’s last name, which is inconsistent with him being abusive.)
She ended up making thousands of dollars an hour as a call girl. Wikipedia says she “had expensive tastes, including Cartier and Louis Vuitton consumer goods and trips to Saint-Tropez, France.” When she got caught, the prosecutors gave her immunity. She parlayed the scandal into a music album and a newspaper column.
Why do you feel bad for her? She seems to be exactly the kind of hedonistic hipster you’re always railing against. Or can’t women be hipsters too?
March 11th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Given that it was mostly DEMOCRATS pushing the Massa story in order to get rid of him (really, they had these reports for months. It just mysteriously comes up now? That’s not realistic) I’m not really sure what Matt’s point is.
It’s not the media’s fault that Obama has the Democratic party too busy eating it’s own to actually harm the Republicans.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Really, have you been to TPM (Obamaton central command, if there ever was one)? Nothing but Massa for days.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Re: She came from an upper middle class family. Her father owned a small business and her stepfather was a surgeon. She claimed that she fled home because of abuse, but others deny that
Well, I don’t care what they deny. Most women who become prostitutes, in the USA, have been sexually abused or endured other forms of trauma, so I’m inclined to take Kristen’s word for it. The sex industry is the classic example of nihilistic upper-class men exploiting other people for their personal pleasure.
Re: She seems to be exactly the kind of hedonistic hipster you’re always railing against. Or can’t women be hipsters too?
She is what our society has made her. If she has some expenssive tastes, then the blame falls on our popular society for corrupting her, and particularly on the sleazy DC politicians who used this vulnerable young woman for sex.
Re: Or can’t women be hipsters too?
Actually, the evolutionary biological literature shows that women are more likely to be forward-thinking and focused on the good of others, and less likely to be self-indulgent about drugs, sex, and other bad behaviours. So while women certainly can be hipsters, they are much less likely to be.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I don’t feel sorry for lazy whores who don’t want to work for living, or the scumbags who cheat on their wives with them. I don’t grasp how anyone can. Nothing terrible happened to either of these people. They were just shitbags. It can be argued that Spitzer has done acts to mitigate from his scumbaggery. The prostitute was just a greedy little girl who didn’t want to have to fucking work a day in her pathetic, over privileged little life.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
It appears that Hector is a deplorable sexist on top of his many other failings.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Re: The prostitute was just a greedy little girl who didn’t want to have to fucking work a day in her pathetic, over privileged little life.
prostitutes are victims, not criminals. The real criminals are the unscrupulous men who buy the Big Lie of Hugh Hefner and the apostles of the org*sm that you are entitled to as many org*sms as you feel like.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hector: prostitutes are victims, not criminals.
Many prostitutes are criminals, Hector. We’re not talking about dragooned and/or desperate 3rd world teenagers here.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
The grouping of these names includes some outliers. someone else pointed out that Edwards’s sins included denying his child==this raises the ante considerably over dalliance–even illegal dalliance like Spitzer’s or dalliance with extra-added-hypocrisy like the anti-gay dudes who turn out to be sampling the evidence.
Unlike the others that I’ve heard of, Ensign’s case includes accusations of serious favor trading, abuse of office, and the like. This is bad stuff entirely without a sexual aspect (although i admit that would make it a much more boring story). I am a little disappointed that so little press attention seems to notice this fact.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
No surprise, it’s part of the package with the atavistic religious stuff. But if it’s the same person using the soullite handle, we’ve had quite the display of true colors in that area over the last couple of days.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
The real criminals are the unscrupulous men who buy the Big Lie of Hugh Hefner and the apostles of the org*sm that you are entitled to as many org*sms as you feel like.
Dear god, what is wrong with you that you can’t write out the word orgasm? Is it really an obscene word to you?
March 11th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
The real criminals are the unscrupulous men who buy the Big Lie of Hugh Hefner and the apostles of the org*sm that you are entitled to as many org*sms as you feel like.
And, well, aren’t you? Why wouldn’t you be entitled to as many as you feel like? What’s the right amount, according to you — not as many as you feel like? As many as you feel like, minus one, just for that virtuous tingle at the end as you stop short?
March 11th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias » Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Oh please. This is such nonsense. Remember Foley? The Democrats leaked that right at the moment it would do the most damage..and nothing Foley did was half as bad as this Massa nonsense. Not to mention, the Republican senator who tapped his foot and got in all manner of trouble…but Democrats? It is the same old double standard. Republicans are far more likely to hold their reps to a certain standard. After all, what party did Ted Kennedy belong to?
March 11th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Maybe Democrats just have more interesting sex.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
As long a Senator Ensign makes sure that the Casino and Mining interests here in Nevada are well represented in Washington, he’ll continue to be elected ever if he ate a baby on live TV. The dude’s basically a nice face in a expensive suit and a lobbyist for those concerns who just happens to have been elected to the Senate.
Sorry guys, that’s just how Nevada politics work.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias » Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
In a sense, I think that there’s a certain logic to the harsher judgement Democrats get for sexual impropriety. Bear with me.
One point often raised in response to “Al Gore rides jet airplanes!” type stuff is that the Democratic party’s environmental concerns are about public policy, not personal conduct. Now, coming from Republicans, who are essentially contemptuous of environmental concerns, these “Al Gore eats beef” things are purely disingenuous. However, let us suppose that the Republicans were different — that they claimed to be, and perhaps even to some extent were, motivated by environmental concerns, but they believed that action should take place at the level of personal conduct, not public policy. Then, wouldn’t it make sense to say that Dick Cheney flying around in a personal jet is more hypocritical than Al Gore doing so, even though Al Gore is the one who thinks the government should regulate emissions more tightly?
Reverse the parties, and switch “environmental concern” for “family values,” and you essentially have the situation with regard to sex scandals.
The Republican view is that things like sexual-abstinence-before-marriage, etc, are all the purview of public policy. The Democratic view is that most of the stuff that Republicans talk about with regard to families is important, but should be a matter of personal conduct rather than public policy.
There are some people, who probably reliably vote for the Democrats but who probably think most Democrats are too conservative, and who would never stand a chance of winning public office themselves in most places, who basically believe in some updated version of Free Love — that monogamy is at best one of several valid choices and at worst a pernicious and oppressive convention. There are others who don’t really attach any per se moral value to things like monogamous nuclear families, but who think that, in practice, it seems to be one of the better environments conducive to the raising of happy, healthy children, in comparison to actually-existing alternatives which are reasonably widespread in our society (such as kids being raised by single parents). I think Yglesias falls into this category. However, the public face of the Democratic party is one that, at the personal level, upholds “Judeo-Christian values” (except for one openly atheist congressional rep, Pete Stark, who represents about 0.4% of the Democratic caucus). It’s just that all of this is something people ought to be doing on their own, not because their school districts were compelled to teach them all that if they wanted federal funding.
In such circumstances — when both Republicans and Democrats largely claim to hold the same family values, but Republicans think that policy should be pushing in that direction, while Democrats think that people should personally try to be faithful to spouses, have kids in wedlock, etc — then doesn’t it makes sense to hold the personal conduct of Democrats to a higher standard?
March 11th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias » Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I think that Nevada and Louisiana are two states where the local culture tends to dismiss sex scandals. In the latter state after all a Democratic goivernor was elected some years back despite his juicy philandering. I can’t recall his name, but his opponent was David Duke, and he (the Dem) made a joke during the campaign about how it was better to be doing naughty things under the sheets than naughty things while wearing ones.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
The Edwards scandal, with the insane worshipping groupie carrying his child and people covering up for His Holiness, was way juicier.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Hey Paulie any chance you will stop using the words homo and cunt? You appear to be an astute guy but your comments on Palin and Massa a juvenile at best. Why take the low road?
March 11th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Julian Elson,
There’s nothing ‘Judeo Christian’ about the idea that Mr. Edwards, a married man, ought not to be banging someone who isn’t Mrs. Edwards. Plenty of Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Angnostics, and Zoroastrians would agree with that simple principle. Apparently not the free-love hippies, though. For them, it’s always Haight Ashbery in 1967.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Them, and, apparently, you.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I suppose I ought to have used an actually-fitting phrase rather than using the inapt phrase “Judeo-Christian values” but putting scare quotes around it. I knew that it wasn’t the right phrase as I wrote it, but I wasn’t thinking of anything better. Call it “monogamous nuclear family values.”
March 12th, 2010 at 10:06 am
[...] Matthew Yglesias » Sex Scandals Aren’t Interesting When They Involve Republicans [...]
March 12th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
[...] sex scandal double standard? Do Republicans get off easier than Democrats? Steve Benen and Matt Yglesias think so. As does every other partisan in the world! [...]
March 14th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
[...] Best to be a Republican if you’re going to have a sex scandal. [...]