God works in mysterious ways. These RTL legislative fuckwits are all easy to read: HYPOCRITES.

Disgusting hypocrisy. But, sadly, not new. Forced abortions were apparently known to be taking place in Saipan during Slick Willy's administration. Didn't seem like the Slickster was too concerned about it.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/09/sex_greed_and_forced_abortions.php

Oh, that's fine, darlin'. No big deal. I understand. Now go write a bestseller! Now! Now! Now!

Great article, Patrick, but no mention of Clinton.

Pointed mentions of the involvement of Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, though.

Amy, what was the name of the anti-abortion leader in Los Angeles in the 1980s? She was a big deal and headed for national fame.

Then the L.A. Times reported that she'd had two abortions herself when it was convenient for her. She called the Times reporters liars at first, then finally came clean and attempted to spin that as her "conversion" moment. (Of course, she didn't convert after Abortion #1.)

Damn, she was EVERYWHERE in Southern California back in the 1980s and I can only assume she was making a fortune. What was her name?

Gog, it was during Clinton's administration. And Saipan is U.S. territory. What was he doing while this horror show was going on?

"Gog, it was during Clinton's administration. And Saipan is U.S. territory. What was he doing while this horror show was going on?"

The article's earliest date reference is 2005, but no reference to the Clinton years.

However, there is a reference to Republican Tom DeLay:

"DeLay’s support persisted even when a Department of Interior report documented that workers in Saipan’s garment factories were coerced into having unwanted abortions."

Seriously, help me out here. I don't subscribe to Ms. Magazine, and according to their 'please subscribe' teaser there may be more information there that you're privy to and I'm not.

I'm not surprised. I've talked to volunteers at abortion clinics, and they have lots of stories of hypocrisy -- stories of women out on the picket line one day, in the clinic for an abortion the next, and then back on the picket line. It's the "the only moral abortion is my abortion" problem.

My apologies, Gog. I should have paid closer attention to the link. You tipped me off that something wasn't kosher when you mentioned Ms. Magazine.

http://www.democracynow.org/es/2006/1/4/forced_abortions_sweatshops_a_look_at

As this article points out, the horrifying conditions in Saipan were first exposed by Brian Ross in 2008.

Sorry again, Gog.

Ugh. In 1998, I mean! Sheesh. I think I need a nap.

I always find charges of hypocrisy interesting. Am I supposed to change my mind on a subject because someone proves to be a hypocrite? Why do you consider hypcrisy such a horrible moral crime? A murderer that tells everyone that he believes you shouldn't kill folks is a hypocrite but his view doesn't suddenly make me feel murder should be legal.

The congressman was a hypocrite on the abortion issue. I still think abortion is the deliberate killing of a child and is wrong. Being a hypocrite doesn't mean you are necessarily wrong just that you don't live up to your ideals. We probably all have this problem at times but, hey, go ahead and bristle with contempt at the hypocrite.

I just remembered the name of the anti-abortion activist from the 1980s: Susan Carpenter McMillan. When the anti-abortion thing dried up, she glommed on to Paula Jones and became her spokesperson.

Caustic, however, hypocrisy does make a person undesirable as a representative. I'm not sure anyone is arguing that abortion is okay, merely because this anti-abortion zealot DesJarlis claims that it's wrong while pressuring a woman who was carrying his child to have an abortion.

Don't you wonder what other double standards he holds? And how solid can his conviction really be? How important is pro-life to you? Might this person, who saw nothing wrong with pressuring the mother of his love-child to have an abortion, be easily swayed to vote pro-abortion for the right incentive? Besides, if you consider abortion to be murder, which you have said (you described it as murder without using that word), do you really want a murderer representing you?

There is also the fact that he lied about the pregnancy, which would indicate that he's quite willing to lie if it keeps him out of trouble, or at least mitigates whatever trouble he might be in.

So, how much do you trust this hypocrite? And of course there is the fact that he has scads of mistresses, so promises to his wife aren't exactly binding. So, what promises does he consider himself obligated to keep?

Plus there is the fact that he looks like King Kong Bundy. I mean, you have to care about that. Do you really want a representative who looks like King Kong Bundy? I mean, what kind of American are you? Voting for someone who looks like King Kong Bundy! How could you?

Patrick,

I wasn't trying to argue about the merits of abortion either. I stated my view and how I haven't changed it because it was also held by someone who has been shown to be a hypocrite on the subject. No, I wouldn't vote for him for many of the reasons you stated but hypocrisy is the least of this idiot's crimes.

My main point is the overall charge of hypocrisy has become the greatest failing a person can have if that person resides on the other side of the political divide.

Way too many people are perfectly cool with disgusting behavior on their side but will beat the other guy to death if he fails to live up to his ideals.

It's the "Ok, Ted Kennedy is a drunk asshole who left a woman to die but he votes the way I want so he's cool" syndrome.

In other words, many of those that throw the hypocrisy charge are hypocrites themselves. I don't like it from right, left, or center and I tend to suspicious of those yelling, "Hypocrite" as those being charged.

Of course, the King Kong Bundy thing does seal the deal on not voting for this guy if I ever happen to move to his district.

I follow you, Causticf. And I definitely understand what you're saying about Ted Kennedy. (Though I have been chided in the past -- "Shame, Patrick! Shame!" -- for bringing his cruel and selfish abandonment of Mary Jo Kopechne.

And for this reason, I would have never have voted for Kennedy. That magnitude of selfishness is incomprehensible to me.

The charge of hypocrisy is pretty much all the left has to go on. You can point to David "Diaper Fetish" Vitter or Larry "Wide Stance" Craig as examples of disgraced congressmen, and the right in turn will point out that the left has Barney Frank, Bill Clinton and probably scads of others.

Ah, the Left is not the side that sets itself as being so "pro-family," as the moral crusaders and as the party of righteousness.

Thus the left's accusation has the added stint of hypocrisy.

And as for why "hypocrisy" got such a bad rap, well, I blame Jesus for that!

In light of all the things he did to make it look like he was never there, including the swim across Long Island Sound, just makes it all the more disgusting. It's like he knew that she was going to die, but did everything he could to make it look like it wasn't his fault.

He could swim across Long Island sound, but he couldn't swim out to an overturned car in five feet of water to see if Mary Jo was alive.

Plus there is the way Mary Jo Kopechne died. She found her way to the back seat where she found a pocket of air to sustain her. He probably had at least 15 minutes to rescue her. If he had just called someone, she would have been saved, but oh, well. Gotta think about the career in politics.

Whether one believes in God or not, someone saying "God forgives me" after these kind of things is clearly best suited for spending the rest of their lives with crayons and craft paper.

Plus, I picture God saying, "like, whatever, dude. I didn't make you screw the hooker on tape, so your wife could see it. Look for absolution somewhere else."

As for hypocrisy itself, everyone is, to some degree or another. Very few are so unreservedly honest as to avoid it entirely (and most of them are insufferable :) ).

My beef with hypocrisy (being political, but non partisan) has more to do with the 'do as I say, not as I do' mindset.

If an elected official is arguing, say, for funds to fix a highway, and they cheat on their wife, I may not respect him much, but it isn't in conflict with his (at that moment) job.

However, if they're trying to legislate against abortion (to use the topical example), and they pay for an abortion, as far as I'm concerned, they should get the quick kick to the curb.

Not so much because they do what a lot of the rest of us might do on occasion, but because they believe that a different standard of behavior applies to them, and that should *never* be tolerated from the people that we vote to represent us.

I agree with that, Tim. Plus there is the fact that they avail themselves of the service, thereby preventing a huge output of cash for the next eighteen years, but they would prevent others from getting the same thing.

Maybe if he was willing to pay for a newborn until the child turned eighteen.

I think it was Nantucket Sound, he drove off the bridge on the way to Martha's Vineyard.

No problem Patrick - I thought I'd missed something in the article!

I don't blame them. I'm a hypocrite too. Like, I believe in global warming, but I still enjoy my intercontinental vacations. It's easy to know something is wrong in an abstract way, but to behave selfishly when the opportunity presents itself.

Maybe part of the reason they want it to be illegal is so they CAN'T have that option, to force THEMSELVES into good behavior. Maybe they need that outside restriction as they are unable to police themselves.

Thank you, Crella. It was Nantucket Sound.

Ugh. Another disgusting hypocrite poitician. Is there a different kind?

But I think the point can also be made that anti-abortion views just don't hold up. Sorry, but there are always going to be instances when abortion is justified. Sometimes pro-lifers realize this when they or someone close to them need one, or they can at least imagine that possibility. The logical thing to do then is to change one's views. But religion gives people all kinds of ways to skirt logic. And I guess politics provides many incentives.

God forgives him, my ass.

"Disgrace of showing your wiener to girls on Twitter or getting a blowjob under the desk and lying about it are a whole 'nother world from letting a girl drown, as Kennedy did. I could never look at him without a great deal of loathing and disbelief because of it."

Exactly, you see it.

Hypocrisy is everywhere. What really should doom a political animal is the gross lack of judgment demonstrated in these behaviors.