I thought the Witch hunt for Bill's marital mistakes gross and overboard so...

[sellitman]

I find the same for the dirt being dredged up for McCain.

To feel otherwise is hypocritical.

Bury him for his politics. This is are plenty of facts to do so.

Stop making DU a tabloid freak show.

Just my .02

[Virginia Dare]

1. If he is currying the favors of a lobbyist, and vice versa...

isn't that relevant? If his staff was so concerned at least about the appearance of their relationship that they asked her to stay away from him, isn't that relevant? Especially considering that he prides himself on never giving or receiving any favors from lobbyists?

This isn't a cocktail singer, a secretary or an intern we're talking about, this is a woman who represents some pretty powerful business interests, folks who had much to gain from getting favors from McCain.

[tekisui]

2. This is about his politics.

It is about lobbyists favors, and his political image. The sex is just what is necessary for any gop wrong-doing to get attention.

[northernsoul]

3. Unlike Big Dog, John McCain made his personal our business

when he decided to make OUR personal lives HIS business:

But in the meantime, conservatives are outraged. The decision is sure to put their desire for an amendment to the state constitution barring same-sex marriage at the top of the political priority list.
...
Still, John McCain also entered the fray last night, calling the decision "a loss for the traditional family," and noting that he supports "the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0807/Gay_marriage_could_become_big_issue_in_Iowa.html

John McCain is an admitted adulterer. He left his first wife, who had been seriously injured in a car accident for much younger and wealthier woman (Cindy), and yet he has the arrogance to pronounce that the state can and should interfere with other people's private lives in order to enforce his idea of "traditional marriage." He has chosen to make himself fair game.

(edited for quote attribution)

[NJmaverick]

4. What's good for the goose is good for the gander

The repukes make it about marital mistakes, now let us see when it turns against them. They will have two choices.

1) Admit they were wrong attacking Clinton

2) Denounce McCain

Either choice sounds good to me.

[SpiralHawk]

5. It is what it is: sanctimonious republicon hypocrisy

I think most DUers really don't care who McCain is Boinking, or whether Sen. Jon Vitter (R) is having diaper sex with hookers, and Sen.Larry Craig (R) is taking a Wide Stance on Toe-Tapping & Diddling in Public Rest Rooms, or pResident AWOL Bush is making sub-dom music with notorious republicon male prostitute Jeff Gannon. (Maybe Sen. McCain (R) getting it on with a lobbyist is Damn Sight more Suspicious, because of the GENERAL STINK of CORRUPTION around republicons and lobbyists.)

But above and beyond all that scuzz, it is the steenkin moralistic hipocrisy of the republicons that is the Big Issue for lots of folks at DU.

Boink whomever thou wilt -- assuming its consensual adult boinking. Whatever. Just don't go around pointing the stinky finger at other people and condemning them for the same stuff you are doing, while 'claiming' you have the Biblically-Correct High Ground. Sheesh.

[robbedvoter]

10. Exactly! This cartoon from 2004 is timeless:

[SpiralHawk]

11. ROFLMAO

A precise image of republicons...

[ProgressiveFool]

43. Iconic!

ROFLMAO, I can never see that cartoon without busting a gut!

[trusty elf]

51. That is hilarious!

[DainBramaged]

6. Why aren't sex scandals "about politics" for Republicans?

Family values? Check.

Truth in marriage? Check.

Bullshit? Check.

[sellitman]

7. My point is they shouldn't be for either party.

Because they did it we should too?

No. I disagree.

Let them be the hypocrisy party.

[DainBramaged]

16. Sorry, this is deeper then sex. The sex is the frosting on the cake

And turning the other cheek is why we have put up with 8 years of Bush, nearly 25 years of Republican rule.

Nope, pound away.

[robbedvoter]

8. While not wallowing in it, the hypocritical aspect of it is too good to miss.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. I agree completely.

Hated it then and I hate it now.

We should compete against McCain on the issues, not this bullshit.

[leftofthedial]

12. looks to me like her clients got everything they wanted from McCrazy-McBush

This ain't just about Johnny's johnson

[sellitman]

13. That's just following the money

Follow the money....not his dick.

[leftofthedial]

18. follow whatever bought his vote

money, goods, her snatch, his dick, golfing trips, I don't care what it was. If it influenced his votes, he's corrupt. Like that'd be news.

[Virginia Dare]

20. Maybe they go hand in hand?

if that's the case, then he should be properly disgraced for it.

[donheld]

49. Someone followed the money

It was attached to his dick.

[The Stranger]

14. Fuck that shit.

The GOP is the one that fetishizes sex and "family values."

THEY are the ones being hypocritical. Get it straight.

[sellitman]

15. Yes they are and yes they do.

But we should not.

[Virginia Dare]

19. So if McCain had a cozy little relationship with a pretty lobbyist..

and he was handing out favors in return for her attentions, all the while claiming he has never done that, we should just ignore it? Why in heaven's name should we do that?

[NNN0LHI]

22. Some people are funny ain't they Virginia?

[The Stranger]

Since we do not base our politics on Puritanism, Homophobia and Sexual Repression,

. . . we cannot be the hypocrites. You have it exactly backwards.

Because they are the ones who tout lies like "Family Values" while fucking (or trying to fuck) non-family members in airport bathroom stalls, lobbyist's jets, and seemingly everywhere else, there is not a fucking thing wrong with pointing out their own internal dissonances and, yes, sheer hypocrisy.

[Akoto]

17. I don't care what they do in their sex lives, long as it's legal.

There are plenty of other problems with McCain to choose from.

[Virginia Dare]

21. So you don't care if he's handing out legislative favors..

for sex and/or money? That's not a problem?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

24. Of course it is...

but that is not really what's being talked about much so far in the coverage -- the focus is on an alleged affair.

Show me the beef on unethical lobbiest influence and I'll certainly be interested in hearing about it.

[Virginia Dare]

25. That's not where I see the focus..

I see the focus as being that his staffers were not comfortable with his relationship with her, and they were not comfortable with her running around town shooting her mouth off about the "access" that she had with his office. There's beef there, my friend.

[sellitman]

26. Have him arrested for it if there is a case or move on.

Attack him on what is relevant not his sex life. I could care less who he boned.

[Virginia Dare]

28. This is not a cocktail waitress, a secretary or an intern for God's sake..

it's a LOBBYIST. It's R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

33. But you're not a Republican

This sort of stuff is a total slap in face to their "family vlaues" platform.

We Democrats can all be offended by the hypocrisy of the situation, but no one is going to give a damn.

Since neither you, nor I will ever be voting for the man it doesn't matter if we're offended or interested or not. This is between McCain and the Republican voters. And from what I've been hearing locally all morning they care. They care and they're morally outraged. Oh, and I know for a fact that one of the women who was so "shocked" by this that I spoke with this morning, slept around on her husband two years ago and her teenage daughter walked in on her giving their neighbor a BJ. She told her daughter if she mentioned what she'd seen to her father she'd throw her out on the street and make sure she never went to college. Yep, real nice people that hypocritical family values crowd.

Let them strip the flesh from the bones of one of their own for a change. More power to them.

[sellitman]

41. I agree

Let the repiggie take out their own trash.

[sellitman]

27. Thank you.

If it can be proven he was bought then impeach him. The sex.....I could care less.

[Virginia Dare]

29. I don't give a shit if he's impeached.

I want to see him buried politically. He's a hypocrite and a liar. If it's sex that buries him so be it.

[Winterblues]

23. Bury him for his politics.

His "politics" is "family values". Clinton's was not. I find it odd that you don't find it relevant to McCains campaign...Considering especially how big a deal the Republicans made over Clinton....

[havocmom]

30. boinking a lobbyist IS fair game for consideration of his politics

Monica was not a hired hand for lobbyists. That was just sex.

THIS? Pretty clear tit for tat.

[DCKit]

46. Monica - a hired hand......

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

[havocmom]

52. read my words again: Monica NOT a hired hand

[MasonJar]

31. I think that the problem is whether or not McCain was doing the bidding of the

lobbyist through his Senate seat, and not the affair.

[Captain Hilts]

32. Bubba NEVER claimed to be a sunday school teacher - McCain does. nt

[demgurl]

34. It is NOT the sex.

Would you be disgusted if someone gave McCain money and he voted the way they wanted him to and we were upset?

Would you be disgusted at such attention being paid to McCain over Abramoff buying his votes for his lobby friends?

Well the same thing just happened but someone bought him off with sex.

It is no less disgusting or ILLEGAL because it is paid with sex. Yes, what John McCain did was illegal (accepting bribes is what they got William Jefferson Clinton on and it illegal no matter how you are paid) and the fact that so many people are willing to ignore the law and turn their eye on bribery is disgusting in my opinion.

Thee is also the small fact that when you commit these types of acts that you are opening yourself up to blackmail by others who do not want to see you do good for the nation. (if you were so inclined) Can you honestly tell me that McCain voted the way the lobbyist wanted him to just for a bribe and tell me with a 100% certainty that he was not coerced due to the spot he put himself in? No, you can not. And he did vote against our interests and with the lobbyist. Do you think a man who commits adultery, puts himself in a bad place where he is either being bribed and/or blackmailed will suddenly get a conscience and confess his sins to the American people rather than veto a bill or force one nation to act against another? Really? Because that person has not shown the best judgment thus far.

You can ignore the sex but please do not ignore the crime. If this story is true then he needs to be arrested and put in prison. He is a criminal for accepting bribes and voting against the best interest of the people he was elected to serve.

[WinkyDink]

35. I'll see their hypocrisy, and raise them one.

[Lasher]

36. None of this even vaguely approaches the scale or nature of the Clinton witch hunts

They lasted 12 years and cost taxpayers at least $91 million. And after all that not a single person was ever convicted of any crime they committed while serving in the Clinton administration. Neither Bill nor Hillary has ever been convicted of any crime.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2223218

[stubtoe]

37. I was disgusted when they did it to Clinton and I'm disgusted now

even though they're doing it to a Republican. This kind of politics is just plain skanky.

[devilgrrl]

38. McCain doesn't need a scandal - I'm still NOT voting for him.

:popcorn:

[spanone]

39. if the woman in question was NOT a lobbyist, i would agree entirely

this IS about politics...imo

[truebrit71]

40. I don't....what's good the goose is good for the gander...the gloves are off...

...

[knight_of_the_star]

42. There's a difference here

All Clinton got was a hummer and he gave Monica nothing in exchange, McCain looks like in exchange for "favors" he gave her clients favors. That's substantially worse in my book, especially because he was out in front on impeaching Clinton over said hummer making him also a hypocrite and a lier.

[endarkenment]

44. Nope.

Not hypocritical at all. The shitheads cannot be allowed to smear freely, to conduct sexual witch-hunts, while holding their own, by their own standards, immoral behavior off limits. Nothing hypocritical about it at all.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

[pitohui]

45. in other words IOKIYAR

i wish people would use a little logic

their side viciously and consistently attacks us without remorse or without holding back for anything and everything, even if they have to invent something

we have something handed to us on a platter about their side -- and we just so "la la la i'm too big hearted and above it all to care la la la i'm not listening"

why don't we just shoot our foot off and be done with it?

seriously, people, why this endless desire to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? if more fuss had been made about poppy bush's flagrant affairs, including his mistress wrecking a gov't car, we might not have the terrible bush legacy we have today

it isn't about "you," it isn't about how important it is for you to feel good about yourself because you are above dirty politics and you only want to discuss issues

the planet itself is dying, it's time to stop putting our need to feel superior above our need to win this contest

[Skittles]

47. Monica was not a lobbyist nt

[Kitty Herder]

48. Uummm... It's not really about McCain's marital mistakes as his ethical ones. nt

[Medusa]

53. Which is why the Times should have focused on THAT and not the

possibility he might be having an affair with the woman, in the absence of proof. I too felt more than a little uncomfortable yesterday reading the gleeful posts of some here. What happens if something similar comes out about one of our candidates? What then? We'll be outraged that anyone so much as mentions it on the GOP side but if it's a Goper in trouble, then we have no problem at all jumping all over it. I'm not much into double standards myself. And I have to be very honest here--I read that NYT article and thought-what the fuck? It was really strangely worded. If they had the inpropriety angle they should have ran with that and ONLY with that in the absence of proof (say photos from a hotel room somewhere) regarding the sex.

[ret5hd]

54. Your deep concern is duly noted.

[puerco-bellies]

50. It's about character.

At least that's what I've heard for sooooo many years.