# Republican vs. Democratic pedophiles **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 19, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867 "2025-06-19T22:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/21 "2025-06-20T15:33:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Regional is fine. Just looking for party members from both sides who work or represent the party in some way. Or even citizens who are particularly vocal on the subject, or an especially enthusiastic supporter of the party or candidate. Matthew Inman, Orange County Democratic Party treasurer > **[Florida Democratic Party official arrested on child pornography charges](https://kfoxtv.com/news/nation-world/florida-democratic-party-official-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges-orange-county-florida-democratic-party-treasurer-matthew-inman)** > > The official is accused of receiving and saving 'child sexual abuse material.' Stacie-Marie Laughton, member of the NH state house of representatives > **[Stacie-Marie Laughton | Child pornography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacie-Marie_Laughton#Child_pornography)** > > On June 22, 2023, Laughton was arrested and held in jail on preventive detention pending arraignment to four counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images. On July 17, she was further charged with aiding and abetting in the sexual exploitation of children. > 1.List of transgender public officeholders in the United States > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > OK, you’ll have to explain to me why if two people commit the same crime, why it makes a difference which party they belong to. For what I’m looking for, the only difference is which column they go into. > > It’s like this: > > - How many Democrats are dog owners? > - How many Republicans are dog owners? > > That is all. FWIW, I ran a search through ChatGPT for democrats and republicans who have been arrested for sex crimes involving minors in the last few decades, and it came up with 7 GOP names and 2 democrat names. I have no idea if that imbalance applies on a widespread level. Also it didn’t Include Anthony Weiner, who is more well known than the 2 democrats I listed. It also didn’t include Mark Foley, who was a GOP rep from Florida. However Foley was never charged. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/22 "2025-06-20T15:35:36Z")
The best example there is is Trump. If there is someone on the Democratic side of the aisle that also has committed that many sexual crimes, and you try to say there is a 1:1 correlation between the two _no matter the position of that Democrat_, then we have a very serious problem going on. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/23 "2025-06-20T15:46:47Z")
ISTM Johnny was just looking to see if what he observes is some sort of confirmation bias about the frequency of these reports; I take it you specifically take exception to “crime’s the same” but again, his question was whether the one vs the other are or are not as or more frequent and how come, about the facts of the deed, rather than about ethical equivalence of the doers. It WOULD be interesting to see if this is an artifact of reporting, or maybe a result that one group tends to be more likely to quickly fold and go away rather than try to fight it or do a counter-accusation. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/24 "2025-06-20T15:49:49Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > It WOULD be interesting to see if this is an artifact of reporting, or maybe a result that one group tends to be more likely to quickly fold and go away rather than try to fight it or do a counter-accusation. I think it more the case that one side considers it to be a horrible crime that should be punished no matter who is doing it, and the other side is just calling it a matter of “politics”-it is bad only when “they” do it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/25 "2025-06-20T15:52:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > One side tends to have higher ups commit the crime, and they do their best to excuse and/or cover up the crime. > The other side tends to have people lower down the line commit the crime, and they tend _not_ to try to excuse or cover up the crimes. Understood. But that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m just looking for numbers (and names). > [@JRDelirious](#): > > his question was whether the one vs the other are or are not as or more frequent and how come, about the facts of the deed, rather than about ethical equivalence of the doers. ⬆ This. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/26 "2025-06-20T15:55:34Z")
Perhaps you would like the Mods to move this to Factual Questions? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/27 "2025-06-20T15:56:44Z")
I _am_ looking for factual answers. I put it here because it involves people of political parties committing certain crimes. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/28 "2025-06-20T16:03:29Z")
Over compensation for our faults by virtue signaling through churches or other public platforms would tend to throw pedophiles more to the right , but that would no way suggest that republicans tend to pedophiles. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/29 "2025-06-20T16:09:26Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > that would no way suggest that republicans tend to pedophiles. I have no intention of coming to any conclusions. Data only. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/30 "2025-06-20T16:29:14Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Over compensation for our faults by virtue signaling through churches or other public platforms would tend to throw pedophiles more to the right , but that would no way suggest that republicans tend to pedophiles. As a liberal I have an inherit bias, but this is part of the equation from what I can tell. People who are trying to hide some deep shame are probably more drawn to the puritanism of the right. Its called reaction formation, when something makes you feel uncomfortable so you try to be the exact opposite. Its why so many anti-gay preachers and republicans turn out to secretly be gay. But also, brain scans show conservatives feel less [empathy](https://www.psypost.org/new-neuroscience-research-shows-liberals-experience-more-empathy-than-conservatives-when-they-imagine-others-suffering/). It would be interesting to see if cluster B personality disorders are distributed politically. I would ‘guess’ that cluster B personality disorders like narcissistic personality disorder or anti-social personality disorder are more common on the right, but borderline personality disorder is probably more common on the left. Looking into it, people with dark tetrad personality traits (sociopathy, narcissism, machivellianism and sadism) are somewhat more right leaning in a study in Austria. But the difference isn’t huge. No idea about BPD > **[The impact of dark tetrad traits on political orientation and extremism: an...](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5680983/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)** > > Previous research on personality and political attitudes has been conducted in countries where political parties from the center dominate the political system. In the present research (N = 675), we focus on the relationship between the dark side of... > The present study showed that there is a positive association between all dimensions of the Dark Tetrad and a political right-wing attitude. Moreover, Machiavellianism turned out to be the most important predictor of the dark side of human personality for political orientation. Machiavellianism is associated with misanthropy, anti-social tendencies, cold-heartedness, and immoral beliefs ([Jones and Paulhus, 2011](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5680983/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#bib0070)). Perhaps because the Freedom Party of Austria strongly proposes anti-immigration and anti-Islam issues, voters scoring high on Machiavellianism are particularly inclined to vote for the party’s candidate. > > In contrast, only narcissism and psychopathy were associated with political extremism. A possible explanation for the association between narcissism and political extremism is due to the narcissistic tendency of focusing on one’s own interests whereas the needs of others are neglected (e.g., [Campbell et al., 2002](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5680983/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#bib0025)). The association between psychopathy and political extremism could be explained by psychopathic tendencies to have little empathy towards other people, being sociopathic, impulsive, and not being able to suppress behavioral tendencies that are not appreciated by society (e.g., [Soderstrom, 2003](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5680983/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#bib0125)). > > Furthermore, Hofer voters had higher scores in narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism than did Van der Bellen voters. Although Van der Bellen was considered to be left-wing orientated, he was also considered to be far more politically moderate than Hofer. Thus, in comparison to each other, Norbert Hofer was considered to be the more “politically extreme” candidate. In fact, during the presidential election, Van der Bellen was not only endorsed by the Green party, but also by leaders of the center-left Social Democratic and center-right Austrian People’s parties. > > Overall, we believe it is fair to say that there was a consistent relationship between the dark side of human personality and political orientation and extremism. Please keep in mind, however, that the correlation coefficients were either small or small to medium in its magnitude. Hence, the relationships between dark personality and political orientation and extremism appear to be relatively small in terms of their effect size. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/31 "2025-06-21T16:43:46Z")
> **[So, Let’s Talk About Republicans and Sex Crimes](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/04/from-hastert-to-gaetz-lets-talk-about-republicans-and-sex-crimes.html)** > > This seems like an appropriate moment. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/32 "2025-06-21T18:20:45Z")
Old article, but appropriate. Are there and Democrats of equivalent stature that have been honestly accused of this type of behavior? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/33 "2025-06-21T19:28:19Z")
When rumor is better than truth when it comes to smearing your opponents, it might be best to discuss actual convictions…although it seems the Republicans are still in the lead when it comes to pedophile convictions. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/34 "2025-06-21T21:41:11Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Are there and Democrats of equivalent stature that have been honestly accused of this type of behavior? While Dennis Hastert technically was not convicted of child molestation, he did admit to it in his hearing to be sentenced for structuring hush-money payments for the coverup. No one else higher on the presidential line of succession has been accused, much less indicted or convicted, of such an offense. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/35 "2025-06-22T18:54:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When rumor is better than truth when it comes to smearing your opponents, it might be best to discuss actual convictions…although it seems the Republicans are still in the lead when it comes to pedophile convictions. Convictions is one measure, but you know how hard it is to get a prosecution, let alone conviction, on a politician. But I do want a measure more than the pizza shop sex ring, so it’s fair to want some substantion. I think Jim Jordan meets the threshold, as does Matt Gaetz, but you can set the terms for yourself. Trump certainly perved on teenage girls, but there currently isn’t enough to conclude he actually did anything. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/36 "2025-06-22T19:47:06Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > but there currently isn’t enough to conclude he actually did anything He may have tried, but man… teen girls are really mean. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/37 "2025-06-22T20:00:28Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > No one else higher on the presidential line of succession has been accused, much less indicted or convicted, of such an offense. One has. But when you’re rich they let you get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867/38 "2025-06-22T21:31:21Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > He may have tried, but man… teen girls are really mean. I’m referring more to an Epstein encounter than a pageant encounter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-vs-democratic-pedophiles/1019867.md?page=1)