Herald Times Editorial, May 20, 2010.

Goodbye to a hypocrite

While representing northeastern Indiana in Congress for 16 years, Mark Souder has played the morality card. He’s said one of his three main interests was “How do we change the cultural and moral direction of this country.”

He attacked Indiana University a few years ago when he challenged federal grants to the Bloomington-based Kinsey Institute that were to be used to study sexual behaviors and AIDS.

In a letter to National Institutes of Health director Elias Zerhouni, he referred to “an Institute built upon (Alfred) Kinsey’s hideous legacy.” He wrote: “Kinsey and his associates, at the very least, encouraged the rape and molestation of children in the name of ‘science.’”

John Bancroft, Kinsey’s director at the time, debunked Souder’s misinformed rhetoric. A few child molesters were included in thousands of interviews done by Kinsey, Bancroft said, and he reported about them in his findings. “Yes, he got information from child molesters and reported it. ... But he didn’t promote it.”

Zerhouni supported the grants, and Souder went on to other things — including the six-year extramarital affair that this week prompted his resignation from Congress.

He’s a hypocrite. Hoosiers deserve better.

 

Reprinted from The Herald Times, May 20, 2010.