Hypocrisy in Federal Government

You may have heard the news last week about Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who was outed for using the services of DC escort, and purported madam, Debra Jean Palfrey. This scandal broke in a very 21st century way – Palfrey, who says she is a “fantasy escort” and not a prostitute, published her clients names and phone numbers on the internet, so they could confirm that she was not breaking the law.

Why is this news? Because Vitter is one of the moralistic crusaders who is all about taking others to task for their own “very serious sin” – so to be paying for sex, fantasy escorting, or what have you is a pretty big fall for this guy. Newsweek has an interview with Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and a “practicing evangelical himself”.

Newsweek kicks the interview off with this bang-up question: “As an evangelical, what is it like for you when yet another story breaks about a self-righteous, “family values” Christian caught cheating on his wife with another woman or man?” Cromartie launches into a gloomy set of observations about the evangelical perspective on the world. Now I’m not saying this guy speaks for the evangelical movement, but some choice nuggets that make me wonder why someone would choose this religious focus follow.

“It ought to be the case that evangelicals, while not condoning such behavior, are not surprised by such sinful behavior. I’m not surprised by vice. I’m surprised by virtue.”

“Classical Christianity has always had a negative view of human nature. Generally, the belief has been that people are broken and fallen and frail. People plod along and make mistakes.”

“Any movement that goes around promoting family values and then doesn’t live by them personally is certainly hypocritical. But one can also confess and apologize for the sin of hypocrisy. There are hypocrites on the conservative and liberal sides of the aisle.”

“I was around when Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker got in trouble. I always thought Swaggart was a Christian version of Elvis. We’ve seen a lot of counterfeit people. And a lot of those people get promoted. And that’s embarrassing.”