I believe that our professional political class become inured or habituated to hypocrisy because they live in a world in which truth is always provisional and malleable. It isn't long before they simply become oblivious to the reek of hypocrisy, as Hercules presumably became oblivious to the smell of shit when cleaning out the Augean stables.

And, as a corollary to the theory of the Big Lie, it appears that Big Hypocrisy can be sustained by simply overwhelming the inferior Crap Detectors of their gullible and uncritical constituency by sheer repetition and scale.

PS: Why does anyone engage the witterings of Shooter and its ilk? After all, it's been practically living in Sandy Berger's pants for the past few years-- and Bill Clinton's before that. It has all the vision and clarity of a one-eyed trouser mouse; why feed it bits of perfectly good cheese?

The quotes you provided from John McCain don't send the message that he is referring to the biblical definition of marriage, he only mentions the traditional definition. He could very well just be referring to what are recognized by most courts as true and legal marriages -- those which are between a man and a woman (traditionally). So this renders your biblical references moot, since McCain isn't claiming that he wishes us all to adhere to some biblical definition.

Don't get me wrong, I strongly support gay marriage and realize that the candidates who claim they are all for civil unions, but believe the laws should stop short of calling these unions "marriages," are really only avoiding the issue. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by President Clinton, gays who are joined by civil unions can still have certain rights denied them because their unions don't have to be recognized as true and legal marriages by anybody who refuses to recognize them as such.

It fills in the time, little brother, between this whiskey bar and the next. As does asking questions with more or less obvious answers, nicht wahr?

I would like to see an explanation from McCain about why he has called for Larry Craig's resignation and not David Vitter's. Is it because Craig illegally pursued sexual activity that was homosexual while Vitter illegally pursued sexual activity that was heterosexual? Or is it because Craig's Republican governor will replace him with another Republican, while Vitter's Democratic governor wouldn't?

STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESSED! . . . all the way

Glen..........

This article isn't up to your ususal work, which is outstanding by the way. Your kind of being "nit-picky." Everything your saying is true, as always, but it's easy to understand what the Senator means when he says "traditional marriage," a man marrying a woman. How they got to the point of matrimony is realy of no concern. Supporting "traditional marriage" (male/female) vs "non-traditional," (same sex,) really doesn't have to be a religious arguement, like your making it.

I know that if asked he would say he means "in the eyes of the Lord," but the arguement is really, "in the eyes of the law." The Lord may care how one "gets there," but the law does not.

Keep up the great research and work!! I greatly appreciate your efforts!

Boy Howdy

The quotes you provided from John McCain don't send the message that he is referring to the biblical definition of marriage, he only mentions the traditional definition. He could very well just be referring to what are recognized by most courts as true and legal marriages -- those which are between a man and a woman (traditionally).

You're certainly right that the Biblical understanding of "marriage" is but one of several ways to determine "traditional marriage," but the only way (though I would suggest it is what many - perhpas most - people understand it to mean when they hear McCain's message about "traditional marriage").

Nonetheless, there is no meaningful standard under which things like no-fault divorces and children from multiple marriages are considered "traditional." All of that re-defined what "marriage" is.

And there is certainly nothing "traditional" about someone who wants to be President having dumped his first wife in order to be with his adulterous mistress, only to then openly live with her and have a whole "new family." There is nothing "traditional" about any of that no matter what standards you want to use.

Shooter, or is it Scooter? You drop another little rabbit pellet of wiz-dom, that never answers anything, then hop over to the next little cabbage patch to leave your insidious (and rather silly) little turds. You always seem kind of peed-off at anyone who challenges you, nibble on a few carrots, never answer anything rationally (oh yes, but only in your mind), drop another silly little turd, then move on. You call me a racist, drop a few more little nuggets, then move on.

Yah, I know, your coach told you that the best defense is offense, but, sheesh, with your kind of thinking, we'd all be mired down in Iraq, beaten up in 'Ghannie,, turfed out of Nam, and looking for other places to vent our tantrums on. You are tiresome. Get your teeth outta the glass, and really give us a bite sometime. By the sounds of it, your Social Security is all safe and paid for.

because of the wide distance between what "family" and "marriage" mean in America today and what people like to believe they meant in some ideal past, up there on Walton's Mountain.

Maybe a strong, unapologetic gay or lesbian who's raising one or more children with a committed life partner needs to run for the U.S. Senate somewhere and point these things out. I'd stuff envelopes for such a candidate!

On the other hand, maybe we all need to just shut up about who does or doesn't have a model family and elect leaders who walk the walk--fund Head Start, universal child health care, all that dull non-Biblical stuff.

I second Zack's comment about Thompson's promiscuity during the period between his marriages. In fact he brags about it.

This behavior is (1) a sin in Christian teaching and (2) one of the criticisms leveled against the "gay lifestyle."

So of course he's the new Republican hero.