Open Mike Duvall - at least he left quietly

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 9/15/9 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

Will the sex scandal of former GOP Assemblyman Mike Duvall make a difference for the California GOP? In that Duvall - now known as Spanky - had the good sense to resign 15 hours into the scandal, the answer would be: No.

Orange County Republicans are like weeds. Cut off one and another will grow in its place.

With any luck, Duvall's replacement will respect the position and not treat the Capitol like a frat house.

True, Duvall comes across as another Republican family-values hypocrite - but that's only because he proved to be one. The beefy lawmaker bragged in graphic detail before what he thought was a turned-off Capitol microphone about two affairs - one with a Sacramento lobbyist with business before the energy committee on which he was vice chairman. Insiders, who wouldn't blink at the news of a lawmaker straying outside his marriage vows, were left dumbstruck at the Duvall's barrier-breaking stupidity.

The issue isn't that Duvall failed as a role model, because no one knew who he was until his chatter about spanking and lingerie catapulted Duvall from Sacramento obscurity into the limelight of international scorn.

GOP leaders did not lift a finger to defend Duvall for saying the indefensible. To the contrary, even before Duvall's resignation, Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh called on Duvall to quit.

Why does this keep happening to family-values Republicans? Probably for the same reason it happens to Democrats, like former Sen. John Edwards and former prosecutor and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer: Because it happens. And because they get caught.

In a sense, Duvall's fall shows how too-big political egos are a problem that takes care of itself. Pols get arrogant, and that means sloppy.

[AKA Elena]

It is certainly not the privilege of political figures to be exposed in sexual pecadillos. The ONLY difference is the high profiles they have attained. This world of today has lost modesty, decent language, civility, and ultimately, serious moral failures abound in the most surprising of places.

The pols just have the spotlight -- look around your neighborhood or as close as, a member/s of your own family, you may be aghast at someone or something that happens right in front of you, without your having the power to help the situation!

This decline in morals is also exhibited in the lack of so many to have the ability to keep any promises, let alone those of marriage. Family unity becomes virtually extinct, in many cases.

As long as we allow such a permissive society from cradle to leaving the nest -- these faults are going to be exposed more and more. The offenders are not bound by conscience and repentance, they are just embarrassed to be caught. I find it to be a tragedy and commonality of modern times. Political parties are not separatesd into moral and immoral in personal lives, even though platforms of permissiveness are more likely to condone evil.

Pray for our return to God and His Commandments, for a start.

[RobinOfKingston]

In a sense, Duvall's fall shows how too-big political egos are a problem that takes care of itself. Pols get arrogant, and that means sloppy.

I agree with that last sentence, but an institution can't function on the edge of sloppy. We are seeing the cumulative results in California and Washington DC.