Why Ralph Reed is in Trouble

Roll Call reports:

Georgia's Congressional Republicans are largely staying out of the hotly contested primary for lieutenant governor that features ex-Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, who has been tarnished by his link to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

While this story is certainly a hot topic right now, it begs the larger question: Are conservatives held to a higher ethical standard than everyone else? And of course, a look at history reveals the answer is a resounding YES. The Ralph Reed example is just the latest example. Other examples include Bill Bennett and Newt Gingrich. One big reason for this is that, as conservatives, our credibility is often based on our ethics.

Does this sound familiar to you ...

Even after Bill Clinton was impeached, he still held on to power -- and actually left office with a very high approval rating. Yet, while survived his scandal, Newt Gingrich was booted out of office. Why?

Unlike Newt, Bill Clinton's credibility was never based on his ethics.

In fact, Bill Clinton never told us he was ethical. We knew -- from the beginning -- what we were getting.

His credibility was based on the fact that "he cared." So, when the Lewinsky scandal was revealed, nobody was terribly surprised. Conversely, Newt Gingrich, a conservative, was held to a much higher standard because his credibility (as a conservative) was partly based on his ethics. Americans are a forgiving people, but we the one unpardonable sin seems to be hypocrisy. Note to conservative candidates: Credibility is the most important element every political candidate must have.

That's because without credibility, nothing you say or do matters. You can be the best orator in the world, but if you're discredited, it means very little.

The first response of the Clinton team was always to destroy the credibility of any attacker.

Clinton knew that if he could destroy their credibility then nothing they said would stick to him. Remember what James Carville said about Paula Jones? "Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." The point was that if they could say she's "that kind of woman," then you really couldn't trust anything she said. They also tried to destroy Ken Starr's credibility, in much the same way. Defense attorneys do the same thing. In the O.J. Simpson trial, the defense knew that if they could portray Mark Fuhrman a a racist, it really didn't matter what the evidence was (they were right). In the case of Kobe Bryant, if his attorney could prove that his accuser had led a "questionable" personal life, then her testimony was worthless (note: I have no idea if Kobe was innocent or guilty). By the way,a candidate's credibility comes from two factors: Competence and character.

And if the liberals cannot get you on character, they will then go after your competence. President Reagan's character could not be questioned, so they tried to say he was "dumb," "lazy," etc. They are forced to do the same thing with President Bush.

The trouble is that conservatives are much more likely to have their character attacked because 1. Republicans have generally scored well on competence, and 2. Unlike Europe, the American culture does not demand and intellectual president, but it does generally put a premium on a moral president). Obviously, there is a double-standard we must live up to. Part of this is structural. If we want to reap the benefits of counting people of faith as part of our base, then this double-standard with the territory. Of course, you could make the argument that it's tougher to keep our base happy than it is for the liberals because social conservatives are probably less pragmatic than liberals, but that's another conversation.The bottom line is that there is a double-standard and any conservative who doesn't accept it as fact is hurting themselves.

I have no idea if Ralph Reed is guilty of the things he is being accused of. But I do know that (because of his background with the Christian Coalition), he is held to a higher standard than someone else would be. As such, a man who is almost a household name is fighting for his life to be elected Lt. Gov of Georgia ...