No excuses

By Mustang Bobby

Rep. Trey Radel, a Tea Party congressman from Fort Myers, Florida, gets busted for buying cocaine in Washington, D.C., and he blames it on “struggling with the disease of alcoholism.”

As the father of a young son and a husband to a loving wife, I need to get help so I can be a better man for both of them.

Setting aside the obvious cracks about having to be shitfaced to believe Tea Party crap in the first place, I’m not buying the line about excusing it because of his disease. I’ve sat through too many meetings where someone claims that the fault is laid somewhere else and that’s why they’re still using or drinking. It doesn’t work. Saying “I need help” is not enough.

It’s nice, I suppose, that Mr. Radel is getting support from his Republican colleagues and they’re asking for understanding and privacy, going so far as to say that now is not the time to consider the political ramifications. After all, the GOP has a fine collection of serial adulterers, johns, and self-loathing closet cases to pack all the available 12-step programs in every church basement or Quaker meeting house, so why should Mr. Radel be hounded from office?

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)