Posted by
JDComments on Monday, December 11, 2006 6:33:15 PM
To recap a hectic two weeks, William [$90,000 in the freezer] Jefferson, who everybody expects to be indicted, won reelection with 57% of the vote, Gerry Studds was eulogized by his Congressional compatriots as a champion of the environment and gay equality [see
article ] , which he helped heroically to accomplish by sodomizing a teenager , an act which he defended as " a consensual connection with a young adult.", and the Mark Foley email scandal , which resulted in Foley's almost immediate resignation, saw a bipartisan
report reprimand the House leadership for not doing "more" when they originally found out about the emails, and that they:
"failed to exercise appropriate diligence" in the matter, the committee's report found, and tried "to remain willfully ignorant of the potential consequences of Foley's conduct."
Please note that the drastic action taken during the Studd's "incident" was that he got a slap on the wrist censure and was reelected to office. Yes, maybe the committee is right, and the House leadership didn't handle it anywhere like the Dems did back in 1984. Unfortunately.
Anyway, this is all old news to most of us, and hardly warrants a post. What does, however, is the reaction this information ellicits from those maybe not quite as politically attuned as we chronic bloggers. To experiment, I told my 21 year old daughter and my wife the above information, and with laser like intensity studied their reactions.
My daughter said "Really?" with the same bored expression she wears when I tell her just about anything. For her this was neither earth shaking or particularly egregious. Rather it seemed acceptable more than anything else, even expected.
My wife, on the other hand, was genuinely shocked and I had to verify my information with online articles [yes, she doesn't always trust me!]. When I had finally allayed her doubts she was angry and upset. And she is far from an extreme right wing partisan.
What this attempt at a sociopolitical experiment confirmed for me was that this country is developing a real bifurcated view of the political parties which holds the Dems to a decidedly lower set of expectations and it doesn't divide nicely along political affiliations. Rather the acceptance of the Dems as the "ethically challenged" group also seems to be more acceptable to younger people [ while I only talk about my daughter here, who also happens to lean right in her views, I have asked others, and seen the same results].
Considering they came of age during the period when Clinton was coarsening our political dialogue with the inclusion of "oral sex" and "White Water" to the usual topics of foreign affairs and tax policy it is no wonder that they seem to accept the Dems as a sleazier group than the Republicans, and we could almost take this as a compliment.
But as they age, and become more involved in the political process, this is going to be a true problem for Republicans. In any game, if one side has the rules eased for it, whether it be four strikes versus three, or six men on the ice versus five, over time that side will win. We saw it this past election when Republicans paid the price for their indiscretions and scandals, while the Dems were just about all reelected. If my daughter and her friends are indicative, this disparity is going to get worse with time, and eventually the "adult" party will find itself ostracized for its very responsibility. The Liberal 70's was the time of "Don't trust anyone over 30". Now it may be "Don't trust anyone who acts over 30".