The Washington Post, in a seeming answer
to Ben Stein’s
piece yesterday, analyzes why it is that Republicans are more
susceptible to hypocrisy allegations than Democrats when sex
scandals erupt. Reason, in a nutshell: the GOP’s socially
conservative image.
“The reality is that Democrats seem to get away
with more,” says Chuck Todd, editor in chief of the Hotline, a
daily political journal. “They can have an affair and bail
[themselves] out. There’s a lower threshold for Republicans. I
guess it’s more of a hypocrisy thing,” he adds, because such
scandals put Republicans at odds with the party’s socially
conservative image.
Todd thinks he knows who’s to blame for this: “It’s
the media, to be honest. What is the standard ‘gotcha’ story in the
media? It’s hypocrisy. If we can prove hypocrisy, we have a story.
… So in a sex scandal, the bar for Republicans is lower.”