The odd glee surrounding the DC Madam

[Perky]

This is not a defense of the DC Madam or her clientele.

The utter joy expressed by those who want to see the republicans pilloried for this seems odd to me.

I get the argument that it serves our purposes, but does that not paint us into the very same puritanical corner that we deride the right for?

I assure there are Big Wig Dems on the list as well but the argument that "well, at least we are not hypocrites about it" rings hollow and shallow IMHO. It effectively is saying that it alright for dems to pay for escorts by holding up republicans to a different standard of scrutiny.

If you don't think Prostitution should be illegal, then you should be deriding the media's propagation of this outing on principle. If you oppose prostitution as an exploitation of women then you should hardly care about the party affiliation of her clients.

You can count on high profile dems being on the list as well But we all need to recognize that the ramifications of this outing would be just as personally devastating to Democratic dads and their wives as they are to the Republicans we desperately held up to scorn.

Scoring political points is great fun, but What would you say if Obama, Kucinich, Richardson or Hillary were on the list?

:shrug:

[NightWatcher]

1. the "glee" comes from it being a sex scandal

I guess that we cannot fathom such things as Constitutional law, ethics, corruption, and other high crimes and misdemeanors, so we focus when we hear the word "sex". We cannot to this day grasp the complexities of the Valerie Plame affair, but we can get sex. If there's a dead, drug addled bimbo we can get that too.

[PassingFair]

2. I'm OK with prostitution being illegal.

And I'm THRILLED with the "outings", be they PUKE or DEM.

The PUKES especially, though, because of the super-special
hypocrisy issue.

The "Abstinence Tsar" himself!

Come on, it's PRECIOUS!

[Blue_Roses]

3. Yeah, it's a double standard, but there is something

about the sweet satisfaction that "what goes around comes around".

[jsamuel]

4. "We" aren't doing anything. "We" aren't driving this story. The media and the FBI are.

If the FBI had investigated Clinton and that was it, that would have been ok. The problem was the Republicans political persecution for consensual sex outside of marriage.

[NightWatcher]

5. the MEDIA is driving the story

sex sells

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. I deride the hypocrisy of politicians in general without regard to party.

I think that prostitution should be legal. But, I rather doubt that any of the politician clients that used the "service", of either party, had the balls (pun intended) to back legislation legalizing prostitution.

As for the rest of the "notable" clients, military brass, bigshot businessmen, etc, that are usually held up to the proles as "role models", my heart bleeds for being exposed as the hypocrites they are.

"Sacred Cows make the best hamburger." - Mark Twain

[Mist]

7. It's always about the hypocrisy when it's the "family values" bunch. nt

[Tyo]

8. It's not the sex at all

It's the hypocrisy.

[TwilightGardener]

9. I'd be gleeful if McCain or Brownback were on the list. Especially Brownback!

[Ganja Ninja]

10. If their names are on the list then they have pilloried themselves.

I really don't care if they frequent a prostitute but if a name like Bill Bennett should pop up on that list, Mr Virtue, then he gets what he deserves. If you're going to go around lecturing other people on what constitutes moral or immoral behavior then it's a case of people living in glass houses getting stoned. Perhaps it will finally shut them up.

[rosesaylavee]

11. Hope not glee here.

Sex scandals are much easier for the general public to understand. Habeas Corpus, NSA spying, Iraqi deaths, etc. are more intangible.

Haven't we been hoping that some poor soul would give * a bj? Perhaps our wish has come true and then everyone will want to impeach him.


edit: grammar

[rodeodance]

12. If Dems are on it-------so be it.

[Divernan]

13. I see it more as The WRATH OF GOD!, not joy.

The current target (and I don't even recall his name) was not only the head of the US Agency for International Development (and believe me, the employees at that agency suffer depression/demoralization second only to the career civil servants at FEMA). Before that he was in charge of Bush's "initiative" against AIDS - where he preached abstinence and fidelity, NOT condoms.

Therefore that man, by blocking US financial assistance to any country which dared to educate its people to use condoms, is personally and directly responsible for the suffering and eventual deaths of thousands and thousands of women and children who were infected by men in cultures where fidelity is not the norm.

It is a good thing for this man to be held up to public ridicule and condemnation.

As for the thousands of other clients - outing them just may get a message across to the religious right and trusting fools of all political persuasions that it is not enough to vote for someone simply because of their political label - and it sends a message to present and wannabe politicos to clean up their acts. I believe that people in public office should adhere to the highest standards and serve as role models.

[tyedyeto]

14. Were "Obama, Kucinich, Richardson or Hillary" ...

in charge of abstinence only programs? That is what I do call hypocracy with Tobias being named as one of the DC Madam's customers.

[Solly Mack]

15. I think everyone on the list is an idiot

You'd have to be fairly stupid not to know a Madam keeps a record of her clients -
and just unbelievably stupid to believe your Madam will protect you at all costs.

She can be bought - it's inherent of the trade.

This ain't no movie with Julia Roberts

Even if prostitution was legal the social stigma would be there, especially for politicians - and such is something they bring on themselves by pretending to be something they are not

I got no sympathy for anyone on the list

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. I don't want to impeach or punish them in any way-- I just want to have a good laugh at them.

[gatorboy]

17. would Obama, Kucinich, Richardson or Hillary suppress money to fight AIDS like Tobias has done?

Not likely.

This is what makes their hypocrisy particularly disgusting:

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/04/29/ex_aids_chief_in_escort_flap_called_hypocritical/

The Bush administration's policy requires that groups receiving US money "have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking." That policy, said Jacobson and others, has led to the closure of numerous programs that had been teaching job skills to sex workers, forcing many prostitutes out of brothels and into the street.

In political and development circles around Washington and world capitals, Tobias's fall took on great importance because of his central role in first leading the US administration's ambitious global AIDS program. More recently, he oversaw a historic reorganization of American foreign assistance.

[Rydz777]

18. She has "thousands" of phone numbers

So she was probably serving clients of all parties in a non-partisan way.

[Virginia Dare]

19. Nothing puritanical about it...

Yes,I admit, I enjoy seeing prominent members of the political party which purports to be the scions "family values" get caught up in a sex scandal. It lays bare the hypocrisy of those belonging to one party claiming some sort of moral higher ground.

[Mike Daniels]

20. I know many people who are Republican for reasons other than "family values"

I'm sure there are lots of people on the list that may be Republican but it's not because they are part of the "morals" crowd.

It would seem that in those cases there would be no hypocrisy on the part of those "johns" if they never claimed to stand for family values to begin with.

[Virginia Dare]

21. Then maybe they'll stop supporting their party mouthpieces who do..n/t