Alabama's Rethuglican Governor and man who could pass for a small town mortician Robert Bentley resigned yesterday as impeachment proceedings progressed in the Alabama legislature. In a plea deal with state law enforcement, the former governor pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges involving misuse of state funds and campaign reporting violations, avoiding more serious felony charges. Bentley was accused of using state resources to conduct and then cover up an affair with a younger staff member, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a married mother of three. As late as last Friday, Bentley defiantly refused to resign, but under pressure within his party and after details of his affair were leaked out, he had a change of heart. What made the exposure of Bentley's affair particularly delicious is his rank hypocrisy, selling himself with a "family values" message. He was a fervent opponent of marriage equality, and women's reproductive rights.
In his resignation statement, Bentley said:
"I've not always made the right choices. I've not always said the right things. Though I have sometimes failed, I've always tried to live up to the high expectations the people place on the person who holds this esteemed office." (emphasis added)Those "high expectations" don't seem so high now. As for his hypocrisy, 19th century British critic William Hazlitt's words apply:
"The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."
BONUS: The Luv Guv and his lady - awful or the most awful?
BONUS II: Here's (l. to r.) little shit Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, Luv Guv, and serial predator and big shit Donald "Rump" Trump in December of last year --
(Getty Images)
BONUS III: The Luv Guv's mug shot. Enjoy!
