Turning the Other Cheek

Why am I not outraged at the recently-revealed lewd comments made by Donald Trump? It's not that they were made eleven years ago. It's not that these comments were made in expected privacy. And it's not even to excuse such locker room banter as machismo. It IS because I have grown weary of the double standard that the American media always applies to Republican vis a vis Democrat indiscretions. Republicans have demanded much higher standards of their office holders than the party of Jefferson and Jackson. So, anytime a politician from the Right seems to be getting too uppity, the New York Times or the Washington Post or 60 Minutes trots out a real or even manufactured scandal ... knowing that fellow Republicans will often arise with moral rectitude and ostracize their compatriot.

This seldom happens with "progressives" ... only in the most egregious cases of clear criminality do such excisings occur ... usually out of the spotlight of national media coverage ... even when the Democrat is quietly secreted behind bars. (One notable exception is Anthony Weiner who was repeatedly and publically too maliciously deviant to hide.) This dichotomy of media coverage has finally snapped my Puritan suspenders and, I believe, those in much of Middle America. We are now going out on strike and will ignore any existing or new Trump scandals until at least a few prominent Democrats denounce Hellary Clinton for her many and more serious breaches of law and protocol.

We are tired of turning the other cheek ... particularly since the media bashers seem to derive so much pleasure out of their sadistic spin. We are now assuming the tactics of the enemy ... particularly since it seems to have worked so well for them. Let them gnash their teeth and wear sack cloth for a change ... to bring things back in balance.