Governor Sanford, advice to Republicans, and other ironic reactions

June 29, 11:06 AMMiami City Buzz ExaminerRobbin Swad

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South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford
AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain

Fascinating is the recent blitz of helpful "advice" generously being doled out by the Far-left, Liberals, Democrats and the like, to none other than their Republican counterparts. Here's the gist of their latest raison d'etre: Sanford and Ensign committed marital indiscretions. Thus, Liberal and Democrat supporters have made it a point to come to the aid of the Republican party, Conservatives and even Christians-- in one fell, critical swoop. These greatest of intentions are being painted with feverish platitudes and sweeping judgments, hoping to ensure the Right's, er, victory(?) once and for all.

Two recent blog posts coming out of Miami have caught the attention of the Miami City Buzz Examiner. One can be found right here on Examiner.com and another from Eye on Miami.

Less troublesome is the actual content of these writers' posts- whereas they are perfectly entitled to their opinions, but more curious is the apparent lack of blog rebuttal to these claims. Surely there are some Republican, Conservatives, or Christians dwelling among us, but if so-- where is their voice? In the place of non-Liberal, non-Democrat responses--  a different, albeit familiar, Miami sound resonates through the quiet void: 

Last week my friend, the amusing and knowledgeable, Miami Law & Politics Examiner posted a piece entitled: Senator Ensign, Governor Sanford, and Republicans pave their paths to "political hell"!

With all the indignation and criticism one can muster up and still manage to sound intelligible, Jorge Luna asserts:

"Republicans have wrapped themselves in the cloak of morality, calling themselves “the Party of God,” and looking down upon homosexuals, drug addicts, abortion-rights activists, immigrants, and Democrats for their short-comings.
Maddening is that Republicans tend to be forgive-and-forget Christians when one of their flock has fallen by the wayside, but less generous when a Democrat has committed a sin. Apparently, fallen Republicans are more worthy of redemption. "

Luna then ponders whether Republicans will learn their lesson or "continue on their gradual path to political hell, also known as another huge election year loss." Good point-- seeing as how the nation is currently in a state of political heaven. A comment proceeding the article demonstrates the parallel silence from Liberals and Democrats regarding "ethically challenged Geithner, Sebelius, Daschle, Rangel, Rattner and morally challenged Spitzer, Edwards, and Mahoney." The commenter also writes:

 "because the Republican Party as a whole embraces moral and ethical standards, not only does the Left celebrate select Republican acts of impropriety by a few, but it disregards so many within its own party. This only stands to demonstrate that Sanford is far less a threat to the Republican Party & the 2010 elections than are the far-left media and bloggers who will do all they can to make him seem as though he is."

Couldn't have said it better myself... (ahem).

Then there's the article that appeared in Eye on Miami over the weekend: At the front of the Culture Wars: trying times to be Republican ... by gimleteye

Referring to a recent New York Times post by Charles M. Blow, the writer, "gimleteye" notes:

"'There are Democratic sex scandals to be sure, but Democrats didn’t build a franchise on holier-than-thou moral rectitude. The Republicans did. They used sexual morality as a weapon and now it’s shooting them in the foot." As far as I can tell, on this point Republicans have shot themselves in the foot so many times the party is running out of ammunition. Having just driven across South Carolina and paused long enough to do a quick census that churches outnumber stop lights off the interstate, I'm guessing themes of forgiveness will trump the Culture Wars until Monday at least. What is the point of the Culture Wars anyhow? Blow reports some fascinating statistics.'"

"Gimleteye", then proceeds to happily regurgitate some statistics to which the Far-Left rank and file could hail with unabashed glee.

"While conservatives fight to “defend” marriage from gays, they can’t keep theirs together. According to the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract, states that went Republican in November accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest divorce rates in 2006."

Essentially, the focus has been transferred from a denunciation of Governor Sanford's inappropriate actions to, well, all Conservatives in general. Interesting to note, however, is another distinction between Red and Blue states: namely that blue states peoples simply tend to cohabitate instead of marrying. According to an essay: The Future of Marriage in America (Rutgers University)

"Reflecting their different ideologies, the Blue states tend to have lower marriage and higher cohabitation rates, along with lower fertility, while the Red states are more traditional in their family structure."

What these writers notably omit are the findings that cohabiting couples have a "significantly higher dissolution rate than married couples."

More "gimleteye" ponderings:

"Conservatives touted abstinence-only education, which was a flop, when real sex education was needed, most desperately in red states. According to 2006 data from the Guttmacher Institute, those red states accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest teenage birthrates."

Apparently NY Times author, Blow, and "gimleteye" did not read the rest of the information contained in the same Guttmacher Institute findings illustrating that higher teenage birth rates also indicate another significant trend: red state mothers keep their babies instead of aborting them.

"Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York,
Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
• By contrast, teenagers in Utah, Kentucky, South Dakota and North Dakota had the lowest abortion rates. These states also had fewer than 17% of teenage pregnancies end in
abortion: South Dakota, Utah and Kentucky.
• Nevada had the highest teenage pregnancy rate (113 per 1,000), while North Dakota had
the lowest rate (42 per 1,000)."

Finally, "gimleteye", by way of Blow, provides a parting crumb to Republicans/ Conservatives whom, perchance, possess a modicum of interest in what their Left opponents respectfully offer in the way of advice:

"[Republicans] could avoid this hypocrisy," Blow writes, "by focusing more on what happens in their own bedrooms and avoiding the trap of judging what goes on in everyone else’s."

Plausibly, the Left could also avoid their own hypocrisy by desisting with the onslaught of judgmental condemnation-- based on the ironic notion that it is the Right who appears too darn judgmental and condemning!