FoolThemAll,
I'm glad you linked this thread from the one on
Haggard, I had completely forgotten about it.
I think your second sentence in the post above is the key for me - I disagree that in these types of instances, the relevance is wholey within the domain of the the hypocrite's personal life. They set themselves up for political office by buidling an image of their private lives. (Once again, I'm not speaking about this particular guy - rather, the question in general and the situations under which I can understand the validity of "outing" someone for closet behavior, whether it be specifically homosexuality or something else) If their private lives, in actuality, are significantly different than the image of the private lives they build up, run on, and are elected for - then I think its entirely valid to point that out. They are inherently lying to their constituents about topics they have inherently conceded are of political importants to their consituents - otherwise they wouldn't run on family imagery in the first place. They would just stand up in their commercials, outline their platform, and then stfu. I'd be fine with that.
It's not how the game is played. In addition, I can understand how someone within the community that the politician is secretly a member of, while publicly enacting legislation and enforcing attitudes counter to the interests of the affected community, could easily have an attitude of "fuck you asshole hypocrite bastard," such that they might feel empowered by the outing. I find that reason less compelling, but I can certainly understand it. As I said, I think the affected politician sets themselves up for it, and if the accusation is a lie, the politician can always sue for slander or libel - like anyone else in the States.
I guess we just disagree on this one.