Scapegoating 101

The Republican idea of responsibility

I had hoped to avoid talking about Foley today but then I encountered an article in the WaPo (PANIC TIME: Fear and Loathing In the GOP). True to recent Republican responsibility shifting, Democrats are being accused of some vast conspiracy to steal the election by smearing the GOP with Foley. I expected that.

What left me enraged this morning was the response of a coalition of conservative groups called the Arlington Group, comprised of "family values" organization. One would expect they would be appalled that the House leadership allowed Foley's exploitation of young pages go on so long for partisan reasons.

But, no, that is not what riled them. Instead, in a statement drafted by Paul Weyrich, they found another scapegoat:

"We are concerned that the early warnings of Mr. Foley's odd behavior toward young male pages may have been overlooked or treated with deference, fearing a backlash from the radical gay rights movement because of Mr. Foley's sexual orientation. It appears that the integrity of the conservative majority has given way to political correctness, trading the virtues of decency and respect for that of tolerance and diversity."

Oh, yeah, the fear of gay-backlash has really hampered the Republicans, who by the way, are the leaders in the movement to adopt a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. It seems to me that would provoke a bigger backlash.

Now it appears the real culprits are political correctness, tolerance, and diversity--all of which are linked in the public mind to the Democrats. Well, I for one don't find any of the three terms to be un-Christian or un-American. How in the hell did we allow them to become "dirty words?"