The Religious Right Strangely Silent on Sanford's Sordid Sex Drama

By Steve Benen
July 2, 2009

Strange ‹ they usually have so much to say about other people's sex lives.

THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S 'WALL OF SILENCE'.... Most of the relevant players
have weighed in on South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's (R) personal and
professional difficulties, but Dan Gilgoff reports there's one group whose
silence stands out.

<http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/07/01/family-values-groups
-still-silent-on-mark-sanford.html>

One week after Mark Sanford admitted to his affair with an Argentine woman ‹
and a day after he called his mistress his "soul mate" and acknowledged
further indiscretions ‹ I'm struck by the total silence of pro-family
groups.

The Family Research Council has been completely quiet on the South Carolina
governor's affair. So has Concerned Women for America. Ditto for Focus on
the Family.

The wall of silence is all the more striking given that 10 Palmetto State
senators in Sanford's own party have called for him to step down. Does the
pro-family movement burn up credibility if it looks the other way when
Republican allies own up to extramarital affairs?

That's certainly a reasonable question, though I'm not at all sure the
religious right still has "credibility" in reserve.

Either way, the movement's silence is striking. The afternoon Sanford
admitted his affair, the Family Research Council, which had invited Sanford
to be a featured speaker at its 2009 Values Voter Summit, moved with
lightning speed to remove the governor from its guest list.

<http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/so-long-sanford-we-hardly-knew-ya>

But that obviously isn't a condemnation. While religious right groups rarely
hesitate to issue moralistic denunciations about events of the day, they've
somehow managed to give Sanford a pass.

Gilgoff flagged this gem from a book Family Research Council President Tony
Perkins wrote: "As long as we as Christians are willing to tolerate or
overlook duplicity in our self-identified party, it will be clear to the
world that our allegiance is to a party and not the truth, regardless of
what we claim.... [I]f we are ever to speak as the moral conscience of the
nation, we must consistently stand for a clear set of values and principles,
no matter if that leads to a temporary loss of political power."

I realize that Sanford was as close an ally to the religious right movement
as any governor in the country. But if these groups expect to lecture the
rest of us about morality and family values, they should at least offer some
criticism of their close ally.

Steve Benen is "blogger in chief" of the popular Washington Monthly online
blog, Political Animal <http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/> . His background
includes publishing The Carpetbagger Report, and writing for a variety of
publications, including Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect, the
Huffington Post, and The Guardian. He has also appeared on NPR's "Talk of
the Nation," MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show," Air America Radio's "Sam Seder
Show," and XM Radio's "POTUS '08."

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers//141062/
<http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/141062/>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]