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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (175762)	8/29/2001 11:48:13 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 769670

Shakespeare was wrong, Hendren right By Ernest Dumas August 24, 2001 Minnesota is a place where voters insist upon politics that is pure and straight. The reform state punishes politicians severely for behavior that elsewhere we consider only a little opportunistic. But if they value rectitude in their public servants Minnesotans love repentance even more. It reached the point a few years ago that the worst thing that could befall a political candidate in Minnesota was for his opponent to call a news conference to confess that he was a recovering alcoholic or to recount some carnal failing. They didn't have to count the ballots. The election was over. Politicians everywhere now have discovered that it was not the cheerless Minnesota winters or the sentimental Scandinavian temperament that made public confession there so easy and forgiveness so universal. All of us - well, most of us - love the martyred sinner who owns up to his failings. Jim Hendren, a Republican candidate for Congress in the Third District special election, tested the theory this week. Hendren, a former state representative and a leader of the Christian conservative movement, along with his uncles Tim and Asa Hutchinson, cemented his place in the hearts of Republicans in Northwest Arkansas by announcing that he had an extended romance with a married woman a while back. Hendren and his wife summoned his favorite newspaper reporters to a hotel room at Fort Smith and went into some detail about the affair, which the lovers ended by mutual agreement when both decided that cheating on their spouses was wrong. He recently confessed to his wife, his children and his church, and all forgave him. Hendren does not feel so charitable about the Republicans who spread the gossip and thus presented him with the choice, at least in his mind, of leaving the race or telling his family. "Few love to hear about the sins they love to act," Shakespeare wrote, but for the only time in his life the bard was wrong about human nature. Most people love to hear about them and they love to forgive. Jim Hendren is not alone. The extramarital confessional, in fact, has become epidemic with family-values Republicans, though it is still not quite so common as the extramarital affairs themselves. And we may as well give Bill Clinton the credit, or the blame. During the course of Clinton's impeachment for his dalliance with a White House intern, his chief Republican critics in the House of Representatives were forced to confess to past affairs while they were married. Henry Hyde of Illinois, who led the impeachment hearings, and Dan Burton of Indiana, who called Clinton a scumbag, cemented their standing with voters back home by owning up to long affairs. They won easy victories the next year. Bob Livingston of Louisiana, the speaker, either owing to an excess of honor or a misreading of public sentiment, resigned. He had criticized Clinton for his indiscretion. The preceding speaker, Newt Gingrich, left office, ditched his wife and married his sweetheart, a former member of his staff. The big question is, how much candor and repentance does the voter require? Hendren is on the safe side. He even invited reporters to chase the other woman down by giving them her name. Hendren's uncle, Sen. Tim Hutchinson, chose the other route. After dumping his wife for a young member of his congressional staff, Hutchinson has begged the forgiveness of his church and the voters but he won't answer specifics. That didn't work last year for one of his friends, Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., a family-values champion who had condemned Clinton and voted to impeach him. Gram refused to talk about his affair with his chief of staff and campaign director. He was defeated last November and then promptly married the woman. Rep. Bill Thomas of California, the right-wing chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is catching some flak now for his long romance with a pharmaceutical lobbyist when both were married. He's handling Medicare legislation favored by the woman's clients. Thomas takes the position that "any personal failures of commitment or responsibility to my wife, family or friends are just that, personal." So far, Thomas' public seems to be philosophical about it, but that's California. More is needed in Arkansas, and Hendren understands that. Hendren and his wife embraced the doctrine that worked so well for the Rev. Jimmy Swaggert. God put temptation in his way so that He may use his fleshly vessel for great purposes. Specifically, representing the Third District in the House. arktimes.com