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One of the many infuriating things about the Republican party as a whole, is its complete inability to defend its friends and allies while causing damage to its enemies.
Whenever a Democrat is accused of wrongdoing, no matter how severe, the wagons are always circled, the accusers slimed, and the offense derided or minimized. Even when the evidence is overwhelming and repulsive, there may be calls for resignation, but there are never any actual attempts to perform real punishment.
Thus we have such luminaries as Virginia Governor Ralph Northam who was photographed in either blackface or a KKK uniform - no one knows which - yet carried on as governor unimpeded. Yes, some of his fellow Dems did indeed call for him to resign, but nobody actually did anything to get rid of him, so he's still there.
Similarly we see the murderous and lecherous Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, whose perverse orders directly led to the deaths of thousands of elderly and thus disproportionately Republican voters. Nobody cares about that; instead, the Luv Gov is under mild attack over dozens of accusations of sexual harassment. Again, there have been calls to resign and mild discussion of impeachment, but no action is expected and the Governor carries on.
What do we see on the other side of the aisle? Consider Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was accused by the New York Times of being under FBI investigation for underage sex trafficking. His lawyer presented documentary proof that he was cooperating with the FBI on a blackmail sting, but that doesn't matter - the media has poured out rumors, tales, and "anonymous reports" of all manner of sexual hijinks while his fellow Republicans run for cover.
We expect this from the media, and if in fact Rep. Gaetz has actually been trafficking children for sex, obviously we hope that justice is quickly done and he should be thrown overboard with all due dispatch. But if, as Joe Biden says, we should wait for the formal conclusion of the doubtless years-long coverup "investigation" of Gov. Cuomo before passing any judgment. surely Rep. Gaetz should be entitled to the same courtesy from his fellow Republicans?
We can already hear the howls of protest from our readers - surely we don't defend sex trafficking? Well, as we've noted before, sex with a 17-year-old is not the same thing as sex with someone who's 12. But suppose Rep. Gaetz really was raping babies like QAnon followers believe of Hillary - is it not fundamental to America that we wait for proof before throwing someone to the wolves? That doesn't mean we have to wait until the full trial and all appeals are completed, but at the very least, there should be something a reasonable person would consider to be clear and convincing evidence.
Right now there is no evidence of anything besides his cooperating with the FBI. Sure, there are a whole host of newspaper stories, which once upon a time would have counted as evidence, but after the utter lies Brett Kavanaugh had to endure, to say nothing of fellow Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a newspaper story accusing a Republican of crimes is more likely proof that he's innocent.
Once upon a time, the fact that Republicans generally expected their politicians to hold to a higher moral standard was worthy and honorable. We do not need leaders like JFK, whose many affairs - actresses, interns, Russian spies - would have left him open to blackmail had not the entire U.S. media been completely in the tank for him, yes, all the way back in the 1960s.
In today's world, however, morals are meaningless, and so are laws. Even as recently as January, we called for those who trespassed into the Capitol to pay the price for their crimes. It now appears that there were precious few real crimes committed - the vast majority of the "trespassers" did no damage, stole nothing, and left quietly. Yet they're locked up without bail as if they'd really killed the 7 people the media lies reported them to have done.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of violent BLM rioters caused billions of dollars of damage on hundreds of separate nights in dozens of cities all around the country, only to have charges dismissed by prosecutors and judges.
If laws against violence and riots are only to be deployed against conservatives who caused little if any damage, and never against leftists who burned down whole city blocks, why do we even have those laws? We'd be better off without them, so at least like-minded people could join together to defend themselves and take the fight to the enemy.
In order for laws to have value, they must be applied fairly, on the basis of actual evidence of wrongdoing, and applied equally to all who commit equal crimes. Without that, even the best-written law becomes nothing more than tyranny.
The same is true of political laws - such as, if you sleep with an intern you're hounded out of office. If we allow the left to howl down a Republican who reliably votes the right way, on no evidence, and on accusations that, even if true, amount to nothing more than (most likely) a clear majority of elected Democrats themselves do on a regular basis, how can we possibly hope to accomplish anything?
Remember, Gen. U.S. Grant was a notorious drunk, but when called upon to sack him, President Lincoln refused: "I can't spare this man, he fights!"
When we have an overload of people on our side who are fighting for what is right, then we can worry a bit more about standard-issue elite sleaziness. Right now, when the choice is between a perhaps less-than-saintly Republican, and a murderously tyrannical Democrat, we need to ask ourselves - what do we hope to accomplish by shooting our limited, weak, and usually ineffective ammunition at those who at least act as our friends when it counts?