A Family Values Republican Admits Affair, Resigns

From Fox:

Indiana Rep. Mark Souder Resigns After Affair With Staffer

The staffer was a woman, which I am counting as a small victory.

Elected as a family values conservative as part of the Republican revolution in 1994, Souder survived a tough re-election challenge in 2008 and survived a contested primary two weeks ago.

Does the seat stay open until the November election?  Does the governor (a Republican) appoint a stand-in, perhaps the primary runner-up?

Comments

[bgates]

Don't you have any Indiana friends who could tell us how honorable this guy is?

[Pofarmer]

The staffer was a woman, which I am counting as a small victory.

Nearly snorted by Pepsi.

[matt]

maybe he's a conservative Mormon....or maybe just a moron....

[Clarice]

In cheerier news, Major garrett is tweeting-- or is it twittering?--that the turnout in Murtha's old district is very small and the Dems there are desperate.

[Sue]

They should have retired Murtha before he retired himself.

[Clarice]

In amusing news, Calif has had on its books for decades a law on illegal immigrants very much like the Az law.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/05/17/la-city-councilman-blasts-az-law-for-provisions-in-ca-penal-code/>Boycott yourself, Calif

[Sue]

What makes these fools think they can get away with it? If you are having an affair, and especially if you are a republican, resign or don't run again. Better yet, run. Run as fast as you can to the exit sign before you drag the party into your affair.

[Sue]

And, just to shore up my bonafides as a right wing zealot nutjob, have you seen a picture of Souder? Why on earth would anyone want to have an affair with him? Is he that powerful and rich? Has to be, cause he sure didn't hide when the ugly stick came out.

[Sue]

Clarice,

Even funnier, the tourism director in San Diego is crying foul that Arizona is returning the boycott favor. With the economy the way it is, they (AZ) shouldn't punish San Diego. Paraphrasing but that is the gist of his complaint.

[Sue]

Here is his exact quote:

"We're in a very tough environment already because of everything else going on, and we don't need another negative impact to our industry," Convention and Visitors Bureau President Joe Terzi told the Union-Tribune. "This affects all the hardworking men and women who count on tourism for their livelihoods, so we're saying, don't do something that hurts their livelihoods."

[Clarice]

Nebraska is thinking of enacting the same law.

Apparently Souder's seat remains vacant under Indiana law until there is a special election, to answer TM's question.

[peter]

I swear these guys do this just so that idiot Frank Rich will have something to write about. Iran is getting nuclear weapons, we are giving ours up, the economy is horrendous, but some congressman no one ever heard of gets some tail from an office assistant, and nothing else matters.

[Dorothy Jane]

That is what I thought, Sue! Who would want him? Yikes. I was also thrilled, however, that he was having and affair with a woman. And she seems to be long out of her teen years!

[jimmyk]

Now if only every congressman who's had an affair would resign, we wouldn't need term limits.

I wish some enterprising scholar would look at politicians who have had affairs (or other serious sexual improprieties) while in office, and tabulate whether they've resigned or not, by party affiliation. Why were we stuck with the likes of Teddy Kennedy and Barney Frank all these decades?

[narciso]

"Good news everybody" you can just about figure that it's nothing of the kind, in the LUN

[Porchlight]

Wheels within wheels here on the little blue island deep in the heart of TX:

Groups boycott Austin over Austin's boycott of Arizona

[maryrose]

Two laughs of the day on one blog! It doesn't get better than this:
Clarice's" Boycott yourself California" I'm still guffawing and Indiana rep gets hit with the ugly stick - thank you Sue,I thought the exact same thing-who is that desperate...

[Todd]

Oklahoma has had the same type law as AZ and they are enforcing it. Crime is down. Unemployment is down, welfare claims are down. What could go wrong.

[bgates]

Bill Clinton is holding a press conference to support Souder.
"Mark Souder and I have known each other for almost 20 years, and I’ve always known him to be the most faithful of men,” Clinton said, just outside a D.C. Burger King. “And nothing I read says anything differently about Mark Souder. He’s going to continue to be a great United States Representative in my view. So this is a bump but frankly I think that he’s handled it well and as I said, I’ve known him to be nothing but the most faithful of human beings in public life.”

[centralcal]

I join Sue and the others - ugly stick indeed!

[narciso]

That's just this side of plausible there, bgates, in the LUN

[Bill in AZ]

AZ does it again. Arizona passes law banning multilingual requirement for businesses.

AZ - making lib heads explode almost daily. To summarize just this last couple of months:
- SB1070 illegal immigration enforcement
- ban on focused ethnic studies in HS
- ban on multilingual requirement for businesses
- exemption from federal gun laws for guns manufactured in state
- concealed carry without a permit
- pretty much any mention of Sheriff Joe Arpaio by anyone will explode libs heads

Too bad AZ didn't pass the birfer bill - just for the sound effects.

[Jane]

I love Arizona.

[centralcal]

Bill: God Bless, Arizona!

And, Todd, good for Oklahoma, too.

[Sue]

Damn. Whoddathunk Arizona would out-cowboy Texas?

[Dave (in MA)]

Blue State Hope and Change Update:

MA foreclosures up more than 80% over same month last year.

CRAppy news.

[Sue]

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/05/18/az-utility-board-member-responds-to-la-boycott-over-sb1070/>Hot Air has a transcript of Commissioner Gary Pierce's response to the City of Angels. Go over and read it all...

If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.

Go Arizona Go!

[Captain Hate]

AZ - making lib heads explode almost daily.

Sounds like Paradise

[Threadkiller]

San Diego's mayor Jerry Sanders on Arizona's law:

"It's not the job of our police department to solve the federal government's immigration problem," Sanders said.

"As a former police chief, I know what we ask of our officers every day with our limited city resources, and their first priority is to protect our citizens," he said. "There is no reason to complicate and compromise their priorities."

I am glad he doesn't waste city resources on federal problems...

"The mayor of San Diego says he'll rope off a La Jolla seal colony again if the city attorney advises there's a coastal emergency.
On Monday, the City Council voted to keep the barrier on the beach year-round. But that needs approval from the state Coastal Commission."

Oh, by the way. Protecting the seals is enforcing federal law.

"The clash between federal law, which calls for protecting the seals, and state law, which requires the city to honor a 1931 agreement to keep the beach suitable for children, is at the heart of a controversy now well into its second decade."

"

[narciso]

He actually went there, I thought that would be just a general boycott

[Ignatz]

--The staffer was a woman, which I am counting as a small victory.--

Me too, but if experience is any guide even some JOMers might take offense at this clearly homophobic attitude of TM's.

[Jane]

Naw Ignatz. No worries.

[Bill in AZ]

It's not the job of our police department to solve the federal government's immigration problem

No problem - CA has the feds enforcing CA laws at the border instead. Twice I spent several hours at the border trying to "smuggle" 3 cases of declared Baja wine across the border into CA on the way to AZ. I figured I would just write a check for the tax and be on my way. Instead, entire vehicle turned out, multiple armed agents, hours of delay, all because they were enforcing some CA restriction on wine "importation". I guess they thought I would set up a roadside stand in CA with my 3 cases of wine. I finally convinced them that I would not wreak havoc on the CA wine industry, paid my $11.72 in taxes, and promised to not stop anywhere until I reached AZ. Next time I'll just stuff the 3 cases of wine into a few bales of marijuana - probably will be waved right through.

[matt]

my daughter, a student at the University of Arizona, put it very simply the other day when she was home.

She said, "of course it's racial profiling. They're all Mexicans."

I just about fell off the chair laughing....

[Bill in AZ]

Cowboy up, Sue. I wouldn't want to be Gov Perry when you do either :)

[Cecil Turner]

Multiple senior House sources indicated that the extent of Souder's affair with the staffer would have landed him before the House Ethics Committee.

The way I read that, it'd also apply to Democrats having affairs. Which seems a bit odd.

[Bill in AZ]

Sue, when Texas got civilized, you prolly know where all cowboys who got run out of Texas ended up...

[Sue]

Bill,

We're only civilized in the big cities. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston. Out here where I live, we still shoot varmints.

[Janet]

I don't have the words to say how impressed I am with Arizona and it's citizens. I sent Gov. Brewer a thank you email and I sent the Gov. of Virginia a "let's be brave like them" email.
Stand up for what you believe in! How refreshing is that?

[Clarice]

Taranto BOTW:

SAT Analogy Practice Test
• "Woody Allen Comes Out in Support of Polanski"--headline, Associated Press, May 16

• "Dodd Defends Blumenthal"--headline, The Weekly Standard website, May 18

[Janet]

This bothered me..."Disgraced NYC Police Chief Bernie Kerik Reports to Prison" LUN

What about Rangel? and Dodd? They cheated on their taxes and misreported "deals". Why isn't the term "disgraced" prefacing their names whenever they appear?

[elotrolado]

you claim a small victory because of the so-called morally correct gender of the staffer. how pathetic.
those who scream their so-called family values the loudest are clearly doing so to distract others from their own practices: sex outside of marriage whether it be prostitution--Vitter, Spitzer; abuse of power--congressional pages, staffers; or the widely hated gay sex (wide standing Larry Craig; or most recently the Family Values Council co-founder/preacher/quack psychologist who hired help online from rentboy.com) OR divorce (4 timer and likely Prez candidate Gingrich). "The lady douth protest too much" is a good indicator methinks.

[centralcal]

I read that letter, Sue! Good for Arizona - cut off So. Cal. power (and water).

Blumenthal is another creepy looking dude in Democrat politics. Gotta love Democrats, though - rape, pillage, steal, cheat, lie - but NEVER ever give up your office.

[Cecil Turner]

"The lady douth [sic] protest too much" is a good indicator methinks.

Okay, how do you explain Barney Frank? (Or Gerry Studds, Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards . . .)

[Captain Hate]

likely Prez candidate Gingrich

It must be "Use the internet" day at the halfway houses.

[Janet]

It must be "Use the internet" day at the halfway houses.

LOL!

[Dave (in MA)]

I wonder if our host put in the small victory clause as bait for the May 18, 2010 at 04:15 PM types.

[daveinboca]

My guess is that if you had a border scuffle between CA & AZ like the Maumee border fight between Ohio & Michigan, AZ would turn out the lights and the ganja-chomping lotus-eating Golden Bears would melt away like Los Angeles' NFL franchise and sue for peace to get their video games back.

[Clarice]

Personally, I'm sending at my own expense thousands of signs to be posted at the border reading "Boycott Watts"

[Ignatz]

--My guess is that if you had a border scuffle between CA & AZ like the Maumee border fight between Ohio & Michigan--

Rest assured there would be at least as much lead zinging into the rear of any ganja-chomping, lotus-eating CA lines as would be coming from the AZ side.

[Janet]

Ha! Like Braveheart...when Calif. attacks, at least half of their ranks rises up and join the blue-faced citizens of Arizona!

[Cecil Turner]

Hey, look at it this way. Souder had his decision made for him. Some folks aren't so lucky:

Precious few politicians know when to leave the world of politics, according to retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).

But by far the sweetest story is this:

President Barack Obama says he loves Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) — just not quite enough to hazard an 11th-hour political trip to Pennsylvania for an ally of convenience increasingly viewed as unlikely to win.

[Pofarmer]

On a serious note. This is one thing about the Tea Party types that worries me. They are running a center right social platform that includes a heavy dose of "Judeo Christian Ethics" to more or less quote JC Watts. Too easy to get hung by your own petard if you falter. And plenty do falter.

[Janet]

Speaking of the ugly stick. I could never be a Democrat...

[JM Hanes]

narciso:

""Good news everybody" you can just about figure that it's nothing of the kind, in the LUN"

I was actually watching the hearing with Chuck Schumer that Byron York describes:

"This unwillingness to openly examine ideology has sometimes led senators who oppose a nominee to seek out non-ideological disqualifying factors, like small financial improprieties from long ago, to justify their opposition," Schumer said at the 2001 hearing. "This, in turn, has led to an escalating war of 'gotcha' politics."

While tarring candidates as putative racists apparently never made Schumer's gotcha list, I remember thinking how refreshing it was to hear someone talk honestly about the process, for a change. I gave him a lot of points for that. Alas, the junior Senator was immediately taken to the woodshed by his Democratic seniors and never heard from again on that subject. He was a quick study! Kennedy was the Lion of the Senate. Schumer is the Shark.

[JM Hanes]

Lordy, Janet, Waxman looks like Yoda's evil twin.

[Ignatz]

--Kennedy was the Lion of the Senate. Schumer is the Shark.--

And Waxman is the gargoyle of the House.

[JM Hanes]

OTOH, separated at birth?

[Ignatz]

--Lordy, Janet, Waxman looks like Yoda's evil twin.--

Think I posted this before but IMO he bears an uncanny resmblance to Sam:

Except Sam had the decency not to affect the wire rimmed glasses and his teeth were in better shape.

[JM Hanes]

Triplets?

[bunkerbuster]

So now the Arizona government is telling businesses what languages its employees can and can't speak. And conservatives are eating it with a spoon. What happened to all that rhetoric about precious freedom, limited government and Constitutionalism?
Arizona's increasingly fascistic approach to government, and the support its getting from conservatives, demonstrates that freedom has nothing to do with the conservative worldview, but is merely a rhetorical dodge to conceal what is basic chauvinism: the majority digging its heel into the minority -- be it ethnic or religious or sexual-preference.

[PJ]

"those who scream their so-called family values the loudest are clearly doing so to distract others from their own practices"

Pathetic BS. Spitzer, McGreevey, Mel Reynolds, Chris Dodd (sandwich man), Eric Massa harrasser of male staffers, Barney Frank the ticket fixin' pimp, John Edwards who borke laws in his affair coverups.

Can we PLEASE lay to rest the sleazy lie that somehow violation of marriage vows is exclusively a Republican problem, when it is clearly a bipartisan one, hitting all parties ... (oh, and not just men, there's a woman State Rep, Democrat, in Texas, Rios Ybarra, who left her hubby and wrecked another marriage in an affair ..
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/island-101717-padre-case.html

So spare us the Tut-tuting over moral conventions being the issue with these folks. Power corrupts and human fallability hits us all.

[Captain Hate]

So now the Arizona government is telling businesses what languages its employees can and can't speak.

It's difficult to imagine the substance of the law being more inaccurately described.

[Bill in AZ]

bb - errr..... yawn.....

[Janet]

How can it be fascist if the point of the law is saying the citizens don't have to do a certain thing? They are free to choose.
Novel idea!

[Clarice]

Speaking of Kagan, Louis Slaughter (D, NY) proves the value of having really stupid opponents.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100518/ap_on_go_su_co/us_kagan_abortion_1>Dumb as they come

[Ignatz]

Kind of hard to square this:

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed legislation affirming that nothing in state law requires businesses to provide "trained and competent" interpreters when a customer comes in speaking a language other than English. Assistant Attorney General Michael Walker said that has probably always been the law.

with this:

So now the Arizona government is telling businesses what languages its employees can and can't speak.

Arizona is specifically telling businusses that it [the state] will NOT tell them what languages they have to use, you pathetic dumbass.

[matt]

bunkerbuster, did you read the bill? Or are you going by what the morons in the press are saying?

[Jane says obamasucks]

He's looking for attention Matt.

[bgates]

The language that Bill quoted was vague. "State bans multilingual requirement for businesses" sounds more like "state will not allow businesses to require bilingualism as a condition for employment" than "state affirms that businesses have no legal requirement to hire bilingual employees".

Of course, Bill provided a link to a story that had clarifying language. But why read a direct quote from a law before calling the people who passed it fascists? That's no fun.

[Comanche Voter]

With respect to Souder: Keep your damn pen out of the company ink!

[Ralph L]

some JOMers might take offense at this clearly homophobic attitude of TM's.
It could have been farm animals, since he's from Indiana. Female, of course, there's nothing queer about Souder.

[JM Hanes]

What amuses me when the usual suspects rail on about Republican hypocrisy in stories like this one, is the implicit admission that Republicans start out with higher standards.

[Ralph L]

There's no sin worse than hypocrisy, except not recycling.

[daveinboca]

Speaking of Kagan, Louis Slaughter (D, NY) proves the value of having really stupid opponents.... or Slaughter's district is where the residue of the migrants to the Jersey Shore remained, stuck there because said residents wanted to go upscale culturally in Jersey, but didn't have the know-how or wherewithal to escape living in the Slaughter-house district.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . the Slaughter-house district.

[Groan] Seek help. It's a sickness. (You too, TM.)

[narciso]

She was elected back in '86, over some disatisfaction with the incumbent, Eckerd,
which goes to show you, you can't even work around this level of stupidity

[Captain Hate]

Why is Yahoo spelling that witless hag's name "Louis"? At first I thought it was another Clarice petit keyboard mal until I linked to the article. Then I did a google to make sure that any hick who represents backwoods denizens wearing the false teef of their kin didn't come from some family tree looking like a telephone pole that figured that anything other than Louweez was close enough.

[narciso]

This is the spin they're going with, well when you only have lemons, in the LUN

[Janet]

backwoods denizens wearing the false teef of their kin

LOL again Captain! Maybe someone could pass some used dentures on to Waxman? How bout it?....anyone got an extra pair?

[Janet]

narciso, the other thing I remember about the Penn. 12 district is that it was one of the most gerrymandered, odd shaped districts. Awhile ago there was a slide show of the most convoluted districts and Penn. 12 was on it.

I'll see if I can find it.

[Janet]

Here it is - LUN
From Slate

[bunkerbuster]

``Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed legislation affirming that nothing in state law requires businesses to provide "trained and competent" interpreters when a customer comes in speaking a language other than English. Assistant Attorney General Michael Walker said that has probably always been the law.''

If that's actually, the case, what a waste of government time and resources. For what? To prove that you're demagoguing the issue?

[Bill in AZ]

bb - as usual the answer to your question is in the link. what a dipshit.

[bunkerbuster]

Bill: the link says nothing about why the law was necessary. It merely says the law was in response to a lawsuit against a guy who -- fearing a lawsuit -- refused service to a Spanish speaker.
That still leaves open the question of why the AZ government felt it necessary to pass a law that merely says that the existing law exists.
More worrying: Google turns up only dozens of reprints of the "American Thinker's" version of this. Nothing else. Not one story, no original text of the law, nada. I smell a fish...

[Bill in AZ]

bb - get along to school son, and pay attention during civics for a change.

[bunkerbuster]

Thanks Bill! I appreciate that you're doing the best you can.
Meanwhile:
Arizona voters on Tuesday approved a temporary sales tax increase championed by a Republican governor who, despite angering conservative supporters, embraced it as the only way to avert sharp cuts in education and other services.

ROTFL.....

[Janet]

LUN is the article from Am. Thinker -

"Arizona passes law banning multilingual requirement for businesses"

Maybe you can get up off the floor now and read it bb.

[macphisto]

the Waxman photo should be captioned "BRRRRAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNSSSSSS!"