First of all, I love The Economist. It’s a weekly news magazine that is very dense yet very concise. In a recent article (subscription required) they state:

…[a] handicap for Republicans is that their arguments during the Lewinsky affair may be thrown back in their faces. How can they moan that Mr Fitzgerald has broadened his inquiry well beyond the original leak, when they supported Mr Starr’s leap from dodgy land deals to oral sex? How can they say that perjury and obstruction of justice are technicalities when, during the Lewinsky affair, they declared that “perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanours” (Senator Bill Frist) and that “perjury and obstruction of justice are crimes against the state” (Senator Sam Brownback)?

The Republican flip-flip double-standard bullshit raises its head again. When it is the other guy they have one standard and when it is their side they have another.

This is not solely a trait of the Right, of course, liberals, too, need to make sure they don’t apply double-standards. It is a sure sign of partisanship, which is making winning more important than being right.