Hypocrisy + Hypocrisy + Bigotry = ?

Our friends at Episcopal Cafe have a link to an expose on Richard Mellon Scaife, a financier of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. The IRD, as we know, is a notorious bunch of homophobes.

Scaife funneled millions of dollars into the attack on Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal.

Additionally, CNN has this quote about Scaife:

A former Scaife employee, Pat Minarcin, said, "He has the emotional maturity of a very angry 12-year-old, and he has all this money and he can do whatever he wants with it."

In Pittsburgh, Minarcin edited a magazine for Scaife, but resigned. "He [Scaife] presented a list of people who he wanted the magazine to attack, a kind of enemies list," Minarcin said.

Vanity Fair's expose, however, reveals a more complicated picture. Despite allegedly being a family values supporter, Scaife has been an open philanderer - his word, not mine. He compared himself in that regard to Bill Clinton. His two marriages were ... tumultuous and marred by petty vindictiveness on both sides.

From Vanity Fair:

Asked whether his infidelity is hypocritical, in light of his political commitments, he refers not to a moral principle but to his own personal history. “My first marriage ended with an affair,” he says, amused. And monogamy is not, he continues, an essential part of a good marriage. “I don’t want people throwing rocks at me in the street. But I believe in open marriage.” Philandering, Scaife says with a laugh, “is something that Bill Clinton and I have in common.”

Those are surprising words indeed to hear from a man who spent so lavishly to uncover Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadilloes and to advance the movement fueled by family values. But it would be a mistake to read the saga of Richard Mellon Scaife’s divorce as simply a story of moral hypocrisy. His treatment of women, especially his first wife, suggests a high regard for his own gratification. His commitment to conservative politics has never been primarily about upholding traditional morality; it has been about promoting policies that help to preserve his own wealth and that of people like himself.

So, there you have it.

But, there's also this tidbit:

Scaife left the meeting with an autographed copy of Bill Clinton’s My Life and a head full of thoughts about the “scourge of aids” in Africa, which the two had discussed in detail—though Scaife emphasizes, twice, that Clinton “did most of the talking.” Back in Pittsburgh, Scaife decided to send a $100,000 personal check to the Clinton Global Initiative. That got him thinking about aids locally, he says, and so when he found a direct-mail solicitation for persad, Pittsburgh’s aids service center, in his mailbox, he wrote that group a check, too. Does he think his best gay friends should be able to get married? Scaife throws his hand in the air and exclaims, “Yes, I do!” A moment later he adds, “I haven’t really thought about it. But if they want to get married, that’s their business. I couldn’t care less.”

And yet, this man's foundation donated $1.6 million to the IRD between '85 and '01; the IRD is attempting to split three mainline denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal) over the issue of homosexuality.

The simple interpretation is that Dick Scaife is spoiled, stupid and hypocritical. However, simple interpretations aren't always right. Only God can know what's in our hearts. Personally, I don't like what I see, but there's a good reason I'm not God.