Seven men on a California team building and golfing vacation went to a strip club. They’re all Republican lawmakers. Judging by the response by their political party and the Democrats, you’d think these seven had gotten drunk, dressed in Tiger suits, raped an ex girlfriend, and spent the last 14 years in office drunk or high on pain meds.

You’d think they’d gone to the ‘he’s finally legal’ birthday party of a 17 year old and then spent the following weekend with him coming up for air, food and water as needed as part of a “mentoring” relationship.

You’d think they sent pictures of their ‘junk’ via text message to sheer strangers, or been high on meth while in office.

You’d think they’d traded on inside information to score big in a land deal or consorted with felons to buy a house.

You get the point. All of those examples are right out of the Democrats Gone Wild playbook. And there’s plenty more where that came from.

After pressuring Wilsonville Republican Matt Wingard out of office–for having a legal relationship with an aide (who, apparently took a break from posing in a Teddy on her My Space page long enough to lie about her drinking age according to an EYEWITNESS); after his conservative Republican female replacement was marked with an “A” in favor of a more pious man; we now learn the Pharisees in the Washington County contingent of the Republican party maneuvered the removal of  strip club goer –Kevin Cameron– from his party leadership position.

Installed in his old position is a terrific guy, Andy Olson. But let’s hope Andy never had one too many drinks, darkened the door of a strip club or danced in Bomont because I’m pretty sure Reverend and Mrs. Shaw Moore would be waiting with the hook and the Book.

The five other men who attended are now on notice: Conduct yourselves like church going men.

Or else.

There’s nothing wrong with those standards, of course. The problem is with who’s enforcing them. Goodness knows I’ve spent the better part of 25 years trying to pound them into the brains of my kids and those in my Sunday school groups. But what’s your end game here? We’re trying to save our country and you’re worried about filling out the bass section of the Court Street church choir!

Those casting stones against Cameron, Wingard, Lindsay Berschauer and some unidentified ‘drunk’ candidate, claim they would hold the Democrats to their same standard.

Really? You would have considered voting for a Democrat in the State of Oregon but for that trip to Jiggles?

Do you mean that all that stands between you and voting for Tobias Read or Jefferson Smith or Kate Brown was that trip to Mary’s Club or a Lesbian booby bar?

Really?

You’d be totally fine with a Democrat despite their being in favor of no voter ID, abortion on demand till the 7th day of the 41st week, man on man marriage, endless gazillion dollar light rail, hot-and-cold-running booby bars and record PERS spending if it just hadn’t been for that steak–with allll the fixins-– at the Acropolis?

Allow me to recite my favorite political quote of 2009. “You Lie!”

You wouldn’t have voted for them. And you’d be laughed off the Op Ed pages if you tried to write a piece calling them out for a field trip to the Red Cap Garage.

Instead what you’ve done is replaced your values–good though they may be–for the values of the individuals involved and the voters’ values. You’ve found these people to be wanting, and, like the cowards they are, they’ve folded like one of those origami cranes we used to make in our culturally competent 4th grade art class.

You don’t even realize you got an assist today from Zero action columnist, Steve Duin. He unwittingly reported (but I repeat myself) that the men in question are AHA! H-Y-P-C-R-I-T-E-S!

Newsflash: We’re ALL hypocrites. It’s just much easier to spot us because we have moral standards–clumsily though we may follow them.

Here’s what Duin said in pointing out the Republicans were playing against type:

Did Matt Wand once promote a bill to prevent teen-dating violence by saying, “We can and should help youth learn healthy relationships before they develop patterns of negative relationships….”
Did Vic Gilliam really pitch a HUGS bill?

Does Cameron really lord over the legislative prayer breakfast?

When Freeman was extolling his “code of the West” malarkey, he argued that Oregonians should aspire to “strength, courage, self-sufficiency, compassion, hard work, independence and a commitment to the highest moral character.

Like or hate those bills, do these sound like immoral bills to you? Are they writing and passing Satan-smacked bills? It sounds like they were trying to strike a blow in favor of kids, standards and morality.

You might want to remember that as lawmakers navigate a budget and get government off our backs so we can save this state and our nation from fiscal and, yes, cultural Armageddon.

It would also help some if you’d stop assisting the Democrats in getting rid of some of our best people. Now there’s a crime.