Paul Krugman, NY Times explores attitudes about hypocrisy and politicians:
… here’s an item that caught my eye, given what I wrote about hypocrisy yesterday:
Now that’s real hypocrisy — and if the past is any indication, it won’t matter at all for Rep. Walsh’s career.
There’s a big difference between the left and the right in such matters, one that I don’t fully understand, although I’m trying. Here’s how it goes: if a liberal politician is caught behaving badly — enriching himself while preaching the need to help the poor, or just in general showing himself less than admirable by having an affair, visiting call girls, whatever — his career is over.
But if a conservative politician who preaches stern traditional morality is caught engaging in actions that are at odds with what he preaches — buying sex, taking wide stances in restrooms, or, in this case, stiffing his family even while preaching family values — he may well ride right through the scandal. Witness what’s going on now with Herman Cain.
How can this be?