Whose family values?

b. traven

That old black magic has us in its spell, that old black magic that we know so well.

Yes, that old black magic called SEX!

With Anthony Weiner (AKA “Carlos Danger”) and his “sexting” now in the spotlight again we have to ask why that old black magic often works differently for liberal Democrats than for “family value” Republicans, although the impulse is the same for both.

Weiner, who can’t seem to keep his weenie off the internet is now being crucified for his pictorial misadventures and is being hounded out of running for Mayor of New York by the media. In a city known for its blasé attitude towards sex (New York had a successful gay mayor long before gayness became mainstream), what accounts for the intense media witch burning of him?  Weiner, after all, hasn’t made fidelity or family values a part of his campaign so he can’t be accused of the character flaw of hypocrisy.

By comparison, when it came out that Senator David Vitter (R) of Louisiana frequented high-priced (I assume high-priced, for their sake) prostitutes and possibly enjoyed, as part of his Senatorial “duties,” wearing diapers during these “investigations,” the media took the responsible position of reporting “just the facts Ma’am,” offering no editorial condemnation of his hypocrisy from this self-proclaimed defender of family values.

Then, we see Eliot Spitzer, one of the few public figures willing to joust with Wall Street in the people’s interest, but unable to turn his back on an attractive (and expensive) young  escort, which led him to resign as governor of New York for this lapse in marital fidelity. (Much as Weiner was pressured to resign from Congress.) It would seem that Spitzer as well as Weiner should have been rewarded with Christian forgiveness for having admitted their transgression and done penance by resigning. Of course, Weiner has now double dipped so he must seek special dispensation.

But consider Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, another “family values” hypocrite.  Or again consider David Vitter.  Neither resigned in disgrace. Both mumbled a few ambiguous words of penance and were then enthusiastically welcomed back into the Republican club.  As a monument to the selective blindness of the “family values” voter, David Vitter was reelected to the Senate when he had the chutzpah to run again.

That “family values” armor: Now that’s some real black magic!

b. traven