From Northern Ireland comes a scandal right out of the pages of the “The Graduate,” right down to the lyrics.
And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
Stand up tall, Mrs. Robinson
God in Heaven smiles on those who pray, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Iris Robinson, the 60 year old wife of the First Minister of Northern Ireland and a member of Parliament in her own right evidently engaged in an affair with a 19 year old. You can read the details on the affair here and I do not intend to dwell on the salacious details. The scandal threatens to bring down Northern Ireland’s government and has split the Robinson’s church.
I bring this up as an example of a politician from across the pond in the hypocritical moralizing (and more strident) tone of John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Chip Pickering, John Edwards, Henry Hyde, Dan Burton, Newt Gingrich etc. A politician who cloaks himself or herself with the garb of morality and cannot resist from sermonizing others for their human frailty, but inevitably is revealed to be a fraud. Robinson who termed herself a born again Christian was notorious for her screeds against homosexuals and Catholics.
Obviously every person is entitled to their religious faith. However, when politicians grandstand on issues of faith I cannot help but recall the paraphrased (the original quote is in Hamlet Act III, Sc. II) Shakespeare quote “Methinks thou dost protest too loudly.” As the list of fallen hypocrites grows longer (and global) the cynic in me feels a sense of grim satisfaction.
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