After it was revealed that President Clinton had lied about an affair with Monica Lewinsky, House Whip Tom DeLay's Republican Caucus reacted with such gleeful abandon that a tawdry sex scandal blew up into an impeachment crisis. After the Rev. Jesse Jackson acknowledged that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, conservative politicians and commentators attached the scarlet letter faster than you can say, "Henry Hyde's violation of his marriage vow was just a youthful indiscretion." And if there is one word that even the most inept of DeLay's foot soldiers in Congress or the media can spell, it's "Chappaquiddick."

Thus, it would seem that there could be no riper target for right-wing innuendo and moralizing than U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, the California Democratic whose deceits regarding a sexual relationship with Washington intern Chandra Levy have made him the focus of intense media scrutiny and official investigations into her disappearance. How could it be otherwise? Here, after all, is a Democrat who might actually be as bad as DeLay, Bob Barr, Dan Burton and their minions claimed Bill Clinton was.

But Condit isn't being battered. Indeed, he is being praised by Republicans in California and Washington as an able representative who deserves the benefit of the doubt. Republican criticism of Condit is at least as restrained as that coming from his fellow Democrats.

What gives? Did DeLay finally get to the "judge not lest ye be judged" section of his prayer book?

Not exactly. Condit gets a pass from his Republican colleagues because, in many senses, he is one of them. As the congressman's hometown newspaper, the Modesto Bee, points out, Condit is benefiting from the fact that he "often has sided with Republicans in Congress and, since January, has been among President Bush's most consistent Democratic supporters."

A leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrat caucus, which has made common ground with Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey and DeLay since the mid-1990s, Condit is so conservative that George W. Bush mentioned him as a Cabinet prospect.

Even as the Levy scandal swirled, Condit made a rare public appearance at California's Sequoia National Park - accompanying Bush on the new president's first post-election trip to California.

On his congressional Web site - next to the section recruiting interns and "Gary's Page for Kids" - Condit features an MSNBC article that identifies him as "a natural ally of Republicans."

So conservative has Condit become that he frequently guest hosts Michael Reagan's right-wing radio show.

When Condit entered Congress, as the successor to another scandal-plagued California Democrat, Tony Coelho, he was a more traditional Democrat. Close to labor - and especially critical of free-trade pacts - he voted 83 percent of the time with fellow Democrats, according to the National Journal.

When Republicans took over the House, however, Condit's support for Democratic positions dropped to under 50 percent, as he began to push for Republican initiatives to limit government regulation, penalize the poor and pass the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Condit put a picture of Gingrich on his wall and voted 77 percent of the time with conservatives during the "Contract on America" Congress. By 2000, he was voting more frequently with the John Birch Society (42 percent "right" rating) than the American Civil Liberties Union (36 percent).

So there's no mystery to the all-quiet-on-the-Republican front response to Condit's condition. Loyalty to the conservative cause pays - even for Democrats.

Copyright 2001 The Capital Times

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