Saturday, September 1, 2007

The Compliment Vice Pays to Virture

Powerline's John Hinderaker makes a good point.

"Under the circumstances, it is easy to ridicule Craig. Easy, but not very productive. I think it is more useful to defend him against the principal charge leveled against him by liberals: hypocrisy. The conventional claim made by liberals who ought, in principle, to be sympathetic to Craig if he is indeed gay, is that he is a "hypocrite" because he has not supported political causes like gay marriage.

"This, however, is a non sequitur. Homosexual legislators are under no more obligation to support gay marriage, gay hate-crime legislation, etc., than African-American legislators are obliged to support affirmative action. In both cases, the issue is one of public policy. A homosexual, just as well as a heterosexual, may conclude that gay marriage is a bad idea. Gay activists of course disagree with this judgment, but it is not "hypocritical" for a homosexual legislator to hold a public policy view opposed to their own, any more than it is "hypocritical" for a legislator who has received a speeding ticket to support speed limits.

"What happened to Larry Craig is a tragedy for him and his family, and a misfortune for his staff, his friends and many others. He may be guilty of a number of sins, but hypocrisy is not among them."

1 Comments:

Anonymous Randal said...

Excellent quotes that show who the real hypocrites are in all of this.
Just as some of us have been saying all along, thank you.

September 5, 2007 10:54 AM 

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