“Hate the sin and not the sinner” is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.—Mohandas Gandhi.
So, did the Republicans rush to judgment of Sen. Craig in the recent “men’s room” sting operation? Sure they did, but the GOP is paranoid because they know that we have an electorate that won’t bother to think past the immediate association of the incident with Republican/Foley/gay/corruption/hypocrisy fueled by the constant droning of the left and its fellow travelers in the media with 24/7 coverage of past Craig pronouncements on the foibles of Bill Clinton, against gay marriage, etc. And they further know that damage control requires that they get this guy off the airwaves ASAP, whatever the cost of a lynching before the trial.
How did we get here? First, our culture, our public philosophers, and our education system no longer accept the historic definition of hypocrisy. It has become the deadliest sin, running a close race with “intolerance”, replacing the time honored practice of condemning the underlying behavior and finding no place for someone who says “do as I say and not as I do” or the acknowledged sinner who preaches against the sins formerly committed. In addition, as Jonah Goldberg so well notes, the left hates “moralizers”, so any deficiency in living a perfect life disqualifies one from encouraging others to strive for virtue, unless you are of the political left, which has made an art form of moralizing on public policy, as long as it excludes personal behavior. And so it is Craig’s perceived hypocrisy that is denounced as the real sin rather than the behavior. Of course, one solution to this epidemic is to have no morals at all—you can’t violate any principles you don’t hold.