# Good News for the Republican Party (Rick Sheehy)! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179 "2013-02-03T02:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/1 "2013-02-03T02:50:00Z")
In the latest sex scandal for the Republican Party, it turns out [Rick Sheehy](http://news.yahoo.com/nebraska-lt-gov-sheehy-resigns-office-164944812.html) is totally hetero! Sure he voilated their family values but at least he did it with girls! :smack: Things are looking up! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/2 "2013-02-03T04:27:37Z")
So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? I keep forgetting which it is. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/3 "2013-02-03T05:57:15Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. Its annoyingly hard to tell from the linked article, I think the scandal, such that it is, is that he was using a gov’t issued phone to hide his affairs. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/4 "2013-02-03T06:12:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. It doesn’t matter if its a Democrat but it matters if its a Republican ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/5 "2013-02-03T06:19:59Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. Are you asking us, or the Republican Governor who apparently decided Sheehy is now toxic? Or the Republican voters of Nebraska who would choose whether or not to elect him Governor? Not that I’m not flattered that you came to us first, mind you, it’s just that we’re fairly small cogs in this machine… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/6 "2013-02-03T07:01:02Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Are you asking us, or the Republican Governor who apparently decided Sheehy is now toxic? Or the Republican voters of Nebraska who would choose whether or not to elect him Governor? > > Not that I’m not flattered that you came to us first, mind you, it’s just that we’re fairly small cogs in this machine… I’m asking the OP. No need to flatter yourself. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/7 "2013-02-03T07:08:35Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > It doesn’t matter if its a Democrat but it matters if its a Republican Like how nobody bothered with the Weiner tweets? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/8 "2013-02-03T07:31:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. Exclude the middle much? 🆒 It is _inconsistency_ that annoys. Consider Newt Gingrich whose patriotic duty to chastise Clinton for adultery, postponing depositions and perjury at the deposition subverted the Federal government. Newt Gingrich committed adultery, and postponed depositions about it. Whether he would have perjured himself is unclear; his wife didn’t have Starr’s multi-million dollar team on her side and was unable to force a deposition. Do the hypocrites who prosecuted Clinton for sins they were themselves guilty of think personal life does or doesn’t matter? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/9 "2013-02-03T10:19:24Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. From the GOP Platform 2012: “Values matter. Character counts”… “The institution of marriage is the foundation of civil society”. Then there was [this](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/08/992298/-GOP-presidential-candidates-must-pledge-fidelity-to-their-spouses-and-to-ban-gays-and-porn)… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/10 "2013-02-03T16:15:24Z")
No no, see, Gingrich said his adultery was because [he was just so hard-working and patriotic](http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/03/09/134392580/newt-gingrich-seems-to-blame-past-personal-lapses-on-patriotism) so that makes it totally OK for him to have screwed women outside marriage. Clinton was still wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/11 "2013-02-03T17:11:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. For the last damn time, if you run on imposing your “family values” legislatively, we get to critique them. Re-read that a few times so you don’t forget any more. ---
**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/12 "2013-02-03T17:24:15Z")
So I actually tried to bring some facts to this forsaken hellhole, and in the last ten minutes I couldn’t find anything online where Sheehy had personally campaigned on “the sanctity of marriage” or any other double speak. He switched from D to R in 2003 and the rest of his profile kind of just makes him look like an ordinary good ol’ boy and bandwagoner. The association with the white-straight-Christian-family-touting Republican Party makes him mildly hypocritical but there are so many better examples for us to choose from, than this, so unless anybody can find something firm (e.g. if he had ravaged opponents for infidelity) I think this pitting is a little superfluous. [http://www.nndb.com/people/085/000161599/](http://www.nndb.com/people/085/000161599/) Project Votesmart had almost nothing on him. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/13 "2013-02-03T17:52:25Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#): > > For the last damn time, if you run on imposing your “family values” legislatively, we get to critique them. Re-read that a few times so you don’t forget any more. I was not aware that he had campaigned to make adultery and/or divorce illegal. In fact, the link in the OP says his wife filed for divorce about a year ago. But then again, he is the Lt Governor of Nebraska, so if we invoke the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon rule, that makes him practically the Leader of the Free World! ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/14 "2013-02-03T17:53:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, a politician’s personal life does or doesn’t matter? > > I keep forgetting which it is. You’re not stupid, so why act like it? Which of the parties tries to legislate family values? Anti abortion, anti birth control, abstinence only education, anti-gay marriage, anti-gay adoption, pro-Christian creation myths in science classes. Honestly, if only one party makes a show of being holier than thou, then they are the hypocrites when failing to meet that bar. Wouldn’t you agree? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/15 "2013-02-03T18:54:33Z")
**John** is our Designated Scold. He tends to agree with us on the larger issues, but his duty compels him to rag out on us every once in a while. And, of course, keep his non-partisan cred from eroding. it’s his job, and somebody has to do it! Well, nobody really has to do it, but he will anyway. Thanks, **John**. You can take the rest of the day off, enjoy the game, but remember we are obliged to root for the gay team. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/16 "2013-02-03T19:05:10Z")
So he’s divorcing his wife and speaking to other women. Is is crime that he used a state owned phone to make the calls? How expensive are the calls? If it’s an unlimited plan then there would be no marginal cost to the state. I doubt he’d of been ousted had this happened in a blue state. Dumping him seems an overreaction. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/17 "2013-02-03T19:28:36Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > So he’s divorcing his wife and speaking to other women. > > Is **it** crime that he used a state owned phone to make the calls? How expensive are the calls? If it’s an unlimited plan then there would be no marginal cost to the state. > > I doubt he’d of been ousted had this happened in a blue state. > > Dumping him seems an overreaction. I was distracted while typing an missed the tiny little correction window. It seems to me there is an overly high price to pay for being a politician in a teahadist state. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/18 "2013-02-03T19:35:59Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > So he’s divorcing his wife and speaking to other women. > > Is is crime that he used a state owned phone to make the calls? How expensive are the calls? If it’s an unlimited plan then there would be no marginal cost to the state. > > I doubt he’d of been ousted had this happened in a blue state. > > Dumping him seems an overreaction. Yea, it kinda seems like the equivalent of sacking him for stealing office supplies. But then, maybe the minutes are more valuable then I think they are. The report did say it was “thousands of minutes”, so I guess that could add up. In any case, it seems the Governor was the one pushing for his resignation, but most of the quotes I saw from him were pretty vague as to the reason (“broken trust, etc.” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/19 "2013-02-03T20:06:50Z")
Translate that as, “Could potentially damage me in future elections.” ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179/20 "2013-02-03T20:17:22Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Translate that as, “Could potentially damage me in future elections.” I guess, but the Governor’s term isn’t up for another two years, so assuming he runs for another office, its kinda hard to see how much damage “another politician made personal calls on a gov’t phone two years ago” would really do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-republican-party-rick-sheehy/649179.md?page=2)