The Brotherhood of the Wandering Dick

With Jeff Sharlet's book, The Family, published in paperback, we now know that there is a hypocritical theocratic Christian cult in Washington where fallen wandering dicks who like to judge the moral incapacity of other wandering dicks, from the other party, of course, like to pray and sleep.

The latest round of scandal in the wandering dick segment of the Republican Party, John Ensign and Mark Sanford, are both members.

According to talkingpointsmemo.com: C Street, in which a bevvy of current and former lawmakers portray the house -- as well as The Fellowship, the shadowy religious movement, also known as The Family, with which C Street is affiliated -- as a benevolent prayer group that offers "crucial counseling" to its powerful members, helping keep them on the straight and narrow.

In trying to turn the powerful theocratic center into a counseling center for wayward right-wingers, this new publicity about The Family leaves Zachary Roth at talkingpointsmemo.com flat:

More broadly, here's the major problem that's elided by the image of the benevolent prayer group: it's one thing for lawmakers to have a group of trusted friends and peers with whom they can talk about their personal lives. But, for a range of pretty obvious reasons, when prominent elected officials cheat on their spouses (OK, wives), they often commit other, non-sexual transgressions -- which go to their official responsibilities -- in trying to cover it up. That puts their religious confidants in the compromising position of knowing about non-personal wrongdoing that the public has a right to be aware of, but being obligated by the bonds of the group to keep it secret. Indeed, that seems to have been exactly what happened in the Ensign case, in particular with Sen. Tom Coburn, who has refused to speak publicly about what he told Ensign, citing his role as a "physician and as an ordained deacon."

Politico.com also has a C Street story. As does RollCall.com.