A Republican congressman from Indiana, Mark Souder, is resigning. He’s one of those conservative, abstinence-only sorts of politicians who uses family, family, family to flog his politics for him, so it’s no surprise that the reason he’s quitting is that he got caught with his pants down in an affair.
But sit down, here’s the part you will not believe: it was a heterosexual fling! Maybe he should get a medal from his party for confounding expectations.
Darn. No “Mark Souder is completely heterosexual” song by Roy Zimmerman then.
It seems, however, that the unioning doesn’t have to involve the same woman each time. I guess as long as he doesn’t have a ménage à trois he’s not being a hypocrite…
“Whew, thank god.”
Says the religious right and republican leadership.
“At least this time its a woman.”
i heard it wasn’t an affair. he was just “hiking the appalachian trail.”
Since when has an affair been a trigger for a Republican to resign? Sanford, Vitter, …
Right, versus “getting help with his luggage”.
Reminds me about sex advice columnist Dan Savage talking about the weirdest letter he ever received
I’m pretty sure it was Dan Savage who wrote that the politicians who flog family values and morality are always either (a) closeted gays or (b) morally bankrupt philanderers who use their political platform to try to make up for their personal shortcomings. I guess Mark Souder is among the latter.
@E #8
or (c) Both.
As someone who lives in Ft. Wayne I’m only sad it took this to get him out of office instead of being voted out. At least he’s out though.
Yeah, in light of Sanford and Vitter, it seems odd that he would resign. Must be more to this story.
Was the woman he was having an affair with a practicing Wiccan, illegal alien, part-time lesbian, pro-choice, atheist, alive?
X-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
A republican from Indian? Huh. Always nice to see people campaigning on family values proving they have none.
Legion (@11):
Admittedly this possibility seems distantly farfetched, but what if he actually retains enough of a shred of decency that he feels genuinely guilty about his transgressions¹, and is simply doing the honorable thing?
¹ And by transgression, I mean the betrayal of promises to his wife. I wouldn’t condemn him for nonmonogamy, per se, as long as it was all consensual and above-board.
The PC term is Native American.
So I guess when you have any interest in rising up in the GOP, you should save your “being born again” for after you get caught pants down.
#11 Good one, Bill.
Even considering the possibility of a republican feeling guilty about something is hysterical.
He was getting his Wabash Cannonballs waxed, eh?
nudge-nudge-say-no-more!
Sorry. It’s really all I have today.
OK, this is priceless: He recorded a video preaching the supposed virtues of abstinence-only sex education.
Co-starring- his mistress!
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/rep_souder_and_mistress_recorded_video_on_abstinen.php
This right wing, Republican, family value advocate had a heterosexual affair?
That’s disgusting!
I demand he goes out and gets himself some horse cock immediately. I like my wingnut falls from grace to be appropriately severe. Mere adultery is insufficient.
Do better and do better fast, wingnuts.
Louis
Bill @14
LOL. A Republican congressman… decency… doing the honorable thing?
Comedy gold Bill. Comedy gold.
Larry (@17) and Legion (@21):
Well, you know… how many impossible things are we commanded to believe before breakfast? ;^)
PZ, you didn’t mention his stand on Intelligent Design:
Oh happy, happy day. The rest of NE Indiana and I have been suffering under this douchebag for far too long. Here is a friendly exchange he and I shared.
Let’s be clear, though. He’s not sorry about the affair, he’s sorry he got caught.
Re Haggard’s Law, in the more general form, this qualifies: the louder one denounces any particular “sin”, the more likely they are engaging in it.
Wow, you’re right; a heterosexual affair that didn’t involve drugs or prostitution? The man is practically a paragon of family values after all.
I’m from Fort Wayne, too, and good riddance.
But don’t assume it was a woman.
After all, this story was broken by Fox “News.” It could be a sheep as far as we know.
I’m eager to see what the other media outlets report.
If Fox says it, it has to be wrong.
cmon PZ not every republican wants a log in his cabin
The guy was gonna be up on ethics charges if he hadn’t resigned.
@29
That would make more sense.
How it is that people don’t realize that in today’s day and age if your going to be a hypocrite, your going to get caught.
Especially if you put yourself in everyone’s focus.
This is what happens when civilizations advance to far. Nature loses it’s ability to control the stupid.
Danger: clicking this link may break your irony-meter as well as your hypocrisy detector.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/tracy-jackson-mark-souder_n_580144.html
Hm . . .
“S/he can lift my luggage by just walking by! ” ?
“Oh wow, bob got caught pulling a souter on his wife!”
. . .
Office of Reptilian Infiltration
Dear Horde and the Poopyheads,
We would like sincerely to malfunction for the robots apologi
zse. This mistaken will not never again happy!You ares sincere mostly,
Capt. Major Ygur,
Reptilian Force Earth Invaders .
special Indianian Task Corpse,
Typo : Souder . . . oh well.
I’m waiting on my congressman (Mike Pence R-IN) to trip up, hes also a crazy abstinence only nutjob.
He resigned? Pffft! What a lightweight.
My Repukecian Senator not only got caught boinking one of his female aids, he had his parents payoff the cuckolded husband hush money. Not to mention, he lived in the notorious ‘Family’ house in DC for pious Repug sleazeballs, and he didn’t resign. Nope, he’s still got a job.
Wel DUH! It’s obvious that he must be completely homosexual – he’s been caught with a woman! Everyone knows if he were caught with a man that would mean he’s completely heterosexual and should retain his office. There’s no news here …
He means that he wants to preserve the traditional kind of marriage where the one man cheats and the one woman isn’t legally able to respond by moving out and taking half the assets with her.
YES YES YES OH HE’S FINALLY GONE!
Souder’s been my state representitive since forever. He’s been a shoe-in every election season. Indiana has a split rural = Republican and urban = Democratic demographic that’s at tension with each other, but the Reps have kept this guy in office. I’m just hoping they can replace him with someone who’s not an extreme rightist.
I’m amused that he has failed in his Evangelical Christian morality of family values. I feel so sorry for his wife though.
Fox broke the story? Then there’s something seriously wrong with the story. Shouldn’t it read, “A Democratic congressman from Indiana, Mark Souder, is resigning.”?
Ah, but then he remembered that he was a Republican and thus anti-union.
O:)
Dust @37 said ‘Nope, he’s still got a job.’
That should be ‘Nope, he’s still ON THE job.’ I’m not sure if that’s an expression used in the USA but readers from the UK, Australia, etc. will understand.
And tumorhead @40
Being the grammar Nazi that I am, that should be shoo-in, not shoe-in.
Agh, I’ve mentioned the Nazis! Does that mean I lose under Godwin’s rule/law whatever the hell it is?
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!
Well, not really since Vitter did the naughty boogie with a woman, too. But, the irony isn’t with the lack of penis crossing but the complete lack of family values in their actions.
I watched his pitiful press conference yesterday and found it typically deflective how he stood there and seemed to blame it all on DC politics and how things get all twisted… HA.