Potty politics and patriotic philandering

We’d all like to blame somebody else for our problems.

In a couple of interesting cases in the news this week, we have Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul blaming the Obama administration for his clogged toilet, and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blaming his past infidelity on his patriotism, sort of.

At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Paul peppered Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Kathleen Hogan with questions about Obama administration measures aimed at conservation that limit consumer choice.

He first accused Hogan of being “being pro-choice for abortion, but…anti-choice on every other consumer item.”

He and others and are ticked off about being forced to ditch incandescent lights. Then the senator took the argument to where he lives.

“Frankly, my toilets don’t work in my house, and I blame you and people like you who want to tell me what I can install in my house,” Paul said, adding, “I find it insulting.”

Read the whole story from Darius Dixon at Politco here.

And then there’s Newt Gingrich.

Salon’s Joan Walsh picked up on Newt’s explanation for why he fooled around on his first two wives while they were ill. Here’s how Newt explained it to the Christian Broadcast Network’s David Brody.

“There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them. I found that I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness.”

Sometimes, it’s just better to say you screwed up.