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. |
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." --Jesus
"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious" --George Orwell
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." --F. Scott Fitzgerald