C Street Christians: When Good Congressmen Go Bad
Jill Lawrence
Senior Correspondent
Posted:
07/17/09
"Another Alleged Affair Tied to Christian House on Capitol Hill." With that headline from Congressional Quarterly, we are moving beyond politics and into sitcom territory.
The "C Street house," as CQ explains, serves as a dormitory and meeting place for lawmakers who are part of a conservative Christian "C Street" fellowship.
The old brick house is where South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (he of the Argentine soul mate) lived when he was a congressman. It's where Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and other members confronted Nevada Sen. John Ensign about his extramarital affair and forced him to write a letter breaking it off. (He didn't break it off, though, even though they drove him to a Fed-Ex office and watched him send the letter.) Now comes word that Leisha Pickering is suing a woman for allegedly stealing her ex-husband, former congressman Chip Pickering Jr. of Mississippi. And yes, she says they had an affair while he was a C Streeter -- and that there was even bad behavior at the sacred house itself.
I see definite potential for a reality show, maybe something quasi-sympathetic like "It's Not Easy Being Male." Or "Band of (Wayward) Christian Brothers." Or "Hate the Sin, Not the Member." Or maybe "C Street Cruise."
My colleague Bonnie Goldstein has already imagined the opening titles: "Fade in: Capitol Hill townhouse exterior tight on the address, pulling back to reveal federal architecture, American flag, tidy garden."
So here's the pitch: Six lonely guys who must travel for their jobs band together to try to stay faithful to their faraway wives. They have good intentions -- they pray a lot and read the Bible to each other, and give many speeches about the importance of family values. When other people sin, they are saddened and sometimes outraged and want those people to quit their jobs as elected officials.
But there's another side to these lonely guys. The dark side. The wild side. The side that says "let it rip," and "I'm special," and "my wife won't find out," and "my friends will understand."
The show would showcase the dramatic contrasts between the drudgery of Congress -- long hours, obscure policy votes, bland and perfectly behaved spouses -- with the romance and excitement of high-risk affairs with the kinds of women whom they'd never take with them on the campaign trail. Sexy, independent, exotic, maybe even foreign -- forbidden in every way.
The show would also highlight the bonds among these Christian brothers, trying so hard and so earnestly to live up to their rhetoric, discovering each other's lapses time after time after time, forgiving one another after the shock -- and shock -- and shock -- fades, helping each other to accept that they are imperfect.
Liberal blogger Josh Marshall called it: Whatever you think of the politics of the real-life C Streeters, "these dudes know how to party."
The "C Street house," as CQ explains, serves as a dormitory and meeting place for lawmakers who are part of a conservative Christian "C Street" fellowship.
The old brick house is where South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (he of the Argentine soul mate) lived when he was a congressman. It's where Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and other members confronted Nevada Sen. John Ensign about his extramarital affair and forced him to write a letter breaking it off. (He didn't break it off, though, even though they drove him to a Fed-Ex office and watched him send the letter.) Now comes word that Leisha Pickering is suing a woman for allegedly stealing her ex-husband, former congressman Chip Pickering Jr. of Mississippi. And yes, she says they had an affair while he was a C Streeter -- and that there was even bad behavior at the sacred house itself.
I see definite potential for a reality show, maybe something quasi-sympathetic like "It's Not Easy Being Male." Or "Band of (Wayward) Christian Brothers." Or "Hate the Sin, Not the Member." Or maybe "C Street Cruise."
My colleague Bonnie Goldstein has already imagined the opening titles: "Fade in: Capitol Hill townhouse exterior tight on the address, pulling back to reveal federal architecture, American flag, tidy garden."
So here's the pitch: Six lonely guys who must travel for their jobs band together to try to stay faithful to their faraway wives. They have good intentions -- they pray a lot and read the Bible to each other, and give many speeches about the importance of family values. When other people sin, they are saddened and sometimes outraged and want those people to quit their jobs as elected officials.
But there's another side to these lonely guys. The dark side. The wild side. The side that says "let it rip," and "I'm special," and "my wife won't find out," and "my friends will understand."
The show would showcase the dramatic contrasts between the drudgery of Congress -- long hours, obscure policy votes, bland and perfectly behaved spouses -- with the romance and excitement of high-risk affairs with the kinds of women whom they'd never take with them on the campaign trail. Sexy, independent, exotic, maybe even foreign -- forbidden in every way.
The show would also highlight the bonds among these Christian brothers, trying so hard and so earnestly to live up to their rhetoric, discovering each other's lapses time after time after time, forgiving one another after the shock -- and shock -- and shock -- fades, helping each other to accept that they are imperfect.
Liberal blogger Josh Marshall called it: Whatever you think of the politics of the real-life C Streeters, "these dudes know how to party."