Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Lays the Smackdown on Reince Priebus

Okay, okay, I get it.

You know what I like?  Politicians whose raison-d’etre I can understand.  I must admit to some annoyance at the Democrats jumping on the “Weiner’s gotta go” train.

I am so sick of this man’s penis, I get reflexively annoyed at anyone who mentions Weinergate.  I want to move the fuck on — like, two weeks ago.  But yesterday, DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz demonstrated why it is important to make sure that your glass house is stone-free.

If someone on your side commits ethically questionable acts, you call them out. Why?  So when someone on the other side commits ethically questionable acts, you can call them out with a straight face, something that Reince Priebus is obviously unable to do.¹

Reince, you see, has been up-in-arms about this Weiner business, arguing that Democrats failed to show leadership by not asking Weiner to resign earlier. The hypocrisy swimming around this asshat is is so thick, I’m surprised he hasn’t choked on it:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has vocally called for Weiner’s resignation. But this has led many to questions if Priebus is exploiting the scandal for political gain by holding Weiner to a standard the GOP didn’t apply to their own members embroiled in scandal, especially Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) who admitted in 2007 to patronizing a prostitution ring. Vitter remains in the Senate to this day and easily won reelection in 2010. Fox News host Greta Van Susteren asked Priebus about this double standard last night, but Priebus refused to address it and Van Susteren, not surprisingly, allowed him to evade the question:

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there a difference with Senator David Vitter, I mean, with the whole — with his whole little prostitution — he’s on a prostitution client list. Is that different?

PRIEBUS: Well, I don’t know if it’s different.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, nobody called –

PRIEBUS: Frankly, I’m not relitigating the David Vitter situation.

And here’s Wasserman-Schultz pointing out Priebus’s pot/kettle problem on Meet the Press:

Today, the two party chairs faced off on NBC’s Meet the Press, where Wasserman Schultz called for Weiner to resign and called out Priebus’ hypocrisy on congressional sex scandals. Priebus again refused to discuss the GOP scandals, claiming they are old news and thus irrelevant — even though Vitter serves in the Senate to this day. He quickly pivoted to saying we should be talking about the economy instead of personal issues, but that hasn’t stopped him from harping on Weiner:

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What Reince is saying doesn’t pass the straight face test from the chair of a party, none of whose leaders called for Senator Vitter, who actually broke the law, to resign. Who is still serving in office. … Hired prostitutes, and evaded the truth.

Chairman Priebus was chairman when Senator Ensign was also embroiled in unethical, unacceptable, and probably illegal conduct, and he did not call on Senator Ensign to resign. … So it’s a double standard. You only call for Democrats’ resignations, not Republicans.

So, under Reince’s own standard, every day that the GOP doesn’t call on Vitter to resign is a day the GOP doesn’t show leadership, right?

Oh, we’re supposed to forget about Vitter because it’s a five-year old problem?  I didn’t know there was a statute of limitations on ethics and displays of “leadership.”

IOKIYAR, indeed.

The GOP is a party of punks, liars, and asshats.

Same as it ever was.

Fuck these people.

¹ Also, too, you call them out so you can call out the other side’s non-caller-outers for not calling them out.  Ya dig?

[via Think Progress]

[cross-posted at BJ]