Recent admissions of extramarital affairs by Mark Sanford and John Ensign resulted in heavy media coverage and constant generalizations about Republicans’ hypocrisy concerning family values.  The mainstream media’s fascination with GOP affairs is likely fueled, not by a desire to “get” Republicans, but by a worldview that makes it difficult to view those who preach conservative social values as sincere. That said, it’s fair for the media to highlight hypocrisy.  I just wish the MSM applied a more bipartisan standard to hypocrisy, such as when sensitivity-preaching Democrats make racially insensitive remarks (e.g., Joe Biden), pro-labor liberals shaft their workers (e.g., Al Franken), or self-righteous greens contribute far more than their share to mankind’s carbon footprint (e.g., Al Gore).  Instead, the opposite rule seems to apply: a politician’s history of liberal rhetoric is taken as evidence that no harm was intended by what would otherwise be viewed as hypocritical behavior.

Cross-posted at Politico.