First, let’s put aside the fact that Democrats can be just as hypocritical.  There are plenty of Dems who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act while simultaneously cheating on their wives.  Every modern politician does a fair amount of values speak.

But it is fair to say that Republicans have built their brand around these values.  It is their story and they are sticking to it.  They are the party that preaches, quite literally, family values, abstinence education, traditional marriage and so on.  So when these guys get caught with their pants around their ankles, won’t voters see them for the hypocrites that they are?

Maybe.  Or maybe not.

Charles Blow in todays’ Times certainly reaches the conclusion that this is a problem for them.  That they should worry less about what others are doing in their bedrooms.  But the graphic in his column actually reveals something very interesting.  It shows that rates of divorce, teen pregnancy and purchases of adult online entertainment are higher, on average, in red states than in blue states.  To put it simply, the red staters talk conservative and act liberal and the blue staters talk liberal and act conservative.

But does this mean Republican scandals will present a bigger problem for them than they do for Democrats?  Maybe, in fact, the real hypocrites are all those red state voters who preach (and vote for) conservative values but are busy cheating on their wives and downloading porn.  One conclusion to draw is that the very fact that they are hypocritical is what makes them so judgemental and that they will condemn the politicians who screw up even as they do the same things.  Or perhaps they will just think “There but for the grace of God, at least I don’t have to stand in front of new cameras when my wife catches me cheating.”

A crisis communication specialist was on NPR on Thursday (before the Jackson news moved) to talk about how Sanford had handled the situation so far.  His advice to politicians who find themselves in situations like this:  drag the wife out, issue a short, simple statement and then don’t take questions.

I disagree with the first part and totally agree with the second and third.

Don’t drag the wife out. She’s been humiliated enough. In fact, I think most women feel a visceral disgust when they see powerful men screw up and make their poor wife stand next to them. The expression on Silda Spitzer’s face is seared on my brain and it will always make me think a bit less of the former governor.

But not taking questions is really great advice. The pro’s rationale was that there is really no good answer you can give to the questions that are going to be asked. Give a simple, to-the-point statement (which Sanford didn’t) and then get off the stage.

And now he really needs to stop talking. He held a televised (?!) meeting with his Cabinet today to apologize to them. Um, seriously? Take advantage of the Jackson tragedy and disappear. Honestly I don’t think there is anything this guy can say or do now to make his situation any better — his national ambitions are toast and he’ll be lucky to hold onto his current job. But continuing to talk can only make his situation worse. Keep quiet, fix your marriage and hope that American’s attention spans really are as short as we are always told they are.

Yes, I would say that Queen of Jordan is a cool day job.  Where do I apply?