I wish I could say I was surprised.
Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, the now-former Chairman of the Republican Governors Association has been stricken by a dreaded disease now reaching pandemic proportions in the GOP.
"Can't-Keep-It-In-My-Pants Priapism"
This newly emergent disease seems to be caused by the marriage of gay men & women. It seems, as predicted within the Republican party, that when the love of a same-sex couple is granted legal status, another "traditional marriage" bites the dust. Scores of prominent Republicans have been afflicted by ridiculously engorged erections that are only satiated when inflicted on someone other than their legal spouse. Some have even turned to tapping under stalls to find relief for the member that knows no vows, feels no remorse, and who is supposed to be under the careful and well articulated control of his owner.
Alas, gay marriage has undone all this.
The sanctity of marriage has been violated and a vengeful God is now punishing the Republican faithful by making them cheat, apologize, and then divorce.
Perhaps more frightening is the knowledge that this phenomena is not limited to Republicans, but seems to be pervasive within the sanctity of the heterosexual bonds of marriage.
All kidding aside, as you know, I hate hypocrisy at every level and this is just another particularly hideous example of where the rhetoric of the Republicans does not match up with their actions.
Specifically, they scream that gay marriage will undermine the very Constitution and cause the collapse of America, while they go about their affairs without a thought to how their own behaviors are not consistent with their spoken values. As has been advanced in the past, if they really want to protect the "institution of marriage" then they need to outlaw divorce. Perhaps they would find it easier to resist temptation if they knew there was no option for escape from the punishment of "for better or for worse?"
Do those that flog us so regularly with the so-called evils of same sex marriage not see the hypocrisy of their own actions? Do they really not understand how they have fallen from the party of leadership to the small, southern regional party of the crazed religious right? On that score, if they believe so earnestly in God & His judgement, do they not see his punishment will be doubled by their own philandering ways compounded by the judgements they cast upon others in His name? Are they really surprised that the movement they started has only caused Americans to learn that gay Americans are just Americans; with bills, troubles, love, loss, and life like any other. Did they not see in their efforts to divide & frighten that they have healed and caused many to learn? Have they really not seen themselves in the mirror as the reason for their own ultimate demise?
Hypocrites are reaping what they have sown in the beds of staffers, friends, associates, prostitutes and random men & women around the nation and the world. They have violated the sanctity of marriage with "gay abandon" and yet have tried in vain to blame it on the gays.
And I know they want to badly to shift the blame to Bill Clinton, like he started it. I have one thing to say on that score, that in spite of his affair, the Clintons clearly understand the sanctity of marriage, because they still are married. They got the permanence of their own pledge to one another, and they have respected it, even when it was incredibly painful and beyond remorse.
That is what I call respect for marriage.
It takes a person who understands it to deserve it, and to be able to defend it. I am that person. My husband is that person.
Don't tread on me!