Several recent news stories brought to mind the old joke about liberal Democrats, that if it weren’t for double standards they would have no standards at all. Sometimes the hypocrisy is enough to stupefy any reasonable person. For your reading pleasure, I offer the following examples…

In his November 20th speech to the nation regarding his “executive amnesty” actions, Obama said, “Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable – especially those who may be dangerous.” The hypocrisy of this statement coming from that man is glaring. Obama declares we are a nation of laws as a precursor to explaining how he is about to continue the violations of his oath of office by expanding the scope of his non-enforcement criteria, and beyond that, actually rewarding the lawbreakers.

America is indeed a nation of immigrants, yet Obama is not declaring amnesty for immigrants, he is declaring amnesty for millions of illegal aliens whose first actions in relation to America were violations of our immigration laws. He has for more than half a decade failed to faithfully enforce those laws, declaring entire categories of illegals exempt from prosecution and deportation under the law. He now seeks to reward them with legalization and work permits.

Another example of liberal double standards is the reaction of the political left to the allegations of rape and sexual assault against black comedian Bill Cosby, versus the reaction to similar allegations against former President Bill Clinton. Before a single case has even gone to trial, Cosby, who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats and campaigned for Obama, has had his endorsements pulled; his comedy shows cancelled, and he has been abandoned by liberals.

By contrast, Bill Clinton’s assaults also spanned decades, and included credible allegations of rape and sexual assault by numerous women. His wife, Hillary, who now aspires to once again inhabit the White House, only this time to be seated in the Oval Office, helped to engineer the bullying and character assassinations of these women, chalking up the allegations to the secret workings of a “vast, right-wing conspiracy,” despite knowing her husband was guilty. Political ambitions were far more important to her, and to the progressive left, than a few women no one knew or cared about. Bill Clinton was a hero to the left for his defense of abortion on demand, whereas Cosby earned the wrath of the left for speaking bluntly about the destructive nature of urban black culture which shuns education and the rule of law, and embraces drugs, crime, and violence against women.

This past week, social media exploded with outrage after a grand jury declined to recommend charges against police officers in the death of Eric Garner, a black man from New York who died after being wrestled to the ground and subdued by police. Garner’s offense? Selling “loosies,” or individual cigarettes.

In New York City the progressive busybodies who love to chant “keep your laws off my body” in regards to abortion are the same ones who have approved laws and ordinances banning trans fat, limiting salt content in foods, and placing astronomically high taxes on cigarettes ($4.35/pack by the state of New York, plus another $1.60/pack by the city of New York, driving the price of cigarettes up to more than $12/pack). In response, a black market industry has popped up whereby buyers go across state lines to get cigarettes for cheaper, and then come back and sell at a discount.

What most media accounts omit about the Garner incident is that the arrest attempt was initiated because Garner was suspected of selling a legal product (cigarettes) at a discounted price, in the process depriving the city and state of their desired tax revenue. What media accounts also omit is that, a few weeks prior to Garner’s death, Chief of Department Phillip Banks (the #2 law enforcement official behind the Police Commissioner, who is in turn appointed by the NYC mayor, currently the “progressive” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio) had ordered a crackdown on the sale of “illegal” cigarettes as a “quality of life” crime. You can get away with a lot of crimes when progressives are in charge of government, but if you try to deprive them of tax revenue, the results could be deadly.

With no apparent sense of irony, senior Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), following the Election Day bloodbath which saw Democrats lose eight (now nine) Senate seats, more than a dozen House seats, and several more governorships in liberal states, said that “[i]n order to win in 2016, Democrats must embrace government, not run away from it..” Don’t look now, Chuck, but it was your progressive adoration of Big Government and the high taxes that fund it that led to the death of Eric Garner.

Few things will get a liberal/progressive’s blood boiling faster than a discussion of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizen’s United case, which ruled that corporations have the right to engage in political speech. Yet the progressive Left is mum about the fact that the CU ruling also protects the right of labor unions to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Democrats.

Similarly, the Left positively froths at the mouth in outrage at the mere mention of the dastardly libertarian Koch brothers, who have spent millions in support of free market organizations and conservative/libertarian causes. However, a clear double standard exists here when one realizes the combined individual donations of Charles and David Koch ($4.76M) pales in comparison to the political influence bought by liberal/socialist billionaires Tom Steyer ($74M, with 100% going to Democrats), Michael Bloomberg ($20.13M, with 93% going to Democrats), Fred Eychaner ($8.15M, with 97% going to Democrats), and George Soros ($3.79M, with 100% going to Democrats, plus hundreds of millions more through his Open Society Institute).

Furthermore, of all organizations spending money to buy political influence, a staggering twelve of the Top 17 are labor unions (of which none donated more than 7% to Republicans), and only one of the Top 17 (AT&T at #4, at 58%) donated more than half to Republicans. So it then becomes obvious that it’s not so much that the Left detests billionaires buying political influence, as it is that they detest conservatives being able to spend money to influence the political discourse.

The double standard also extends to civility. Liberal Democrats went berserk recently when a staffer for an obscure Republican congressman posted criticism of the appearance and behavior of the Obama girls on Facebook. Despite quickly issuing an apology (as she should have), Democrats and their minions were not happy until the woman lost her job.

If only liberals maintained that same standard when it comes to attacks on the children of Republicans. When it was reported recently that Bristol Palin, daughter of former Republican VP nominee and Democrat boogeyman Sarah Palin, was assaulted, CNN anchor Carol Costello mocked Bristol for several days, saying that an audio recording of a distraught Bristol relaying the details of the assault was “quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across – well, come across in a long time anyway. Sit back and enjoy.” The mainstream media ignored the offensive comments, and though Costello eventually apologized, it was clearly not sincere. The media also had a field day mocking George Bush’s daughters when they were arrested for underage drinking, yet barely mentioned the dishonorable, administrative discharge of VP Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, from the Navy after twice failing a drug test after using cocaine.

So yes, it would be nice if we could expect liberal Democrats to adhere to the same exacting standards they demand of conservatives, but I would not hold my breath. If it wasn’t for double standards…