Monday, May 24, 2010

Hypocrite alert

US Representative Mark Souder of Indiana is very conservative, and considers his own Evangelical religion to be a deep foundation of his governing. He is deeply opposed to marriage equality.

Media matters points out his part of the debate over whether there could be any benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees.
I take deep offense and-and personal offense at some of the, the comments regarding the whole uh, gay rights issue.  ....I do not like [clears throat] to talk about this subject.  It is a very deep and difficult subject.  I personally have [clears throat] deeply held [clears throat] excuse me, moral views that [clears throat] are obviously shared by the Catholic Bishops....
as a country that was founded in these values we have always paid tribute to these values of traditional marriage...and that the thrust of this bill, which a number of these amendments have tried to address, have highlighted what is clearly a deep cultural divide in this country.  And that when it's thrust at us we're going to defend it. ...Christians, such as myself, have an obligation to say that that is wrong behavior.
And therefore, he actively opposes any recognition of partnered couples.

But, as the latest in what is becoming a long line of Republican sexual hypocrites, he doesn't exactly do a great job upholding the ideals he espouses. Seems he's been having an affair with an aide who worked with him on a video about (get this) sexual abstinence. As the SF Gate blog comments
Rep. Mark Souder is a 14-year, eight-term House of Representatives veteran who campaigned on a "family values" ethic, campaigned against the Obama Health Care Reform Plan, and said he was interested in preserving the idea of traditional marriage, has resigned after revealing that he'd cheated on his wife with a female staff aide.
While liberal blogs like The Huffington Post point to Mark Souder's commitment to the idea of one man and one woman, technically, Mark Souder didn't say he was opposed to having a mistress in a marriage for himself, just Democrats.

You cannot make up this stuff. It seems clear that the more a conservative fulminates about illicit sex, the more he is engaged in it.

Let's see: back when they attacked Clinton for his sleazy affair, The Repubicans ignored the mistresses of Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde. Then we had Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig, and John Ensign. California's legislature gave us Roy Ashburn. On the religious side we got Ted Haggard and George "Rentboy" Rekers. And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. And now we add Mark Souder to the mix.

Listen, Republicans: maybe you had better just stop talking about sexual ethics for other people if you can't live with them for yourself.

UpdateDiana Butler Bass:
Souder's actions underscore something much worse: the use and abuse of religious faith to 1) manipulate and control others without having to submit the same standards yourself, and 2) cover for one's own sins. Of such actions, the Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that "only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core." These are the reasons why so many people in contemporary America are rejecting Christianity -- and why they are rightfully criticizing Christians for failing to act as Jesus would have his followers act.

Hypocrisy isn't just about a single individual -- it is, sadly enough, about a community. The hypocrite not only embarrasses himself but also places all those who share his faith tradition in the awkward situation of having to defend themselves as well. It jeopardizes the whole of the church.

2 comments:

James said...

But thank the gods that it was a female aid! That is perfectly acceptable (not to mention commendable) in the homophobic world.

JCF said...

Yeah, Souder and his aide were selling abstinence . . . but they weren't buying it! [And when he resigned? He said it was "the Culture of Washington's" fault. Give me a f@cking break! >:-( ]