Reagan biographer Craig Shelley had an incredibly interesting take on the latest scandals that have taken South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Nevada Senator John Ensign down a notch or two: "As Father’s Day has just passed, it is worth noting that the most significant representation of family values---once considered the province of the GOP---in America today is President Barack Obama." (Politico Arena)

Who's to say what goes on behind closed doors?  But in the open, the Obama's are the personification of a happy marriage.  And it shows.  Especially when set against the often broken, disfunctional relationships of Washington, D.C.  Take John Ensign, or Mark Sanford, or anyone else who's preached "family values" over the course of their careers.

It's not that sex scandals are a partisan thing; no one is forgetting Bill Clinton and John Edwards amongst the Mark Foleys, Larry Craigs, and so on..  But what the repeat GOP extra-marital affair debacles have demonstrated is that "family values" means more than just paying lip service to the idea of the traditional nuclear family. 

More and more, Democrats have taken up that mantle.  What is important in any household is not to judge the makeup of a family- whether the home includes two happily committed men and their adopted child, or a set of parents and their pregnant teen, or any other manner of telling people what to do with their personal, private lives.  Sure, it may make someone feel pretty righteous to tell someone else all of the moral wrongs they've committed, all of the ways they've undermined traditional family values.  The Ensign/Sanford mixup really highlights that every family has problems.  No family is perfect. 

Really promoting family values doesn't mean sitting in judgment of the lifestyles of others.  Instead, it means providing families with the opportunity to be together, and to teach and learn from one another.  It means making sure that men and women are able to earn a living wage, so that they can go home in the evenings to share a meal and help their children with their homework.  It means allowing people the option not to have to choose between paying the mortgage and having quality health coverage.  It means providing working moms access to daycare and other services. 

In every way, Democrats have become the "take action" party of family values, giving men and women the ability to be involved in the lives of each other and their children.  From raising the minimum wage to pushing for affordable health care for all, Democrats haven't just talked the line...they've walked it.  Sitting in judgment of others isn't "family values."  Making life easier for every day families is. 

Scandals are unavoidable, and they happen on both sides of the aisle.  But what's clear is that the GOP's brand of family values isn't holding up well in light of the fact that its members can't seem to keep to the program themselves.  As a result, Democrats are taking over the playing field, and may eventually be able to control the debate, to show that real family values means action for stronger, tighter-knit families, not just pointing the finger at others

OH righgt! Our crack smoking bisexual Muslim is definitely not what I want MY family to emulate!

YUCK.

Sanford's 'scandal' by the way does not affect me like the SCANDAL of Obama's handing our sovereignty over to his private banker friends in Europe! He is setting up a dictatorship. I think you have a lot more to worry about with that, than with this silly issue which does not affect us in any way.

but sometimes they do make a little sense. Remember this one? "Hate is Not a Family Value."

men and women enjoy sex and money can buy nice things, there will sex and corruption scandals within both parties.

What is true is that the Republicans are self-proclaimed moralists and thus are suffering as the truth tarnishes their facade image.

own moral highground. WTF is wrong with demoncrats? Just heardon MSNBC President AL Gore was suppose to speak at President Obama energy conference but desided against it because they did not want to UPSET the republicans. Andrea Mitchel, (he would be a lighting rod, better to use him in the background.) WTF, just keep shoveling The Dick down our throughts every day.

disappears from usage. It needs to follow the path of the meaningless and manipulative phrase "The War on Terror".

i feel like if democrats pick up the mantle of being the "Party of Family Values" it's just gonna backfire on them like it did on Republicans sometime down the road. as long as politicians continue to be politicians, some of them are going to embarrass themselves and their constituents at some point or another, and make whatever "hey look how moral we are" message completely hollow. why not just focus on politics that make the country better, and let families deal with family values?

government that works for the citizens.

a high political office that seems to cause some men to seek the stimulation, danger and ego-boosting thrill of sexual affairs. What I've noticed is that those on the Democratic side pay the price for their indiscretions, while the Republicans--especially those whose prior piety makes them doubly hypocritical--fess up to their affairs (once caught) and go all religious on the public airwaves. Then, they stay in power anyway.

It always nice to hear a conservative finding perspective on the place of private romantic matters in public life, saying "this silly issue does not affect us in any way" is even stronger than I would have put it. I would grant that there is a secondary or tertiary role of our leaders as role models.
PS--The reference to a dictatorship is curious. On reflection it is even mystifying. Could it be Mr. or Ms. "sucks" just doesn't like sharing the fruits of our republic with the uninsured and such?

Paul Frank Website Link

Good observation.

Paul Frank Website Link

...though I might flip it around. I think if you talk to most men honestly you'll find the sexual impulse is already there. (Various psychological people like to throw around figures of a male sexual impulse occurring somewhere between every 30 seconds to 3 minutes.) I would less phrase it "seek the stimulation" than the barriers preventing pursuing coming down.

Paul Frank Website Link