Politicians and preachers love to lecture us about “family values.” Quite a few of them, however, wind up being exposed as massive hypocrites. Here are ten particularly scummy examples from recent U.S. news:
10. Mike Duvall
California Assemblyman Mike Duvall was known as a “champion of traditional values.” Capitol Resource Institute, a conservative “pro-family” advocacy organization even gave Duvall a 100% score for his voting record on issues of concern to the group. He resigned in September of last year after being caught on tape bragging about his affairs with two female lobbyists. Regarding one of them, he boasted, “I’m getting into spanking her.”
9. Mark Souder
Congressman Mark Souder recently resigned after confessing to an extramarital affair with a female staffer, Tracy Jackson. He and Jackson had previously made a public video together extolling the virtues of abstinence for “A Congressional Hearing on Abstinence Education.” Check it out:
8. John Ensign
Another classic “family values” hypocrite is Senator John Ensign. He called on President Bill Clinton to resign during the Monica Lewinsky, stating Clinton had “no credibility left.” In 2004, he advocated for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which aimed to ban states from recognizing gay marriage. He defended his position as an effort to protect the sanctity of marriage. “Marriage,” he said before the Senate, “is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation.”
Lying and cheating also predate the Constitution, and seem equally dear to Ensign’s heart. He had an affair with Cynthia Hampton, the wife of his close friend and top political aide Douglas Hampton. In 2009, Douglas sent a letter to Fox News, in which he said “The actions of Senator Ensign have ruined our lives and careers and left my family in shambles.” Ensign admitted to the affair and resigned from his position as Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. In 2010, The Politico reported that Ensign was under investigation by the FBI for possible criminal violations connected with the affair.
7. Randall L. Tobias
In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed former Eli Lilly CEO Randall Tobias to be the first U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Tobias was in charge of distributing $15 billion for AIDS relief worldwide. In this position, he advocated for a policy requiring countries to denounce prostitution in order to receive U.S. aid. Under this plan, countries with legal prostitution would be refused AIDS money. Guess what? Tobias himself was seeing prostitutes! In 2007, he was questioned by investigators regarding services he received from the “D.C. Madam,” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who was charged with prostitution-related racketeering. Tobias claimed he had hired female escorts solely for massages. Nonetheless, he resigned that year due to “personal reasons.”
6. Mark Foley
Congressman Mark Foley was fond of sending sexually explicit text messages to teenage Congressional page boys (allegedly for a period of about ten years before he got caught). Here’s an excerpt from his correspondence with one 16-year-old:
Did I mention that Foley was Chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and a major opponent of child pornography in the Senate?
5. Larry Craig
In 2007, Senator Larry Craig was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of lewd conduct in the men’s restroom after soliciting a male undercover cop for sex through a little game of footsy. Back during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Craig was another outspoken Clinton critic, calling the president “a nasty, bad, naughty boy.” I’m not making that up. And–surprise, surprise–Craig was also a supporter of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment.
4. Bob Allen
Craig wasn’t the only Republican looking for a good time in a public bathroom. Florida State Representative Bob Allen got caught offering an undercover male police officer $20 to allow him to give him a blow job in a public park men’s room. After his arrest, Allen claimed he only offered to blow the guy because he was “a burly black man” and he “didn’t want to become a statistic.” So it’s better to be a racist wuss than a gay? Allen previously supported a bill to ban gay couples from adopting children and co-sponsored a bill to enhance penalties for “offenses involving unnatural and lascivious acts.” Fortunately for Allen, the latter bill failed.
3. George Alan Rekers
Rekers, a Baptist minister and anti-gay activist who co-founded the Family Research Council, was caught returning from a trip to Europe with a male escort from Rentboy.com. The escort said Rekers hired him to perform nude, “sexual” massages. Rekers claimed he hired the man to help him “lift luggage.” Get it? He later offered a different explanation: “I deliberately spend time with sinners with the loving goal to try to help them.”
Here he is with the rent boy and the luggage, which he appears to be lifting himself. Praise the Lord! It’s a miracle!
2. Newt Gingrich
A former Speaker of the House, Gingrich famously led the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton for allegations of perjury involving the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. While pontificating about family values and wagging his finger at Clinton over his affairs, turns out Gingrich was at the same time cheating on his own wife (now ex-wife), Marianne. When Marianne confronted him about his hypocrisy, Newt replied, “It doesn’t matter what I do. People need to hear what I have to say.”
1. Ted Haggard
Evangelical preacher Ted Haggard was the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals from 2003-2006. He frequently preached against homosexuality and was a major advocate for a Colorado constitutional amendment seeking to deny homosexual relationships equal protection under the law. In November 2006, a male prostitute alleged that Haggard had paid him to have sex with him over a period of three years and had also purchased and used crystal meth. A few days later, Haggard resigned from his religious leadership positions and confessed to the allegations. He soon began an intensive counseling program to “pray out the gay” and now considers himself a “heterosexual with issues.” Here is a video where he tries to explain himself…
Images:
MIke Duvall – http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NUZ_fM-TQKQ/SqmBZbuXZlI/AAAAAAAAO5A/ZWx48zrkj3c/s400/Mike+Duvall+Spanking.jpg
Mark Souder and staffer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSoFg_ShS0U
John Ensign – http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NUZ_fM-TQKQ/S6OVploKoqI/AAAAAAAAQgQ/UcoJGtUyOVo/s400/John-Ensign-Version+2.jpg
Randall Tobias – http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FxCl-zDjIOQ/RjUiFBaWkYI/AAAAAAAABU4/-iIiVX5IpHI/s1600-h/Tobias.jpg
Mark Foley – http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ss6rD6lZeog/SXK79RvdKGI/AAAAAAAABMw/dSLo1jNLUxY/s400/mark_foley_page.jpg
Larry Craig – http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2007/08/larrycraigmug3.jpg
Bob Allen – http://www.boingboing.net/200708071453.jpg
George Rekers – http://blog.reidreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/rekers-rentboy.jpg
Newt Gingrich – http://wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/gingrich.jpg
Ted Haggard – http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t6rV3U9ZEHM/TAaZV-UI7xI/AAAAAAAAz-A/e-rOHvuXYwM/s400/ted-haggard.jpg
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