I know embarrassment isn’t one of those emotions common on Capitol Hill, but I have to wonder how awkward it must be for divorced politicians to attend hearings touting the importance of marriage. It’s like the debate over the Defense of Marriage Act in the ’90s, which was led by Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) — who was on his third wife at the time.
The Hill reported on this today, noting that divorced lawmakers have found themselves in an “awkward position.”
While Republican committee and subcommittee chairmen have gone public with their quest to help Americans enjoy healthier marriages, divorced Republicans are — by and large — refusing to discuss their personal experiences with the institution of marriage.
Six senior Republican lawmakers are divorced and remarried: Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Sen. John Warner (Va.), Sen. Kit Bond (Mo.), Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
Two Republican senators, Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Susan Collins (Maine), are single.
McCain, who divorced his wife of close to 15 years in 1980, is chairman of the Commerce Committee, which last week held a subcommittee hearing on the impact of marriage and divorce on children. McCain remarried a year after his divorce to his current wife of 25 years. Hutchison is also a member of the commerce panel.
The week before, the Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy held a hearing on “The Benefits of Healthy Marriage.”
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Two divorcés, Bond and Warner, sit on the Children and Families Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held a hearing during the last week in April on “Healthy Marriage: What it is and why should we promote it?”
Part of the amusement I find in this is watching usually loquacious lawmakers — who love touting the greatness of the “American family” — suddenly become shy when asked about their own experiences with civilization’s most enduring institution.
[T]he lawmakers on the subcommittee did not feel like sharing any insights they may have gained from the hearing or their personal experiences with marriage.
“I’m not getting into all my personal life. … All I can say is I got married and I’m the happiest man in town,” said Warner.
Bond declared: “I’m very happily married now” and referred additional questions to his press secretary.
Other divorced Republicans were similarly shy about discussing the Senate GOP focus on marriage and whether it might be perceived as hypocritical for divorcés to extol the virtues of healthy marriages.
McConnell declined to respond to two efforts to engage him on the subject of marriage and his personal experience.
Hutchison said, “Marriage is a very important institution in our country, and it’s the foundation of our culture,” but would not respond to questions of whether it would be incongruent for divorced politicians to tout the joys and benefits of marriage.
Just to be clear, I’m not criticizing these lawmakers for getting divorced; that’s their business. I am criticizing them, however, for feeling like they have the moral authority to lecture everyone else about family matters despite personal problems of their own.