A Democrat Super PAC is displaying epic hypocrisy by running a new ad in South Carolina's special election for Congress that slams Mark Sanford for adultery in office. This -- from the party that lined up almost unanimously behind Bill Clinton's adultery in office with an intern? This -- from the party that never wanted to know what John Edwards was doing visiting his mistress in a hotel, cheating on a wife who was dying of cancer?
But national media organizations reporting on this ad can't seem to find the words "Clinton" of "Edwards" anywhere in their articles, or note how Democrats don't find adultery much of a negative. The star of the anti-Sanford ad is a female attorney who says she's a Republican:
JENNIFER STARK, MOUNT PLEASANT, SC: I used to be for Mark Sanford, but not any more. He skipped town to be with his mistress on Father’s Day. Sanford even asked his wife for permission to have an affair. And wasted our taxpayer dollars on himself. I really was disappointed when I heard the extent to which he betrayed our trust. I was mortified, angry, embarrassed, betrayed. I’m a Republican – but Mark Sanford just doesn’t share our values.
This ad certainly speaks to my conservative beliefs about what Sanford did wrong. But liberal reporters and politicos are shameless to throw the adultery card when they would have been red-faced yelling at anyone who did this to Clinton or Edwards. There's no sense the Democrats even crossed a line that was too personal, too negative.
CNN's Political Ticker blog couldn't find the hypocrisy.
MSNBC.com couldn't find it. "House Majority PAC’s [ad] is the most direct yet. And it plays exactly to the demographic that Democrats know they must win over to be victorious–female Republican voters."
AP suggested Sanford was just an unlucky schmuck: "Sanford can't seem to escape attacks on the extramarital affair that derailed his political career, which he hopes to revive in a special congressional election that is now a week away."
Rachel Weiner at The Washington Post tried to say it wasn't desperate: "[Democrat Elizabeth] Colbert Busch has shown herself to be a serious challenger, and Democratic ads have repeatedly made a case against Sanford on ethics grounds. In that context, criticism of his personal behavior might not seem so desperate."
