The politics of hypocrisy: How scandal is treated with selective outrage

Erick Erickson, the longtime, ultraconservative Atlanta radio host, just unloaded a screed that whacked both Democrats and Republicans. 

"Both sides serve up a crap sandwich of a candidate, point across the aisle at the other side’s crap sandwich, and insist you have to eat theirs because the other one is worse."

In keeping with the culinary metaphor, this struck me because I've long felt that national politics has increasingly become a stew of hypocrisy. 

To watch Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders endorse Graham Platner, the exceedingly weird Maine Senate candidate with a Nazi tattoo, was stomach-turning. You just know the liberal wing would have savaged him if he was a Republican. They and other Dems finally jumped off the bandwagon when news emerged that Platner's former girlfriend alleged that he had raped her. 

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Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, points to a covered tattoo that had previously been an image recognized as a Nazi symbol, during an interview on Wednesday in Portland, Maine. (WGME via AP)

Republicans were behind North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards despite mounting allegations that he had fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment. 

But then the House ethics committee called for his censure for inappropriate actions toward two female staffers. The congressman showered them with gifts (jewelry totaling over $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuums, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners, if you must know).

His fellow North Carolina lawmaker, Sen. Ted Budd, then urged Edwards to bow out of the race, and the congressman quickly complied. 

"Cycle after cycle," Erickson says, "we never get better candidates. We get more corrupt and more terrible ones, and we are told once again that we must vote for them or the republic will fall... The doomsday prophecies are simply how the parties dupe voters into holding their noses for their preferred perversions."

If you look at the apocalyptic rhetoric in this year's campaigns, that's undoubtedly true. Everything depends on whether you have a D or R after your name. It's a master class in selective outrage, and if your target switched parties, you'd immediately change your stance. 

Erick Erickson argued that both parties are forcing voters to accept flawed candidates, warning that selective outrage and political hypocrisy are fueling voter frustration ahead of the midterms. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There is so much anger in the air right now–with war, inflation, soaring prices–that liberals are demonizing conservatives and vice versa. Social media has often become a forum for sheer hatred. I'll leave it to you to decide which side is worse, or whether you're in the pox-on-both-houses camp. 

There are huge policy differences between the two parties, but most voters don't study that intently. They size up the candidates' character. 

If they are disillusioned, there's a good chance that many will just stay home. And turnout is crucial in a midterm election. 

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Amid the predictions of a blue wave – despite the fact that the GOP has a much bigger war chest – veteran political analyst Charlie Cook says this about independent voters: "They tend to be very fickle. They read, watch, and listen to the news less than partisans. They tend to get buyer’s remorse and turn on whoever they voted for two years earlier."

Extremist candidates, once deemed fringe figures, have become more common, especially among the Democratic socialists who are winning primaries. 

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, had to apologize last month after making sympathetic comments about a terrorist who attacked a synagogue. He's also campaigned with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who's said America "deserved 9/11."

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed claps during a press conference in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue on Aug. 5, 2026, in Detroit. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

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Darializa Avila Chevalier, who won with the backing of New York’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has called Joe Biden a "rapist," has wanted police and prisons abolished, and was arrested for helping take over Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. 

On the other side, Texas Republican Ken Paxton was impeached by his own party.

Gone are the days when President George H.W. Bush felt he had to apologize for calling Bill Clinton and Al Gore "these two bozos."

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In today’s toxic atmosphere, Erick Erickson says he's been threatened and harassed for his stances. It's hard to feel proud of our political culture right now. But I don't see it ever changing back to the bygone era when Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill would battle by day and share a drink after work.