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The Republicans say, "Character in our public officials counts." Well, I agree with them. Things like honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity do count. Things like lying, slandering, hypocrisy, financial corruption, and using public office for personal gain do matter. So let's look at the record.
Slandering
Thusfar, we have heard much ado about Vince Foster, Filegate, Travelgate, Monicagate, and I don't remember what-all-gates. After yards of print, hours of innuendo and accusations on the public airwaves, and a 6-year, $52 million investigation , the only thing Republicans could pin on Bill Clinton was lying about a tawdry, consenual, sexual affair in a court proceeding - a court proceeding that was thrown out because the Judge decided there was not enough evidence to conclude that a crime had been committed. What does this tell us about the character of those in the media, news commentators, and our elected public officials who hammered at the accusations even when it became clear that there was no evidence that any of the accusations were anything more than that - unfounded accusations? The whole lot of them are lairs and slanderers.
Hypocrisy
On this issue the Republicans fall into 2 categories: those who are as guilty, if not guiltier, of the things they so vociferously accuse Clinton of doing and those who jump on the Clinton-bashing bandwagon while managing to overlook even more serious moral transgressions among their friends and political allies.
The sexual sins of many Republican Congressional Representatives and Senators far surpasses any sexual sins committed by Bill Clinton. Every day, new reports surface on the Repblican's sexual lives, antics that leave behind a trail of broken lives and broken homes, reports of paid sex (I would think they should be able to get it for free unless it is really kinky), kinky sex, years-long sexual affairs with married women, padding paid Congressional and campaign staffs with sexual partners (you, my fellow American taxpayer are footing the bill for their sex), homosexual sex, sexual harassment, sexual extortion (bordering on rape) of staffers and lobbyists, and sex with children. Click here to get a summary of a few of our elected officials sexual indiscretions.
Dan Quayle whose pappy owns a media empire falls into the second category. Dan "Murphy Brown is a Whore" Quayle often bemoans the low levels of modern morality, including the low level of morality exhibited by our President. Yet Dan Burton, Republican Representative from Quayle's home state of Indiana is a notorious skirt-chaser and has been for decades. Yet, has either Danny Quayle or Daddy Quayle ever mentioned that Burton is unfit for public office? Not in your life. To Quayle and his ilk, I say, "Clean up your own house before you work on getting the Democrat's house in order or be properly labeled a hypocrite." And what about the talking heads on TV news shows and pious TV preachers who bemoan Clinton's low standards of morality, all the while engaging in their own sexual indiscretions, skirting election laws, and using tax exempt contributions for personal or political gain. A pox on all of their houses. I say, "Clean up yourself and your own organization before you complain about someone else's."
Financial Corruption and Using Public Office for Private Gain
What about public officials who write tax laws to the benefit of only a few wealthy contributors in return for campaign contributions, lucrative book deals, employment opportunities for their spouses, their children, or themselves after they leave public office, and insider information on corporate policies? What about elected officials who use their office to avoid prosecution on charges of tax fraud and election law violations? What about elected officials who have made millions through their public office, often corruptly, as Hyde did in the Savings and Loan fiasco? Are these the men and women who are to be held up as exemplars of public morality? A pox on all of their houses. Click here to get a summary of a few of our elected officials financial and legal indiscretions.
And what about the moral imperative to "feed the hungry", "cloth the poor", "bring hope to the down trodden", and "peace to the world"? Feed the hungry - by slashing our welfare and food stamp programs and by increasing corporate welfare. Cloth the poor - by gutting our social safety net and by slashing taxes for the rich. Bring hope to the down trodden - by withholding contraceptives (and I mean contraceptives, not abortion) from the world's poor, turning women into baby factories, manufacturing babies they cannot feed, cloth, or educate, babies that will only bring down the standard of living of the already-been-born, babies that will be unwanted from the moment of birth and by refusing to reign in a medical care system run amok that leaves medical care affordable only to the well-employed and the rich. Bring peace to the world - by denouncing and abandoning the UN and by maintaining the largest defense industry in the world, second to none, second not even to the combined forces of all of our enemies and many of our friends.
Does character count? You bet cha'. Impeacher, thy name is HYPOCRISY.
Vote in Election 2000 as if your life, your values, your freedoms, and your future depended on it because they do. You could be the next victim in this unholy cultural war. Vote in Election 2000 to impeach the impeachers and to end this unholy cultural war. And take part in a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign.
Sunny
sunshine@pinn.net
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last updated December 1998