I spotted your query about the "electoral viability" of congressmen such as Barney Frank and (the late) Gerry Studds despite their entanglement in sex scandals. You know that Latin phrase that William F. Buckley often quotes -- "Quod licet Jovi non licet bovi" (that which is permitted to Jove, is not permitted to oxen)? That which is permitted to Massachusetts congressmen is not permitted to congressmen from other states. I wrote about this back in 1995, at the time of Bob Packwood's downfall. The column began: It was in part at the urging of Sen. Alan Simpson, a Wyoming Republican, that the contemptible Bob Packwood finally threw in the towel last Thursday and resigned from Congress. All the same, Simpson was embittered by the double standard at play in the Senate chamber.
"I looked around that room," he said, "and saw people who had done things much worse." Now which senior senator from Massachusetts do you suppose he was referring to? |
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