Steve Benen at MaddowBlog engages in more than a bit of schadenfreude following the recent indictment of Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House. He references the work of Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy in summarizing the indiscretions of a number of Republican personalities who chose to vote for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton over his indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky, and then closes with this:
During the impeachment proceedings, I specifically remember testimony from Princeton scholar Sean Wilentz, who told House Republicans that, in the future, they would be seen as “zealots and fanatics,” adding, “History will hunt you down for your cravenness.”
If you, like myself, were not a Republican at the time, and found the uproar to be more than a bit puzzling, then perhaps you, too, glory a little in the schadenfreude over Gingrich (carrying on with an aide), Livingston (affair), Hyde (affair) and now Hastert (alleged sexual contact with a boy).
But you also have to wonder about the nature of these men, particularly if you are interested in story-telling (and, about that, another post in another time). Are they so obsessed with power that the hypocrisy of their actions isn’t apparent? These guys are smart, surely they can see that.
I recall a story from, I believe, Senator Barbara Boxer, concerning another, very senior Senator from her freshman days in the Senate. She described him as having a self-image of being right next to God. Perhaps being at the center of government, these Representatives felt they could do no wrong?
Or, more prosaically, they simply hated Clinton? President Clinton has a history of taking the issues of his political opponents and making them his, to the point where they become lethal weapons against his opponents. Add in that he is undoubtedly one of the smartest politicians around, and perhaps it’s just raw envy and anger.
This was the time where ideology began to get the better of the GOP, where governing wisely became a secondary – or tertiary – activity, where being in power was the thing, and principle was optional (see the spending habits of Congress, vs what they proclaimed as ideology, 2000-2006). This chart courtesy The Daily Kos:
Perhaps, even as I grind my teeth over what might have been, this is simply the result of amateurs running government.
