Comic relief

I’ve been pretty blistering in some of my posts the past few days, so it’s time for a little laughter: Yet another “family values” Republican has fallen in a sex scandal.

Eight-term Republican US Representative Mark Souder, who described himself as an “ultra conservative” has resigned after an extramarital affair with a staff member. To use his own language, he committed adultery. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

There are those, of course, who would judge me harshly for my schadenfreude at the fall of people like Souder but, quite frankly, I couldn’t care less. These fallen hypocrites have been waging a holy war on ordinary Americans—GLBT Americans in particular. They’re trying to impose their extremist christianist ideology on everyone and create a theocracy in America. So when they fall from power committing the very “sins” they rail against, I can’t help but laugh at them.

Souder was, as they say, “a piece of work”. A rabidly anti-gay politician, he voted against every piece of pro-gay legislation and in favour of every anti-gay bill. He compared gay people to alcoholics, adding, “I believe [people] can have a propensity to be homosexual. But I believe that it's wrong and it's controllable. That is a fundamental, biblically based view that doesn't leave a lot of room or comfortability [sic] in a society where they don't want you to have absolutes.” He also declared that “there just isn't much room to compromise” on any GLBT rights issue.

In 2003, he got a 100% rating from a leading christianist theocratic organisation, and in 2006 he got 0% on church-state separation issues—meaning he voted against separation of church and state. He was—laughingly ironically—also a loud proponent of “abstinence” education—do as he says, not as he does, apparently. Talking Points Memo’s YouTube Channel has a video of Souder and his mistress talking about abstinence education.

I’m delighted Souder will be out of Congress. He did evil to advance his religion, and he deserves his disgrace. America will be better off without him polluting Congress. Maybe now he can reform himself and do some good in the world, or maybe put his religion into action feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, those sorts of things.

However, I have a lot of sympathy for his wife and children who will be shamed (and probably shunned) because of Souder’s sexcapades. I hope they have a support network to help them deal with what Souder has done to them.

So, just as I do with every other fallen “family values” hypocrite, I laugh at Souder. But the funniest thing is that even amidst my schadenfreude over his fall, I’m still showing him far more compassion and humanity than he ever showed to GLBT Americans. And that is merely another of his sins.

Tip o' the Hat to Joe.My.God., where I found a couple of the links above.