“The Clinton-Axelrod-Alinsky politics of personal destruction. Sure, the guy may have screwed up, but it has NOTHING to do with “2016”, but then has everything to do with “2016””
Suppose you found verifiable information that a person who wrote a book or produced a movie that was critical of Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney had transgressed their marriage vows, would you take steps to publicize that information?
That is not true. Conservatives need to clean up our own house.
There is a reason why D’Souza is no longer at King's College; no matter what he did or did not do, he needs to get his personal life in order before he can serve in a public position as the head of a Christian college that takes the Bible seriously. Personally, I am extremely unhappy to learn that the Board of Trustees apparently knew about D’Souza’s marriage problems for years and let him become president in the first place. Much of this could have been handled behind-the-scenes with a quiet resignation or a study leave before it all blew up in just about the most public possible way, three weeks before a presidential election in which D’Souza’s work was directly involved in attacking a candidate.
This may have been a disaster waiting to happen. When this is all over, the Board of Trustees needs to answer some hard questions about what they knew and when they knew it.
13 posted on Thu Oct 18 2012 13:50:35 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by Uncle Slayton: “Suppose you found verifiable information that a person who wrote a book or produced a movie that was critical of Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney had transgressed their marriage vows, would you take steps to publicize that information?”
Absolutely yes... no ifs, ands, or buts.
The problem is not merely the accusation of infidelity, but also the accusation of hypocrisy. If D’Souza were a tough-as-nails retired Army NCO who openly admitted to lots of womanizing in his past, I would not be happy but I'd be a lot less concerned. That hypothetical Army NCO established his credibility by his military service. D’Souza established his credibility by his defense of traditional Christian values, and that has now been called into very serious question.
Slayton, I know you're asking about a bookwriter or a filmmaker, but the same standard applies to anyone in public life, and especially candidates for public office.
Granted, I might be happier unearthing dirt on Mitt Romney (not that I think there is any — the guy seems squeaky clean), but I would do exactly the same thing, with a lot of sadness, even if the candidate involved was my favorite person ever running for public office.
Preferably, any seriously damaging information needs to get out to the public early in the primary season. If voters want to elect someone with a bad past, it needs to be widely known long in advance so it can be clear to everyone whether the past sins are part of a continuing pattern, or whether the repentance is real.
Likewise, if the accusations are false, the candidate needs time to rebut them. Many men in positions of political power attract women who know how to manipulate them, and there is a difference between being tempted to commit adultery and actually committing adultery. Right now all we know for sure is that D’Souza has done some things that look really foolish at best, but we don't yet know that he's done more than get himself into a very compromising situation that is extremely difficult to explain.
Unfortunately, this article by Christianity Today not only largely confirms the original World Magazine report but also includes some troubling comments about the future direction of the college.
This is not good. It looks as if D’Souza will not be the only casualty of this situation — the college itself may end up losing its Christian activist mission.
We'll all know more soon.
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Dinesh D’Souza Resigns as President of The King's College
School may now shift from his emphasis on conservative politics.
By Melissa Steffan [posted 10/18/2012 11:58AM]