Opinion by Glen Davis
Recent revelations about an extramarital affair by Republican Tom Horne have caused the Republican party to speak out.
Some have attempted to blow it off with a comparison to South America. That happens all of the time in Brazil. Or the same caparison to European politicians. If a European politician doesn’t have a mistress there is something wrong with him. Oh, it’s so cosmopolitan they cry.
What a man does in the privacy of his own room is his own business, Republicans are quick to add.
The Republicans are stressing that the Federalist Papers make it clear that a misdemeanor is not impeachable unless it violates our national security.
Oh, I am sorry. I got my stories confused. The same people that are running ads encouraging people to call Tom Horne to urge him to drop out of the race are the same people that used those statements to defend the extramarital affair of Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky in 1996.
And the media—especially in Arizona—is loving to hate. The same media that defended Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair is going after Tom Horne like he was investigating the death of four Americans in Africa.
AZfamily.com did report that Horne paid the $300 fine for the misdemeanor hit-and-run. The article quotes Horne as saying,
The vehicle’s owner stated the car already had a dent that the federal agents who noted the incident wrongly assumed I caused. Had I known there were scratches, I would have left my name and contact information so that I could have taken care of this personally.
He apparently pleaded not guilty to the affair (pun intended) back in November of 2012, however.
The intent of this oped is not to defend extramarital affairs by anyone. They are wrong.
I do have a problem with the States’ Attorney General not leaving a note no matter how small the accident might seem. The one thing that the Federalists of old assured the people is that everyone would be obligated to follow the laws that were passed by Congress—including Congressmen. Except, of course, for the Obamadoesntcare mandates.
Of course Arizona politicians from Flake to Salmon (and of course Democrats) are asking Horne to step aside. If Horne does not step down it could impact the party which McCain and Flake have so carefully maintained as the bastion of Republican ideals which our founder espoused.
The problem is that people cannot seem to see the hypocrisy of the position of the media because the media apparently does not deliver historic context to their iPads. Voters cannot be bothered by anything beyond the latest episode of Twilight or latest scripted reality series.
Tom can always apologize to his mistress in 17 years, or so.