Mark Souder: Class of '94's Latest Hypocrite

Mark Souder may be leaving Congress as a disgraced hypocrite, but hey, at least he ought to fit in at the Republican House Class of '94 reunion. He can hang out and talk sex with Mark Foley, or Mark Sanford, or John Ensign, or any of the whopping 15 Republican Revolutionaries who've been caught in career-ending scandals — “Most of whom came to town with a 'family values' message,” notes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.

Sure, Milbank allows, any party can be hit by scandal. But it seems every year a new '94 Republican falls from grace. This time it was Souder, a strong “family values” guy who made videos preaching about abstinence education with his married mistress (see video here). In one, he equates sex with smoking, and laments how tough it is to get them to abstain. “Nothing works very well,” he says. She nods sympathetically. She can relate. (More Mark Souder stories.)