So I guess it's official: Republican politicians are to be judged by much higher standards then Democrat ones, because they espouse principles. Or something.
I remember having this discussion with a liberal once. Republicans get called on this stuff because they are accused of hypocrisy, on top of the original crime. Since Dems don't espouse any principles in the first place, they skate because they're not hypocrites, they say up front they're crooked. The original crime fades into the background.
Ted Kennedy never claimed to be the kind of man who would save a drowning girl, for example, so it should come as no surprise he would let one do so. Bill Clinton never said diddling White House interns was bad, so nobody cared when he did it and lied about it to deny somebody else justice.