Stephanopoulos and Krugman: Democrats Punish Adulterers More Harshly

"Politicians of both parties stray. The Democrats actually seem to punish their strayers more harshly."

So said -- with a straight face no less! -- the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Sunday's "This Week."

Even more laughable, for at least the third time in so many days, former Clinton advisor, and current "This Week" host, George Stephanopoulos agreed.

Make sure there isn't any food or drink in your mouth before you proceed (video available here, relevant section at 18:10):

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: One of the things we didn’t see -- now Kathleen, Paul, says this was shocking. You write about this a little bit on your blog this week and almost suggested that this shouldn’t be shocking, given the record of a lot of Republicans here.

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Politicians of both parties stray. The Democrats actually seem to punish their strayers more harshly.

STEPHANOPOULOS: More recently, that’s been true.

KRUGMAN: Yes. At least recently, that’s been true.

Well, George and Paul, how do you define "recently"?

Furthermore, how do you define "straying"?

After all, as NewsBusters' Brad Wilmouth pointed out Thursday:

[T]here are some obvious differences in the cases of people like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, ex-New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and Republicans such as Senator John Ensign. For example, Spitzer used campaign funds to stay in hotels where he met with prostitutes. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick committed numerous illegal acts and ultimately received a 120 day prison term for a sex scandal that also included felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.

And, Mcgreevey resigned in 2004 under threats of a sexual harassment lawsuit by his gay lover who also happened to be his homeland security advisor.

As such, comparing Sanford's transgressions to those of Spitzer, McGreevey, and Kilpatrick is absurd.

Yet, as Wilmouth noted, there's an even larger hypocrisy being exhibited by Stephanopoulos:

The fact that Stephanopoulos ignored the elephant in the room, the example of his former boss at the White House, is astounding.

Yes it is.