doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. ... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies -- all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. -- George Orwell, 1984
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  Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Conservative Babylon, Part 1
Sex and the Not-So-Single Republican
Scarborough to Stangeland

Previous entry: McCain to Oberweis


Remember, kids:

These are the God-fearin' righties who want to

legislate your morality and "family values":

 

 

 Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.)

 

Former Florida rep; host of right-wing Fox talk show "Scarborough Country"; "conservative family values" proponent; divorcé

 

Why he's here: Divorced wife in 1999. But that's the least interesting thing about Joe Scarborough. We're not accusing him of anything -- just using a very strange and familiar-sounding story to illustrate the very real right-wing media bias that shields Scarborough and his friends from the type of scrutiny visited upon every Democrat from Bill Clinton on down.

 

Let's play a game:

 

Fill in the blank #1: Gary Condit and  _ _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _?

 

You probably said "Chandra Levy." If you didn't: Levy was an intern to California Rep. Gary Condit. One day, she disappeared. The media went crazy covering rumors of a romantic dalliance with Condit, and hinted wildly that Condit had killed her. He didn't. But his career was destroyed. Condit, of course, is a Democrat.

 

Fill in the blank #2: Joe Scarborough and  _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _?

 

Did you say "Lori Klausutis"? Probably not.

 

Just the facts: Scarborough got a divorce. Then he suddenly resigned from Congress, just six months after re-election. (Invoked old fallback excuse of wanting to "spend more time" with children.) Then he suddenly resigned as publisher of the Independent Florida Sun. Then, just as suddenly, Lori Klausutis, 28-year-old staffer to Scarborough, was found dead in Scarborough's district office in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Date was July 20, 2001. Cause of death: Blow to the head. Conclusion: Heart condition caused her to collapse, fall, hit head on a desk, and die. Story barely a blip on the radar. Lots of people left with lots of questions.

 

Memorable observations:

 

"Everyone knows who Gary Condit is and we all know all about the tragic death of Chandra Levy. But who was Lori Klausutis? How did she die? ... Most Americans have no idea, thanks to a mass media run by right-wingers for right-wingers. ... Of course while the "liberal" media was going nuts over the Gary Condit and Chandra Levy mess all through the summer 2001, they completely ignored the Klausutis affair."

 

Mike Hersh

Note the bias

Online Journal

May 7, 2003

 

"Why is there a complete media blackout on this story? Why the complete preoccupation with the similar but largely speculative Condit/Levy story? ... How does that 'fair and balanced' cable network explain the complete hypocrisy and contempt for truth in their handling of these two similar tales? Will we ever know the truth of how Lori Klausutis died?"

 

Denis Wright and Chris George

A Death in the Congressman's Office

American Politics Journal

August 8, 2001

 

Final questions: Was Lori Klausutis among Scarborough's rumored dalliances? (Scarborough, noted the Pensacola News Journal in 2001, "was pursued by rumors over the cause of the divorce [and] a growing body of criticism that Scarborough's personal life didn't match the moralistic conservative stance he campaigned on").

 

What does Joe know, if anything, about her death?

 

Conclusion: We'll never find out.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Scarborough:

 

Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

 

-- Isaiah 42:18

 

 

 Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.)

 

Why he's here: Just another divorced Republican congressman.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Schaefer: Not worth the trouble. Dan can go check out any of the dozens of other entries in this list if he wants "divine inspiration."

 

 

 David Schippers

 

Attorney; special impeachment counsel to the House Judiciary Committee; leading anti-Clinton moralizer; "devout Catholic"; adulterer; liar; hypocrite in the extreme

 

Moral apex: While blasting President Clinton for the Lewinsky affair, was still carrying on 25-year affair with secretary Nancy Ruggero -- which ended only when Ruggero, finally sick of waiting for him to follow through on promise to leave wife, married somebody else.

 

What's more: Schippers was not only married, but married some 45 years, and had 10 children (and 25 grandchildren). Continued affair even after wife Jackie found out (she had him followed).

 

What's more: In lawsuit filed by business partner, Schippers lied under oath that he was not romantically involved with Ruggero. (What was it everybody was saying about Clinton again?)

 

Height of hypocrisy: On "60 Minutes," called wife Jackie "his one and only sweetheart."

 

No, wait -- this is the height of hypocrisy: Actually brought mistress to the Clinton impeachment proceedings as an observer. (Wife was there too!)

 

Amazing fact: Had the temerity to be jealous of Ruggero's new marriage -- yet not only attended her wedding, but walked her down the aisle.

 

Fun fact #1: Once studied for the priesthood.

 

Fun fact #2: He's a papal knight -- one of a Catholic order of only a few hundred men in the world.

 

Memorable quote:

 

"There should be a moral overtone to every profession. The rules are the rules are the rules."

 

-- In The New Republic, 1998

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Schippers:

 

A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

 

-- Proverbs 13:5

 

 

 John Schmitz (R-Calif.)

 

Failed presidential candidate; prominent "family values" promoter; right-wing extremist extraordinaire; adulterer; bad father

 

Career highlights: Fought to abolish sex education in American schools. Tried to outlaw intrauterine contraceptiion (IUDs). Almost made primary rival Bob Dornan look liberal.

 

"Feminazi" moment: After a confrontation with high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, Schmitz OK'd publication of an aide's press release, "Attack of the Bulldykes," which called Allred a "slick butch lawyeress" and (according to Wall Street Journal editorialist John Fund, whose own ugly little story you'll find here too) "described her supporters as 'a sea of hard, Jewish and (arguably) female faces.'"

 

Divine retribution: Allred sued; Schmitz had to pony up $20,000 in damages. Was reprimanded by California legislature & lost chairmanship of state Constitutional Amendments Committee.

 

Believe it or not moment: He got kicked off the national council of the John Birch Society for being too "extreme" -- even by their standards!

 

Punch line: Fathered two out-of-wedlock children with a student.

 

Punch line of the century: Daughter is Mary Kay LeTourneau, schoolteacher now in prison for having sex with 13-year-old student, who fathered two children by her.

 

Final reward: He's dead now.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Schmitz:

 

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

 

-- Numbers 14:33

 

Suggested Bible reading for Ms. LeTourneau:

 

Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

 

-- Ezekiel 20:30

 

 

 Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

Republican Governor of California; adulterer; fornicator; serial groper; pot smoker; steroid abuser; bad actor

 

Moral apex: Oh, please, where do you want to start -- with the groping, the gang orgies, the cheating on Maria with a 16-year-old (sans statutory-rape charges)? I've already written more about Ah-nold's brutish sex life than I ever cared to. Just go here.

 

Divine justice: None yet, but we're sure it's on its way! At least Rhonda Miller is finally suing him for that hatchet job on her good name.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Schwarzenegger:

 

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

 

-- Romans 8:5-6

 

 

 E.G. "Bud" Shuster (R-Penn.)

 

Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure

 

Moral apex: Shacked up with a transportation-industry lobbyist, put her on his payroll, and voted any way she wanted him to.

 

Or, as the Congressional Accountability Project put it in 2000: "Shuster is Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. Ann Eppard is a top transportation lobbyist in Washington. She has built a lucrative and successful lobbying practice lobbying Chairman Shuster on matters pending before his Committee. Chairman Shuster employs Eppard as his campaign fundraiser, apparently raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds that have been diverted to personal use by both Shuster and Eppard. Shuster has paid Eppard a $3,000 monthly fee for these fundraising and campaign services. Shuster has regularly lodged with Eppard at her Virginia home, according to a report by the CBS News program 60 Minutes. The Congressional Accountability Project's 1996 complaint showed that several of Eppard's clients received generous favors and benefits from Chairman Shuster and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. Since then, mounting evidence strongly suggests that the Shuster-Eppard partnership is an influence-peddling scheme that is readily exploited by corporations and special interests to gain influence in Congress. Many news reports show that Eppard has been remarkably successful in obtaining legislative favors and benefits from Chairman Shuster on behalf of her clients."

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Shuster:

 

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

 

-- Proverbs 1:31-32

 

 

 Arlan Stangeland (R-Minn.)

 

Fool

 

Moral apex: Married father of seven swore that the several hundred long-distance phonecalls made to female aide in 1986-87 -- and charged to his House credit card -- were not evidence of a romantic relationship.

 

Consequence: Voters rolled eyes, clucked tongues, voted Democratic.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Stangeland:

 

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

 

-- Proverbs 6:25

 

 

End of Scarborough to Stangeland

Next: Thomas to Wingate

 



Conservative Babylon, Part 1
Sex and the Not-So-Single Republican
Scarborough to Stangeland
10:31:59 PM
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Conservative Babylon, Part 1
Sex and the Not-So-Single Republican
McCain to Oberweis

Previous entry: Hinson to Lukens


Remember, kids:

These are the God-fearin' righties who want to

legislate your morality and "family values":

 

 

 John McCain (R-Ariz.)

 

U.S. Senator; former presidential candidate; Vietnam War veteran & P.O.W.

 

Why he's here: Admitted to adultery during first marriage. Which means he's divorced, too.

 

Beyond that: Nothing we care to look into, because he's only one of two Republicans on this entire list for whom we have any respect whatsoever. One of these days, he's going to wake up and realize he's really a Democrat. Well, more of a Democrat than Joe Lieberman, anyway.

 

 

 Jim McCrery (R-La.)

 

Moral apex: Closet homo outed by respected journalist Kurt Wolfe...

 

Height of hypocrisy: ...after he voted in favor of anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

 

End result: Still denies he's gay.

 

See also: Mark Foley, Jim Kolbe.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. McCrery:

 

For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.

 

-- John 7:4

 

 

 John McKay (R-Fla.)

 

Florida Senate President; adulterer; divorcé

 

Moral apex: Forced to admit, during messy divorce proceedings in '96, to boinking young telecommunications lobbyist while working on bill to deregulate telecommunications industry.

 

What happened next: Married the lobbyist.

 

Divine justice: Swore affair never affected job, but still had to resign as chair of the state Ways and Means Committee.

 

Anything else? Yeah, but it involves a tax scandal, not sex.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. McKay:

 

Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.

 

-- Psalm 44:12

 

 

 Guy Millner (R-Fla.)

 

Two-time failed gubernatorial candidate, 1994; failed U.S. Senate candidate, 1996; super-duper-born-again Christian; adulterer; divorcé

 

Moral apex: Married not once, not twice, but three times. (But, hey, let's give the guy a break with a little Republican logic: It means he's only been divorced twice!)

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Millner:

 

Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

 

-- 1 Corinthians 7:27

 

 

 Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.)

 

Congressional rep-turned-CBS news anchor; divorcée

 

Moral apex: Divorced & remarried (to former NY congressman Bill Paxon).

 

Fun fact: Thrilled to pieces when Bob Dole picked her as Keynote Speaker at '96 Republican National Convention. Her father, ex-state legislator Guy Molinari, was not so blind to the reason: "He [Dole] has a serious gender gap."

 

Suggested Bible reading for Ms. Molinari:

 

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband

 

-- 1 Corinthians 7:10

 

 

 Sue Myrick (R-N.C.)

 

Former mayor of Charlotte, N.C.; co-sponsor of proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages; adulterer

 

Moral apex: Left hubby for another man.

 

Punch line: Self-described "devout Christian."

 

Free pass: Won re-election as mayor of Charlotte anyway. Elected to Congress.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Ms. Myrick:

 

As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.

 

-- Proverbs 11:22

 

 

 Bill Owens

 

Governor of Colorado; divorcé

 

Moral apex: Killed a 28-year marriage.

 

Consequence: Devout Catholic who made "family values" the mainstay of his platform had to back out of keynote speeches to ultra-con groups such as Focus on the Family.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Owens:

 

I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

 

-- Jeremiah 12:7

 

 

 Bob Packwood (R-Ore.)

 

U.S. Senator; pro-choice, pro-ERA, all-around pro-women's-rights Republican (!); serial groper

 

Moral apex: Groped and fondled several female staffers -- and tried to forcibly French-kiss a lobbyist for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Ten different women complained initially, in '92; more stepped forward later.

 

Twinkie defense: He was drunk.

 

Consequence: Resigned in 1995 after Senate Ethics Committee decided to expel him.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Packwood:

 

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

 

-- Proverbs 6:27

 

 

 John E. Peterson (R-Pa)

 

Moral apex: Charged with sexual harrassment by six women.

 

Twinkie defense: Admits to nothing more than being "an excessive hugger."

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Peterson:

 

O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

 

-- Psalm 69:5

 

 

 Ronald Reagan

 

Former President of the United States; former Governor of California; former B-movie actor; adulterer; divorcé; lousy father

 

Moral apex: Divorced from actress Jane Wyman; married actress Nancy Davis -- but not before allegedly bedding a bevy of Hollywood starlets while still married. When not estranged from all four children, was emotionally absent for most of their lives.

 

Punch line: Republicans think he's God.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Reagan:

 

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

 

-- Proverbs 4:19

 

 

 Nelson Rockefeller

 

Multimillionaire; U.S. Vice President under Gerald Ford; three-time failed presidential candidate; adulterer; divorcé

 

Lead-up: He and wife Happy left respective spouses to marry each other, in 1962.

 

Moral apex: Still married to Happy, Rocky died in 1979, reportedly in the midst of humping 25-year-old assistant, Megan Marshack, in the Manhattan apartment he helped her purchase.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Rockefeller:

 

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

 

-- 1 Timothy 6:9

 

 

 Beverly Russell

 

Prominent South Carolina Republican Party leader; Christian Coalition coordinator; child molester; bad father

 

Moral apex: Sexually abused his stepdaughter from the time was she was 15, and continued longterm incestuous (yet "consensual") relationship with her until she was about 24 -- and married, and the mother of two children.

 

The shocker: His stepdaughter is Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two baby sons (after fabricating a story about a black carjacker who took off with the kids) in a lake, in her car.

 

Sidebar: Newt Gingrich stated at the time of the Smith child murders: "I think that the mother killing the two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things. ... The only way to change is to vote Republican."

 

Punch line: "Vote Republican"? And put more men like über-GOPer Beverly Russell in charge of the country?

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Russell:

 

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

 

The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

 

-- Lamentations 5:7, 15

 

 

 Jack Ryan

 

Multimillionaire; 2004 Republican candidate for Illinois U.S. Senate race; divorcé

 

Why he's here: Divorced. One of the three divorced candidates (out of a total of four) for the same Senate seat.

 

Punishment in this life: He doesn't get to sleep with ex-wife anymore -- blonde hottie Jeri Ryan ("Star Trek: Voyager"; "Boston Public"), who now lives alone with their young son. (In truth, Jack was pretty broken up over the divorce.)

 

Saving grace: Ryan isn't the worst of the lot, by far; he's more progressive than most, particularly on gay rights. "If you are taking care of your family, being nice to your neighbors  and working hard, I'm for you. Under our constitution, under our God, everybody should be treated the same way," he told Eriz Zorn in the Chicago Tribune. (Jeri is even more pro-gay; she made her first appearance at the GLAAD Awards not long before she and Ryan split.) Thus, we have hope that one day Mr. Ryan may see the light and abandon the Greedy Old Party.

 

Why we almost actually like him: Anybody who gets slammed by the Radical Religious Right for the most vacuous reason is okay in our book. And Jack got slammed, big-time, by "family values" zealots "waiting for a full explanation" about his financial backing of Jeri's 1997 movie Men Cry Bullets, decried as "racy" by detractors (even though Jeri doesn't do anything even remotely "racy" in the flick). Family Institute head Peter LaBarbera told Chicago Daily Herald, "This is a spousal nightmare ... He had a Hollywood wife. And we all know where Hollywood is today." (Yeah, Pete, we all know where Hollywood is today -- in the 21st century, while you and your ilk are stuck in the 1600s, still burning witches.)

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Ryan:

 

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

 

-- Song of Solomon 8:6

 

 

 Jim Oberweis

 

Millionaire; 2004 Republican candidate for Illinois U.S. Senate race; divorcé

 

Why he's here: Divorced. One of the three divorced candidates (out of a total of four) for the same Senate seat.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Oberweis:

 

If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

 

-- Numbers 30:2

 

 

End of McCain to Oberweis

Next: Scarborough to Stangeland

 



Conservative Babylon, Part 1
Sex and the Not-So-Single Republican
McCain to Oberweis
6:26:45 PM
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FLASH: Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) Dead

Senator Paul Simon Dies. Paul Simon, the bow-tie-wearing missionary's son who rose from crusading newspaper owner to U.S. senator and presidential aspirant, died Tuesday, a day after undergoing heart surgery. He was 75. Simon's daughter confirmed his death at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, according to Peter Alexander, the law school dean at Southern Illinois University, where Simon started a public policy institute after his retirement. ... Simon was a bespectacled, slightly rumpled man with a strong reputation for honesty, a politician who began disclosing his personal finances in the 1950s. He had the sober, straight-laced bearing of a Sunday school teacher and wrote 22 books, including "Advice & Consent," published in 1992. Simon blended fiscal conservatism and social liberalism. ... "To be a liberal doesn't mean you're a wastrel," said Simon, citing the words of a political mentor, former Sen. Paul Douglas of Illinois. ... In 1953, Simon decided to run for the Illinois legislature. Though he declared himself a Republican and endorsed Thomas E. Dewey over Harry Truman in a 1948 editorial, Simon made a fundamental concession to the local political climate: He ran as a Democrat. ... [NBC5.com, December 9, 2003]

 

Aw, damn!

 

"He had good innings," as my other half would say, but I'm still very sorry to see him go. I didn't always agree with Simon on everything, but he was a good, good man, and more deserving of respect than most of his contemporaries. And although he retired from public office in '97, his death is still a true loss -- to both sides of the aisle.

 

R.I.P., Senator. Thanks for all your hard work.

 



FLASH: Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) Dead 1:33:46 PM
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Conservative Babylon, Part 1
Sex and the Not-So-Single Republican
Hinson to Lukens

Previous entry: Davis to Gunderson


Remember, kids:

These are the God-fearin' righties who want to

legislate your morality and "family values":

 

 

 Jon Hinson (R-Miss.)

 

Closet homo; adulterer

 

Moral apex: Newly wedded (to a woman), he was arrested at a D.C. gay bar in 1976. A year later, escaped a fire in a gay porn theatre.

 

Amazing fact: Forced out of closet during 1980 re-election run, was actually re-elected (but only because a third candidate split the Democratic vote; Hinson won with 39%.)

 

But then: Was arrested again in 1981 on charges of attempted oral sodomy. In a men's room. In a House office building. Resigned.

 

The good news: Now outed, he got involved with gay rights.

 

The bad news: Died of AIDS in 1995.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Hinson:

 

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

 

-- Numbers 10:9

 

 

 Michael Huffington (R-Calif.)

 

Rich Beverly Hills jet-setter; adulterer; closet homo

 

Moral apex: Columnist-wife Arianna dumped him when she found out he was cheating on her.

 

Punch line: With other men.

 

Where he is now: Political limbo. Served one term in CA state legislature. Lost Senate race to Dianne Feinstein. Got caught cheating. Came out. Toyed with the idea of becoming a Democrat. Threw hat into California gubernatorial circus. Pulled out. Doesn't seem to know what to do with his life.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Huffington:

 

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

 

-- Matthew 7:25

 

 

 Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.)

 

U.S. Senator; adulterer

 

Moral apex: Dumped wife of 29 years (& mother of his three sons) for a younger woman -- one of his own office staffers.

 

Punch line: He's also a Southern Baptist minister.

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Hutchinson:

 

The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

 

-- Jeremiah 22:22

 

 

 Henry Hyde (R-Ill.)

 

Chair, House Judiciary Committee; adulterer; homewrecker; liar; stunning hypocrite

 

Moral apex: In late 1960s, had five-year affair with one Cherie Snodgrass. Who was married. And had three children.

 

Justification: Blew off affair as a "youthful indiscretion."

 

Punch line: Hyde was 41 at the time of his "youthful indiscretion."

 

And: He was married, too.

 

And: Snodgrass was 12 years his junior.

 

How he did it: At first, told Snodgrass he was single; gave her an apartment, lavished her with gifts.

 

End result: When caught out, destroyed Snodgrass' marriage. Still, affair continued another two and a half years or so under Mrs. Hyde's nose.

 

Addendum: Snodgrass said she knew she wasn't Hyde's only mistress.

 

Great moments in hypocrisy #1: Hyde was chief prosecutor in President Clinton's impeachment trial.

 

Great moments in hypocrisy #1: Hyde the Homewrecker is a co-sponsor of the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

 

Memorable observation:

 

"These politicians were going on about how he should have been on the Supreme Court, what a great man he is, how we're lucky to have him in Congress in charge of the impeachment case. And all I can think of is here is this man, this hypocrite who broke up my family."

 

-- Fred Snodgrass, ex-husband of Hyde's mistress, to Salon.com

 

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Hyde:

 

They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.

 

-- Leviticus 21:7

 

 

 William Janklow (R-S.D.)

 

Former Governor of South Dakota, 1979-1986 and 1995-20