And I hope to move a little away from the toxic sludge sewer but not too far to take a minute to commend on Lindsey Graham's comment that Democrats are never accused of sexual misconduct.
And just to be clear, he is by no means the only one to say it. I hear that alleged often enough on Twitter (admittedly an unrepresentative cross section) to conclude that it must be believed in wide stretches of the right wing. It's something I truly can't wrap my head around.
What about Bill Clinton? He was actually impeached for sexual misconduct. In fact, Lindsey Graham himself served on the House Justice Committee at the time and Brett Kavanaugh was on Ken Starr's legal team.
I would also throw in John Edwards, Democratic Senator from North Carolina, some-time candidate in the Democratic primaries and John Kerry's running mate. He saw his career end over an affair with a staffer and was indicted for using campaign funds to make payments to his mistress.
And Anthony Wiener, one-time rising liberal light in the House of Representatives who was hounded from office for sexting, hounded from an election for Mayor of New York for same, and eventually prosecuted for sending graphic pictures to a minor. In fact, it was the discovery of Hillary Clinton's e-mails on his laptop (he was married to her chief of staff) that led to James Comey's fatal announcement that the Clinton investigation was being reopened.
Well, OK, Graham and company may say, but they beat the rap. Republicans never beat the rap. It is true that Clinton was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate, and that Edwards was indicted by also acquitted. Anthony Weiner, on the other hand, is currently serving time. And Republicans have been known to beat the rap as well. Anita Hill's allegations didn't keep Clarence Thomas from being confirmed to the Supreme Court. And numerous women coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault didn't keep him from being elected President.
Ancient history, they may say. Even the 2016 election is ancient history. They are referring to the Me Too movement, which they would presumably call a blatantly partisan movement in response to the election of Trump to bring down Republican politicians.
Aside from the awkward fact that it isn't. I don't doubt that the election of Donald Trump played a major role in inspiring Me Too. But what immediately sparked the movement -- it's Archduke Ferdinand moment, if you will -- was the expose on Hollywood director and Democratic donor Harvey Weinstein. Up till then, our side had been smugly complacent. Donald Trump's "pussy" tape and the firing of Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly from Fox News had convinced our side that this was a conservative issue, born of retrograde ideas about women. Revelations about Harvey Weinstein, soon followed by Kevin Spacey and Charlie Rose, showed how misplaced that complacency was. And it proved that sexual misconduct cuts across partisan and ideological lines. And the Me Too movement was out to show that it made no such distinctions.
It brought down John Conyers, described by Nancy Pelosi as an "icon." It also forced the resignation of Al Franken, Lindsey Graham's own colleague on the Senate Justice Committee. And Eric Schneiderman, the Democratic Attorney General of New York, who many were counting on to continue the investigations if Trump shuts down the Mueller probe.
To look for the balance, I did what people do these days and looked it up on Wikipedia. Beginning with the Me Too Movement, it lists Al Franken as the only sitting U.S. Senator forced out by allegations of sexual misconduct, although Roy Moore lost an election based on similar allegations. It lists allegations against seven members of the House, four Democrats (one of them gay) and three Republicans. It also gives the following tallies for states:
Alabama -- One Republican (Roy Moore)
Alaska -- One Democrat
Arizona -- Two Republicans
California -- Six Democrats (including two women) and one Republican
Colorado -- Three Republicans, one Democrat (gay), and one party switcher
Florida -- Two Republicans, one Democrat
Hawaii -- One Democrat
Idaho -- One Republican (who committed suicide)
Illinois -- One Democrat, one Republican
Indiana -- One Republican (the Attorney General)
Iowa -- Two Republicans
Oklahoma -- One Republican
Kentucky -- Six Republicans
Louisiana -- One Republican
Massachusetts -- One Democrat (gay)
Minnesota -- Two Democrats, including Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee and US Representative (I am not clear why he is not listed in the US House) and one Republican
Mississippi -- One Republican
Missouri -- One Republican (the Governor)
New York -- Three Democrats (including the Attorney General), one Republican
Ohio -- One Republican
Oregon -- One Republican
Pennsylvania -- One Democrat
Rhode Island -- One Republican
Texas -- Two Democrats
Utah -- One Republican
Wisconsin -- One Democrat
Wyoming -- One Republican (the Secretary of State)
Adding up, I get 40 Republicans and 30 Democrats at the state level, although human error is possible here. This does suggest somewhat more state Republicans accused than Democrats, but then again, Republicans dominate more state governments than Democrats. At the federal level, Democrats hold a slight edge.
It is true that the only federal judges named are Republicans Alex Kozinski and Brett Kavanaugh. Add to that Clarence Thomas, even though that was in 1991, and I will concede that (so far) only Republican federal judges seem to be accused of sexual misconduct. I will also point out that of the last four Democratic nominees to the Supreme Court, three have been women.
And one of the reasons Democrats are running so many women for office this year is to avoid any nasty surprises.
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