In this Austin American Statesman story, Texas Governor Rick Perry responds to and denies salacious rumors that have been circulating over the Internet for the past month that his marriage is on the rocks because of alleged infidelity and that Mr. Perry is preparing to resign. Although a couple of fringe magazines had alluded to the rumors earlier, this is the first major news media acknowledgement of the rumors despite the fact that several blogs — notably The Agonist and the Burnt Orange Report — have been irresponsibly reporting the rumors as virtual fact for the past several weeks, prompting Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting to refer to the rumors at a Feb. 24 political rally in Houston.
I am independent politically and vote for Republicans and Democrats candidates in virtually every election. However, the response of Mr. Soechting to Mr. Perry’s announcement reinforces my belief that the Texas Democratic Party’s leadership in Texas is sadly misguided. Here is Mr. Soechting’s response:

“What crosses the line of everything decent is the utter hypocrisy of Rick Perry injecting his mean-spirited politics into everyone else’s personal life while insisting his own personal life is off limits. What is truly indecent is the state of children’s health care, public schools and insurance rates under Perry’s regime,” Mr. Soechting said in a statement issued by the Texas Democratic Party.

In other words, “so long as we disagree with the Governor’s political stances, it’s O.K. to spread salacious rumors about the Governor’s personal life.” With that kind of judgment behind its political decisions, it is little wonder that the Texas Democratic Party has become an afterthought in Texas politics.
In fact, if the Texas Democratic Party had any remaining political savvy whatsoever, it would immediately fire Mr. Soechting as chairman and denounce the rumor campaign against Governor Perry. With the paucity of statesmen that exist in either state or national politics, how can the political parties expect to attract the men and women with the potential to become statesmen when the parties encourage this type defamation of public figures?
One other observation is in order for the bloggers who have been circulating these rumors. Many of these blogs contain interesting information and provocative insights. However, they undermine their most important quality — i.e., credibility — when they engage in the type of rumor mill that they have engaged in with regard to Governor Perry. Once you have lost your credibility, you have lost your ability to persuade, which means that you are left to discuss matters only with people who agree with you. That is a tremendously limiting experience.