Conservatives used to preach good morals. Now they splash in the sewer with Ken Paxton.

The rise of Texas' Senate GOP candidate is proof of our moral and ethical downfall.

I’m old enough to remember when conservatives routinely preached a good game about the importance of morality in politics. This was back in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was known to…how shall I say this…fancy the ladies. His behavior prompted many on the Republican right to furrow their brows and insist that our leaders possess the virtues of “good character.”

In the words of Bill Bennett, a former Reagan Cabinet secretary and vocal virtue maven, “moral anchors and moorings have never been more necessary.” In the words of Gary Bauer, an evangelical Christian leader, “Character counts - in a people, in the institutions of our society, and in our national leadership.”

Since I hardly need remind you of what has since transpired at the national level - namely, the ‘24 hiring of a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and proven financial fraudster, thanks in no small part to a conservative base that once lauded the virtues of moral character - it’s therefore no surprise that a Trump mini-me, a poster child for moral and financial depravity, has romped to a Senate Republican nomination down in Texas. The rise of Ken Paxton is the latest symptom of our national decline, and it would not shock me one iota if he triumphs in November and helps to cement the party’s Senate majority.

Is it possible that Democrat James Talarico, the Bible-quoting Presbyterian seminarian, can turn the seat blue? Theoretically, sure. But this is Texas we’re talking about. The last time a Texas Democrat won an open Senate seat, it was so long ago that the Jackson 5 topped the Billboard charts with “I’ll Be There.” That was November of 1970. As Casey Stengel liked to say, “You can look it up.”

So any Republican candidate starts with an enormous advantage - even a lowlife like Paxton, the state attorney general, who was impeached by his own party in the Texas state House; who was indicted on felony securities fraud charges; who was dimed out to the FBI by his own staffers; and whose wife has filed for divorce, citing “biblical grounds,” namely adultery. I’ve merely skimmed the surface of his scumbaggery, packing the gist into one paragraph, but Republican primary voters decided the other day, in a landslide, that Paxton is precisely the kind of guy they want in Washington. Trump endorsed Paxton and that’s all they needed to know. They want the vice. They want the criminality. They want the reverse of what they worship on Sundays and preach to their kids.

The big question, going forward, is whether a hefty share of the voters who stuck with Senator John Cornyn, the incumbent lame duck, will be so nauseated by Paxton that they’ll hold their noses in November and switch to Talarico, casting ballots for a Democrat in a statewide race for the first time ever. In this scenario, lots of Republicans - maybe tens of thousands! - will come to their senses, wield their moral compasses, and reject the MAGA infestation of their party. Some are saying this already. Here’s Kirk Bennett, 76, a Cornyn supporter in Frisco, Texas: “Today’s Republican Party no longer reflects the values we hold dear. (I) may vote Democrat for the first time in my life. Character has to count.”

Well. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Republicans typically “come home” to their party in the end. The grim truth these days is that mindless tribalism usually trumps any notion of right and wrong. The acquisition and retention of power takes holy precedence. That’s how it works in a cult. Moral values are a luxury. Moral values are as worthless as yesterday’s soiled Kleenex.

Which is why Paxton is already doing what MAGAts do best, smearing the opposition 24/7. Cue the garbage: “Some people know him as tofu Talarico. Some people call him six-gender Jimmy. I've even heard some people call him James Talafreako.” (Talarico has referred to himself as “cis gender,” which literally means he knows he’s a male. Paxton and Trump have twisted “cis” into “six.”)

Some pro-Talarico optimists insist that these scurrilous attacks are proof that Paxton and his MAGA overlord are “terrified.” I disagree. I think they’re emboldened. They’re just doing what has worked so well so often these last 10 years. And even if it’s true that Paxton is pond scum, he’s their pond scum - and that’s better than a guy who will team up with Chuck Schumer and the rest of those “woke” libs.

So it’s no surprise that the Republicans in Washington have duly fallen in goosestep.

Before the Texas primary, they pledged fealty to their brother in arms, John Cornyn. They hammered away at Paxton, citing the “20 articles of impeachment…over alleged bribery, abuse of power and obstruction of justice.” They spotlighted Paxton’s adulterous behavior, “using secret emails and burner phones to try and cover his tracks,” and inventing an alias “for a fake Uber account that he used to secretly see his mistress.”

Those quotes, and more, were emblazoned on the website of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The other day they were all deleted, flushed down the Orwellian memory hole. There shall be no more talk of Paxton’s moral failings. And for sure there shall be no further talk of Paxton’s recent decision to go easy on a Republican attorney who’d been charged with repeated sexual abuse of a boy. Paxton brokered a plea deal. The offender served 30 days in jail, with no need to register as a sex offender. Cornyn had highlighted this pedophilia case during the primary campaign, but don’t expect Republicans - who once prided themselves as the champions of moral values - to mention the case again.

And rest assured that if Paxton lands in the Senate, he will join his colleagues every October in proclaiming National Character Counts Week - an annual chamber tradition since the 1990s. Last year’s version lauded the importance of “trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.” Wow. The hypocrisy is so thick you can’t cut it with a chainsaw. Six years without Paxton’s signature would be a small blessing.