Asian Conservatives

Many prominent conservative bloggers and pundits (e.g. Patrick Ruffini) are arguing that adulterous Gov. Mark Sanford shouldn’t resign over his affair with a woman in Argentina:

At the core of the Sanford and Ensign episodes is the cloud of “hypocrisy” that hangs over any Republican who strays from the bonds of their marriage. (Quickly forgetting that all who commit adultery are hypocrites, having taken a solemn vow of marriage.) Because Democrats are perceived as more socially libertine, they get off easier.

This is a structural disadvantage that, on the margins, hurts Republican officeholders, forcing them into resignation or disgrace more easily than their equally adulterous Democratic counterparts.

Simply put, it is a strategic error to sanctify the idea that it’s worse when Republicans cheat. The hypocrisy charge exacts a double penalty on Republicans where none exists for Democrats — first, in the accusation of hypocrisy itself, and second, in the media whipping social conservatives into a frenzy in a bid to belatedly “enforce” their moral code — exactly the thing the secular media believes you shouldn’t do 364 days out of the year — to hound a Republican out of office.

That’s very true, but we all know that this is more than a Republican politician’s exotic affair. That’s the morally troubling fact. The politically troubling fact is that he lied and used public funds to pay for his trysts with the woman. Now he’s agreed to repay South Carolina for these personal expenses.

When the Lewinsky scandal exploded onto the national spotlight, it wasn’t Clinton’s sexual prowess with the intern that was troublesome. It was him lying under oath that was troubling.

Most people understand that politicians aren’t perfect in their personal lives, but voters expect politicians to do right when it comes to legislative affairs. Sanford should resign because of his misuse of taxpayer funds which betrayed the trust of the good people of S. Carolina.