Getting Caught Between Hypocrisy and Politics

In “Dangerous Liaisons” (Opinion, Aug. 12), Jonathan V. Last laments that politicians used to be held to a higher moral standard and seems to imply that this kept them in line. Is he kidding? The only difference between politicians’ personal lives then and now is that they are no longer private; they are dragged out into public by desperate political rivals who cannot compete on the field on which they were elected to play. It is not our elected officials’ personal morals that are deteriorating but their political morals--the willingness of certain opportunists to go to any length, or depth, to get where they want.

Blake Legge

Long Beach

Jesus was forgiving of sinners, but he reserved his harshest words for the hypocrites, repeatedly. Bill Clinton may have been a lying sinner, but at least he did not try to have the Ten Commandments posted in every public building.

Therese Ballet Lynn

Laguna Beach

Re “Publicly Parading Piety in the Service of Political Expediency,” Commentary, Aug. 10: Did anyone but me, when discussing photo ops, notice the obvious omissions of our ex-philanderer-in-chief by the once-conservative-turned-liberal Arianna Huffington? Remember the staged dance on the beach by Clinton and his wife during the Monica thing? Also during Monica, the many times we saw pictures of Clinton leaving church with a Bible? If there was ever a couple who exploited the media, the Clintons were (and still are) the pros with no shame.

Jackie Warner

Orange

I hope God forgives me for publicly thanking him for Huffington’s commentary on political praying, but my enthusiasm seemed wasted in the closet. It is a pity that our country could not produce a clear thinker like Huffington, who has the mental faculties, education and the uncanny, logical mind to not be fooled by the sickening, false piety that runs rampant in both political parties.

I would like my representatives in government to have the intelligence to know what is moral and right without ever having to ask, “What would Jesus do?” The answer from Jesus is always in total agreement with the political affiliation of the petitioner. You can always count on him for the answer you want in the new “faith-based politics.”

Victor Gentile

Beverly Hills