Good Riddance to Scott Lee Cohen

David Streeter — February 9, 2010 – 12:40 pm | Election 2010 | GOP Hypocrisies Comments (0) Add a comment

Late last week, allegations surfaced that Illinois Lieutenant Governor Candidate Scott Lee Cohen was involved in a domestic violence incident five years ago before he entered public life. At the behest of local and national Democratic Party officials, Cohen officially withdrew his candidacy from the Illinois Lieutenant Governor race. Cohen’s withdrawal is the right decision. Due to the disturbing nature of Cohen’s criminal charges, Democrats everywhere should justifiably be saying “good riddance” to such a distraction for our party.

But despite Cohen never being convicted of any crime, the Republican state and national parties have used Cohen’s case to baselessly smear Democrats. The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) even used the occasion to smear NJDC via Twitter. But the GOP and RJC should probably not throw stones from the glass house in which they live given some of their bedfellows’ recent conduct:

• Senator John Ensign’s (R-NV) affair that allegedly resulted in campaign money being used inappropriately
• Senator David Vitter’s (R-LA) use of prostitutes
• Former Senator Larry Craig’s (R-ID) lewd conduct in a public restroom
• Governor Mark Sanford’s (R-SC) “hike on the Appalachian trail” which was paid for with South Carolina tax dollars

Clearly, this whole subject is not a constructive conversation for either Democrats or Republicans to engage in. RJC’s decision to play the guilt by association card vis-a-vis a candidate that nobody had ever heard of is a textbook example of a political cheap shot. If the GOP is so concerned about the personal lives of candidates, perhaps they should scrutinize some of their own incumbents. And if RJC is so concerned about the need for Democrats to criticize an unknown Democratic candidate, perhaps they should criticize two of their own sitting US Senators.  

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