Moral Values: Larry Craig vs. Paris Hilton

“I believe he (Larry Craig) should resign because I believe character is an
extremely important qualification for public service," said Bryan Fischer of the
Idaho Values Alliance. "And I believe the senator, by his own admission, has
acknowledged that he has fallen short of the standard that we should expect from
public servants."

Yesterday, I talked about the hypocrisy of using moral values as a platform when you are living either an immoral life, or engage in activities that do not conform to what you preach (and the triumph many of us feel when people who want to impose their “ideal” lifestyles on others are caught doing what they claim to despise).

But “moral values” is one of those nebulous terms that mean different things to different folks. Nobody can truly say they are against moral values, but whose moral values should be held as a model?

We live in a society that follows every move of someone like Paris Hilton, who can hardly be described as having moral values, yet we scorn and despise people like Larry Craig and Bill Clinton for their indiscretions. Clinton and Craig’s immorality caused them to lose respect and (almost) their jobs. But when celebrities like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears or tomorrow’s petulant teen musician is caught on video or breaking the law, they tend to get additional exposure, a higher Q score and new fans. Why is this?

Moreover, if an ordinary person with an ordinary job like you or I were caught doing what Larry Craig had done, we would obviously not make the papers but an arrest would probably not cause us to lose our jobs. We would certainly have to answer to our families and friends, but we would not have to find a new career. Ditto for celebrities.

So if the public has such little regard for politicians, why are they held to the highest of ethical standards? It seems that if you are considering running for public office, anything in your past can be held against you, no matter how long ago it was or how irrelevant it currently is. Somewhere in America, a bunch of 30-something people who would make excellent senators or presidents have opted not to run for office because there is a picture of him or her drinking a beer in college before they turned 21. Any whiff of a scandal can produce an unprovoked media feeding frenzy that can overwhelm the most thick-skinned candidate. Except for places like Louisiana and Rhode Island where corruption and politics are synonymous, the days when politicians like Ted Kennedy could openly flout his drinking, womanizing and ability to be above the law are long over.

And maybe that’s the answer. People have a low opinion of politics and politicians, but they expect a lot from them and do hold them to a higher standard. While celebrities are worshipped and followed, people do not consider them very important. And while many celebrities should not be role models, at least they are not moralizing to others or advocating their values as a moral compass. Maybe politicians can learn something from celebrities after all.

More Info: Here's three people to look at for moral values

Socrates

Jesus

David Hume

And a politician without too many moral values:

News Flash: Another Gay Male Exposed as Family Values Republican

Yes, I ripped off the headline from The Onion. But the long list of GOP scandals tramples on and on, from financial scandals like Jack Abramoff (and folks under investigation like Ted Stevens and Rick Renzi) to a growing line of sexual scandals. Mark Foley, David Vitter, once-trusty ally Ted Haggard and now men’s room denizen Larry Craig are digging the hole deeper.

What the Republicans really need now is some kind of leader who can unite them and set them straight, similar to the tough love “coach” approach John Feehery discusses in this story. With an unpopular president, an equally unpopular war and religious firebrands as a base, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the GOP to defend its position and relevance to mainstream America. It’s been distressing and fascinating at the same time to watch the once-disciplined party unwind.

At the same time, there’s a schadenfreude aspect to watching Bible-toting, homosexual-hating and moralizing firebrands like Foley and Craig get their just desserts as we learn what their real family values are. The same people who denigrated both Bill Clinton and gays for their sexual exploits are now ironically caught in their own moral web. Americans are aware they are imperfect people, and tend to resent anyone from Kathie Lee Gifford to Martha Stewart and Larry Craig who presents themselves as perfect and infallible. Resentment at these so-called perfect people can quickly turn to glee when they suffer misfortune, often by their own doing.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived my entire life in the Northeast, but I also believe Americans do not want to be told how to live their lives and will rebel against anyone who tries to limit or take away their freedoms. If someone in Washington starts railing about family values and morality, their own house had better be in order. Nothing will ruin a public figure faster than exposing them as a straw man, especially if their now-phony platform threatened a liberty that people cherish.

Karl Rove's Legacy

What shall be The Architect’s legacy? Depends on where you look.

Rove’s skill and genius as a campaign manager cannot be denied. When you can get George W. Bush elected governor twice and the president twice – especially given the circumstances surrounding the latter – you are a genius. An evil genius perhaps, but still a genius.

It’s surprising so little has been said in the press about Rove’s incredible transformation of the Texas Republican Party. When he arrived in Texas, Democrats had long controlled state government. In two decades, the GOP owned the entire state government, and Rove helped get Kay Bailey Hutchinson elected senator and also helped numerous Republican judges win election as well. It was in Texas that Rove honed his legendary campaign skills of appealing to the base, get out the vote drives and attacking the core strengths of the opponent (seen later in the “Swift Boating” of John Kerry), not to mention the numerous times he raised homosexual rumors and anti-gay prejudice to help win elections.

You may be saying that the Rove-based approach has denigrated political campaigning and made negative attack ads standard today, and you certainly have a good point. But when you are a campaign manager, your job is to win the campaign at any cost short of breaking the law or telling outright lies. You do not worry about votes you can’t possibly win. Your only concern is to get that 50% plus 1 vote total to ensure victory. James Carville has repeatedly said this, and Rove’s campaign tactics will be studied and used by candidates and their teams on both sides of the aisle for years to come.

But what tainted Rove’s legacy – and where he got into serious trouble – is when he left the partisan campaign manager role and entered the White House. The president and his team should put politics aside to determine what is best for the country. It seems that Rove never checked his partisanship at the door and remained on a pro-GOP vendetta, regardless of how that may affect the White House or the country in the end. This has caused serious internal conflict within the party and has alienated millions of moderate Republicans and independents who once backed the war and the president, and now back neither. If anything, they are considering the opposition.

In political campaigns there are “wedge issues.” These are black and white issues that tend to divide the electorate into for-it or against-it camps, such as abortion, gay marriage, civil rights, war, etc. Rove, who had been so successful at studying polls to find what wedge issues would win campaigns in the past, turned the Bush White House into a series of never-ending wedge issues. They cumulatively divided most of the population against the president, and have now divided the GOP against itself. It’s amazing that the Democrats, a loosely-banded coalition party with no identity or central platform, are now in a better position than ever. The 2006 elections could be the first step on a long road for Republicans, and Rove’s tactics as presidential advisor is largely to blame.

So what will be Karl Rove’s legacy? The successful campaign manager who continually delivered victory for the party he loved, or the White House advisor who did everything possible to continue serving the party at the expense of the country? History will have to answer that.

More Info: Dave Frum's opinion

Farewell, Scooter

When I grew up in New Jersey in the 1980s, the Yankees were still on free TV. All I remember from those games are some really bad teams and some hilarious comments by Rizzuto, who was probably approaching senility at that time. But although he would spend entire innings ignoring the game while talking about his wife Cora's manicotti recipes, you bizarrely kept watching and listening. I didn't have an older brother so Scooter was the weird but nice old guy down the street who introduced me to baseball.

Here's some other weird facts I remember. He always called his co-announcers by their last names: "Hey White! Hey Murcer! Hey Seaver!" Anytime a rookie came up, he always called "The Kid" for the first couple of months until he distinguished himself. And he would always leave after the seventh inning stretch during a home game. Later I found out this was because he wanted to beat the traffic home back to Jersey. It didn't matter if it was an important game or a blowout.

I saw the Scooter once. A friend and I were walking by his house and he was just standing in the driveway. We yelled, "Hey Scooter!" He smiled and waved. I didn't even think of shaking his hand or anything. I was struck by how small he was. Naturally I never saw him play, but I've been reading the tributes and knew about his bunting DiMaggio home during a botched squeeze play and his defense. Is it true Ted Williams said if Scooter had been on the Red Sox they would have won something? That's gotta hurt Johnny Pesky.

The last game I remember Scooter calling was when I was home sometime in the mid 1990s. He was rambling even more than ever. After a commercial, they showed a live shot of the George Washington Bridge and the Hudson. Scooter said, "Boy, look at that beautiful shot of the Atlantic Ocean."

His partner (maybe Mercer) said, "Phil, that's the Hudson River."

"Oh gee, is it the Hudson River? Well, how about that," said Scooter. He seemed oblivious that he failed to recognize the bridge and river he had driven over every day for the last 40+ years. But nobody cared. A fitting finale.

More Info:
The Day Phil Rizzuto Got a Holy Cow
A Few Phil Rizzuto Quotes and Jokes
O Holy Cow: The Poetry of Phil Rizzuto

Thanking Barry Bonds

There’s been a lot of venom and vitriol written in the last few weeks about Barry Bonds. But I would actually like to spend a moment thanking (in order) Mr. Bonds, the cream, the clear, Greg Anderson and George Mitchell, whose investigation length is beyond interminal. They have helped the world focus on a true baseball hero and worthy role model – Hank Aaron.

It has been said that hitting a home run off a major league-caliber pitcher is the hardest accomplishment in any sport. That is why I have spent the last few days in unbelievable awe at what Aaron accomplished. For 22 years, Aaron was the standard of what can be accomplished by discipline, determination, God-given talent and grace. Aaron not only holds the major league home run record (in my opinion and everyone else’s), but also still holds the record for RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases. It was also not revealed until a few years ago that Aaron endured an enormous amount of bigotry, racism and death threats because he was an African American about to break a famous white man’s record. Aaron would not reveal this during the chase because he was a gentleman, and he did not allow the hatred to distract him from his goal.

Aaron has continued to show his class by refusing to comment on Bonds’ accomplishments, let alone showing up to witness the feat. I continue to be awestruck by this decision, which is far more mature than anything I would have done. While Bud Selig putters and frets, reaping the steroid scandal both he and Don Fehr sowed by ignoring the problem for years, Aaron continues on his business speaking out for more minority ownership in baseball and running his Chasing the Dream Foundation to help inner-city children.

If my kids need a role model one day, I will point them to Hank Aaron. And if they need an example for cheating and the danger of drugs, then I will thank Barry Bonds again. See you at the Grand Jury, Barry!

For the record, here's Barry in his rookie year (21 years old) and today (43 years old):

More Info: SI's excerpts from Game of Shadows