Make up your minds, will ya?
You wonder why the GOP is "strangely silent" and is downplaying Bush's DUI arrest 24 years ago? Weren't you the same ones who were telling us, in so many words and whining editorials, that a president's private life is his business? That Ken Starr was out of control and hysterical over a private sexual matter (even if it was during the presidency, and happened in the White House, and the president perjured himself over it ... but those are small irrelevant details.)
Well, you were the ones who told us to get on with the business of the American people, and that character didn't matter, and that the past was past, yap, yap, yap.
So you taught us well. The GOP is just following your lead. Get over it.
-- Pamela Tucker
Hypocrisy? When it came to Paula Jones' sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, where were all the feminists and left-wing activists who rallied behind Anita Hill a few years earlier? They were busy calling Jones "trailer trash."
Bill Clinton, a self-proclaimed champion of women's rights who helped push through legislation to stop sexual harassment, lied about Monica Lewinsky in a deposition in the Paula Jones case. He also obstructed justice and abused the power of his office. Please, don't even compare Bush's DUI with that.
-- Raiford Starke
You left one important point out of your essay. When confronted with a past misdeed, George W. Bush stepped up and confronted it head-on with the truth -- unlike Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who seem to be unable to tell the truth even when caught red-handed.
I think Bush's response to this last-minute bump in the campaign trail speaks volumes about the man's character. I think he will make a good president and I look forward to seeing him win the election.
-- J. Marc McCloud
Thank you for nailing this one right on. Imagine the shock and indignation of these pure-minded Republicans that anyone would dig up a scandal about a candidate to influence an election: "Oh the horror, the sordid indecency, of it all! To what low depths has our fair republic fallen? What will be next, a publicly financed eight-year dead-end investigation into every area of an elected official's life?"
A point about all the public "Christian" moralizing on the failings of others: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Any Christian learns in Sunday school to keep his mouth shut about other people's personal problems. Their campaign of moral outrage and public humiliation is the ultimate in hypocrisy.
Say amen, somebody!
-- Kevin Reeder
By not revealing his arrest Bush did not allow the American public to determine for itself whether or not it was important.
I do not hold a 24-year-old DUI against him, but I resent mightily his deciding for me that it was irrelevant. If he's asking for my vote for president, then I get to decide what's important to me.
After all, he keeps saying he trusts me.
-- Michael Barry
Republicans can spend $50 million digging up dirt on the sex life of the president and be considered "morally responsible"; it is leaked that George W. Bush selfishly risked the safety of the general public for a little fun and the Democrats are guilty of "dirty tricks." Those guys are good. Even better is the fact that people believe this nonsense.
I have no problem with forgiving "youthful indiscretions." How about forgiving all the kids currently in jail for the same "youthful indiscretions"?
-- Lisa Barr
Bush is running on a campaign of integrity. He covered up his youthful indiscretions and, let's make this completely clear, he was not straightforward. He, at best, is a hypocrite. Since the Republicans like to run investigations on Democrats to uncover their indiscretions -- or patterns of behavior -- I think it's only fair that the same be applied to them. What goes around comes around.
-- Tony Lucente
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