What the Jim Jordan scandal tells us about GOP morality

[riversedge]

What the Jim Jordan scandal tells us about GOP morality

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/11/what-the-jim-jordan-scandal-tells-us-about-gop-morality/?utm_term=.a8ecfb2b9340



by Paul Waldman July 11 at 1:26 PM Email the author
1:53
Rep. Jim Jordan faces accusations of inaction during Ohio State abuse

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is denying claims from multiple former Ohio State University wrestlers that he knew about inappropriate physicals from Richard Strauss. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post)

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is a Republican for today: deeply conservative, utterly contemptuous of Democrats, always eager to shout angrily at a witness in a hearing for the benefit of the cameras. In fact, some of his colleagues in the far-right Freedom Caucus had even suggested that he might be a good candidate for speaker of the House when Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) departs at the end of this term.

Now a sexual abuse scandal has dashed those hopes. Nevertheless, the way Republicans have defended Jordan tells us a great deal about how the parties have and haven’t changed in response to America’s evolving beliefs about what our moral obligations are and what behavior is acceptable.......................................................



.......................President Trump said about the allegations, “I don’t believe them at all. I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent. No question in my mind. I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man.” Ryan offered a similar tribute to Jordan’s character. “Jim Jordan is a friend of mine,” the speaker said. “I have always known Jim Jordan to be a man of honesty and a man of integrity.”



Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Jordan “absolutely would have acted” had he known that the abuse was going on, a sentiment echoed by Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who said he’s sure Jordan would “stand up for his athletes, just like he’s always stood up for what’s right.” The Freedom Caucus said this:

...........................................


As for Jordan himself, he has suggested that all the former wrestlers might be part of a Deep State conspiracy against him in response to his criticisms of the Robert S. Mueller III investigation. “I think the timing is suspect when you think about how this whole story came together after the [Rod] Rosenstein hearing and the speaker’s race,” he said.

Other conservatives are lining up behind him as well, though some without quite exonerating him in as complete a way. As one writer for the Federalist said, “I think it’s also important not to hold people 20 years ago to the standards of today, right? I think we have to look at these things in context.”

That’s not a completely unreasonable point. But if you don’t want to hold Jordan to the standards of today for something he did (or didn’t do) 20 years ago, the way to do it is to hold him to the standards of today for what he’s doing today. The appropriate thing for him to do now would be to say something like this:

I wish I had understood then what I understand now. I and many other people didn’t take what was happening with that doctor seriously enough. I was in a position of authority, with those young people in my charge, and I failed them. I should have spoken up, but I didn’t. The fact that there were other school officials who failed in the same way doesn’t absolve me of my own moral responsibility. I’m sorry, and in the future I’m going to work to make sure nothing like that happens again.


But taking responsibility doesn’t seem to be an option any Republican is considering. That demonstrates that as the country has confronted the #MeToo movement and begun asking itself whether we have to look at these kinds of issues in a different way, the GOP hasn’t changed one iota.

Contrast that to what happened when Al Franken D-Minn.), ............................

You might argue that was just crass politics, since the Democrats believed their base wouldn’t stand for them tolerating any sexual misbehavior among their own, and therefore it was less a sincere moral stance than a political calculation. But even if that’s true, it shows that one party — both its representatives and its voters — thinks any degree of sexual abuse is intolerable and is willing to act on that belief, while the other party doesn’t and isn’t...........................................




.............................The first impulse of Republicans when such a scandal touches their own, on the other hand, is to defend the member no matter what the facts suggest and charge that it’s a liberal conspiracy.

That may be partly because they all pledged their loyalty to a president who is on tape bragging about his ability to commit sexual assault with impunity (“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”), and who was credibly accused of sexual misconduct by a dozen women. Whatever the reasons, they haven’t caught up to the morality of the 21st century.

[The Blue Flower]

1. Republican morals are a myth

As real as unicorns. They value power and nothing else.

[SamKnause]

2. They are not conservative.

They have no family values.

They have no morals.

They believe in a large intrusive government.

They are not religious.


Everything about Republicans is a lie.

They are EVIL FUCKING LIARS !!!!!!!!!!

[Thomas Hurt]

3. IMHO, Jordan didn't care because his macho, homophobic, rugged individualistic

conservative ideology tells him that the kids were supposed to beat the crap out of the Dr. and since they did not they got what they deserved.