GOP views

The Republican Party is struggling to regain its footing in national politics, and the recent scandals surrounding two leading Republicans have complicated the process.

Admissions of extramarital affairs by Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford have disqualified them from running for president. But other leading Republicans carefully discussed the scandals on Sunday TV news shows.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," said: "Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that is sad and troubling and hypocritical, other people are going to look at that and say, 'Hmm, they don't walk the walk.' And so the words and the actions don't ring true. It certainly hurts the brand."

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation," may have spoken for many people in public life when he said: "I just don't talk about people's personal problems. I don't think it's appropriate, I don't think it's polite, and I don't think it achieves any purpose."

Former Massachusetts Gov. and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney expressed a different view on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said: "Not all mistakes are the same. And not everybody is a governor or a senator or a president. And we expect people to live by a higher standard because what they do is going to be magnified. Their families are going to be hurt more by what they do. The things they care about will be hurt. And the culture of the nation and the people who follow them will be hurt."

Both Govs. Pawlenty and Barbour stressed the importance for Republicans to live the values they espouse. They pointed specifically to the GOP's inability to curb federal spending in recent years.

If Republicans are going to be the party of fiscal discipline and responsibility, they have to live up to their principles, the governors said.

That is sound advice, if only the party would follow it.