A presidential candidate dumps his wife of 15 years to marry a younger woman. His new wife -- whose multimillion dollar fortune comes from booze -- steals painkillers from a charity, forges prescriptions and causes a doctor to lose his license because of her lies and manipulation to feed her opiate habit.
The man's running mate put her unborn child's life at risk to make a speech important to her career while leaking amniotic fluid. She has a pregnant teenage daughter.
If any of these people were Democrats, I'm sure the media would be telling the story this starkly. It would be called the "character" issue.
We would hear about how such a man is not moral enough to lead our nation -- and that if he lied to his wife to carry on an affair, surely he will lie to the country.
We would read about how having an ex-junkie, prescription-forger thief as First Lady sends the wrong message to kids about drug use.
There would be talk of how those selfish, career-driven women are destroying the American family and contributing to the breakdown of society that puts our very way of life itself at risk.
How can it be, then, that McCain and Palin represent wholesome Christian "family values" and the other guys are the party of liberal decadence, sex education for kindergartners, divorce, infidelity and cultural relativism?
Clearly the Democrats truly believe "judge not, lest ye be judged." Either that, or they are afraid to appear as hypocrites if they raise these points -- because they don't believe that people should be publicly shamed about these issues.
The pundit class won't express this perspective for fear of cries of "liberal bias." And of course the right wing -- who froth at the mouth when Bill Clinton gets a blow job but don't praise him or his wife for staying together for their child -- won't speak up.
This is not a double standard -- it's no standard whatsoever. Either the Republicans believe that infidelity disqualifies you from public office -- or they don't. Or maybe they think it's OK so long as you marry the other woman?
Either they believe that addiction is a moral issue -- or they don't. Or maybe it's OK so long as you aren't black or poor?
Either they think that teen pregnancy is a mark of shame on a family, suggesting a failure of the parents to teach good values-- or they don't. Or maybe it's OK so long as you don't have an abortion?
All of those positions represent exactly the kind of moral relativism they have decried amongst Democrats for years. It's not biased to point out when people are saying one thing and doing another. It's called journalism.