When it comes to political scandal involving indiscretions of the moral variety, there is often more condemnation aimed at the Republican Party. That is because the GOP is the political party identified with family values and that often leads to a double standard for the political parties. However, is the Democratic Party on the losing end of this standard?
On Wednesday’s “The ED Show” on MSNBC, host Ed Schultz asked MSNBC contributor Melissa Harris-Perry, also a writer for The Nation magazine and a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, if pressure from New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner’s own party for him to resign in the midst of a social networking scandal changed his circumstances. She said yes, but not without some unfairness.
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“Now that changes everything,” Harris-Perry said. “And let’s be really clear – the world is not fair. I live in Louisiana. I’m a constituent of [Sen.] David Vitter. I understand that this is not — this is not necessarily a situation of fairness. It’s not, you know, putting one bad thing next to another and determining which one is most awful or most in violation of congressional ethics. That is not what is going on here. This is about politics.”
One example she argued was the treatment Sarah Palin received during the 2008 campaign for her daughter Bristol’s out-of-wedlock birth and she wondered if President Barack Obama could have survived similar circumstances.
“And so just like in the 2008 election cycle, you know, Sarah Palin and her family were able to survive the fact that she had a pregnant out-of-wedlock daughter when we know the Obamas would never have been able to survive that fact,” Harris-Perry said. “This is the reality. [Andrew] Breitbart knows it. And the thing is Weiner knew it when he did it. And he should have known better.”