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Ashley Madison, Josh Duggar, And The Conservative Hypocrisy Problem [Opinion]

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 05:24 PST, Aug 20, 2015

Conservatives have a huge problem, and I don’t mean Donald Trump.

Despite talk of Christian-based morals and family values, members of the political right often find themselves busted for blatant hypocrisy. For the latest victim of a failure to “practice what you preach,” look no further than 19 Kids And Counting alum Josh Duggar.

Duggar is having an incredible 2015, albeit for all the wrong reasons. Back in May, Josh was wrapped up in an ugly child molestation scandal involving four of his sisters and a babysitter. Instead of rallying behind the alleged victims in the case, the Duggar clan, FOX News, and a disturbingly large number of conservatives did quite the opposite.

Josh Duggar was treated like a victim of the hostile left-leaning media and made into a virtual martyr. The Duggars asked for prayer in the face of all the well-earned scrutiny while insisting that Josh was a changed man. Duggar himself made a statement expressing regret and asking for forgiveness.

“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends.”

The backlash proved was too much to save the family’s reality TV empire. TLC, after an embarrassingly long delay, pulled the Duggar series 19 Kids And Counting from the schedule. Even as fans shook their fists at the injustice of it all, Josh Duggar quietly was looking for an exit strategy to a scandal that hadn’t even landed yet.

In July, we learned a group of hackers called the Impact Team illegally obtained more than nine gigabytes worth of data from the popular cheating site Ashley Madison and sister site Established Men. The website, known for its “Life’s short, have an affair”, was ordered to go offline or face the consequences. When Ashley Madison owner Avid Life Media balked at the threat, the hacking team dumped the stolen information on the dark web on Tuesday.

“Avid Life Media has been instructed to take Ashley Madison and Established Men offline permanently in all forms, or we will release all customer records, including profiles with all the customers’ secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails”

In a matter of hours, news sites began to reveal that the information was indeed legitimate. To say that millions of people are panicking as I type is something of an understatement.

So then, how does Josh Duggar figure into this mess? Well, he ended up being one of the first famous names confirmed to be linked to the Ashley Madison leak scandal.

According to Gawker, Duggar paid nearly $1,000 for his Ashley Madison subscription from February 2013 until May 2015. That’s right, apparently Josh didn’t consider closing his account until about the same time the child molestation scandal hit. A scandal that many conservatives went to bat for Duggar over because he’s such an upstanding representative of the American Christian family.

And herein lies the problem with conservatives and their never-ending, holier-than-thou hypocrisy. So much time gets spent by these people pointing the finger at others while claiming that they are the gatekeepers to all that is good and upright about America. It is often the loudest voices on the right who are revealed to have the bigger piles of skeletons tucked in the darkest corners of their closets.

The left certainly has its share of Bill Clintons and Anthony Weiners. After all, no one ever said that scandal had a particular political affiliation. Still, it’s hard to ignore that one side of the aisle has gone above and beyond the other in attempts to claim a moral high ground it so desperately (and hilariously) lacks.

At some point, you’d think that the big names on the political right would get tired of being busted as lying, cheating, stone-throwers who loathe their own glass houses.

Apparently, not.

The Republicans now find themselves on the verge of a series of scandals. They’d better hope the Hillary Clinton email fiasco somehow ties the former first lady to Ashley Madison (or something far worse). Otherwise, thinks look even bleaker for GOP presidential aspirations.

Between the inevitable infidelity fireworks (Josh Duggar will NOT be the only big name conservative caught with his pants down, calling it now…) and the “Donald Trump Show”, the far right might want to start praying for deliverance from themselves.

[Image Credit: YouTube screen capture/TLC/Entertainment Tonight]

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