One’s a drunk; the other, a Dick

“Durbin has been accused of corruption where federal funds found their way to 10 clients of his wife’s lobbying business.

People in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing rocks. It’s an idiomatic expression evergreen and relevant when employed against traditional politicians who mount white horses, don 10-gallon hats and gallop off on the high road proclaiming themselves paragons and paladins of principle.

Yet here are examples of anti-hero behavior by two aging septuagenarian solons. One has been called a drunk. The other is appropriately named Dick.

Both have been accused of dishonesty and heinous slanderous statements.

Of their numerous scrapes with principles, from relative triviality like a drinking problem, the evident lack of principles coupled with reckless statements and unverified accusations all go downhill from anti-Semitism to being pro-abortion. These are all serious accusations for two who think they have a monopoly on the moral high road.

Self-styled opposition mouthpiece Leonor Robredo who occupies the vice-presidential post under the questionable and possibly fraudulent conditions founded on a narrow and controversial margin has been blabbering her mouth off in defense of two American lawmakers who under suspicious circumstances have proposed legislation that not only interferes with our judicial and criminal justice systems, but also bullies a sovereign state and imposes sanctions on an ally these legislators treat as an enemy.

Allow us to analyze the kind of interventionist lawmakers Robredo so giddily defends if only to continually establish herself a viable opposition mouthpiece regardless of requisite credibility or even basic intellect.

In 2018 as hearings were held to confirm the appointment to the United States Supreme Court (SC) of one of the most competent and decent gentlemen around — a conservative Jesuit-educated family man and loving father no less — Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy raised the issue of the nominee’s fondness for beer when the latter was a teenager. While Leahy had no evidence of wrongdoing, he raised the issue as if it were a capital crime that should disqualify SC nominees.

Fortunately, tables were soon turned and Leahy’s alleged “drinking habit” soon took center stage. The public was advised on at least two occasions that to validate, all they needed to do was apply an online check and type in “Patrick Leahy slash drink.”

Truth had eventually won in the end and the SC nominee was later confirmed.

Leahy’s alleged “drinking habit” was however the most benign that’s been accused of him. While it was the result of Leahy’s unfounded allegations and was karma at best, Leahy has been called other things from “a pile of pure malice” published in the National Review, something uncannily foreboding given his recent pronouncements against the Philippine government, to the revealing sobriquet “Leaky Leahy” that’s been tagged to him for endangering the lives of overseas Americans when he, not once but on several occasions, leaked classified information that was entrusted to him as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

While there are laws covering those, Leahy escaped prosecution.

The other labels he’s earned, most of which run the gamut of insults, range from “Left-wing brute,” “the most obnoxious SOB” to “junkyard dog.”

One critic attempted to rationalize Leahy’s character saying, “The senator always likes to have an ethical veneer for his purely partisan attacks.” Unfortunately, a veneer is a false front often hiding a decayed and rotting foundation.

Add to the list “vindictive” and “raw partisanship, personified” as described by the senior editor of the National Review. Add also “anti-Semitic,” a sensitive issue in American politics.

The other American legislator Robredo defends in her fight against the Philippine government that’s kept her effectively in the doghouse is Sen. Richard Durbin, a politician called “Dick” — a four letter word.

Durbin has been accused of corruption where federal funds found their way to 10 clients of his wife’s lobbying business.

In 1989 Durbin turned pro-abortion, betraying his 1982 anti-abortion stance. Last year a report was published entitled “Dick Durbin Has a History of Lying About Private White House Meetings” covering make-believe narratives. The title alone speaks for itself.

If these are the heroic personalities coming to the defense of a self-admitted homewrecker and adulterer accused of drug trafficking, then it comes as no surprise that Robredo would fall for them. She should really be more discerning.