We can forgive a maskless wedding. It’s Rep. McCarthy’s holier-than-thou attitude we can’t stomach

We are in fundamental disagreement with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in more ways than we can count.

But we have a hard time condemning him for attending his son’s small Dec. 5 wedding ceremony in the small seaside community of Cayucos in San Luis Obispo County.

Should he have worn a mask the entire time? Absolutely.

Everyone at the wedding, including the bride and groom, should have masked up, especially when they were indoors or in close contact with one another outside. That was required then, and it’s required now.

The dinner following the wedding was a violation of COVID-19 rules as well, which forbade wedding receptions.

But according to McCarthy’s statement to the Los Angeles Times — which broke the story about the wedding — the guest list was pared down to 13 from the original 300, and included only parents, grandparents and sisters.

“No uncles, no aunts, no cousins, and no friends,” wrote McCarthy, who represents Kern, Tulare and a small portion of Los Angeles County.

So let’s put this in context.

This is an incredibly tough time for young people, who have been robbed of milestone events like graduations, weddings and baby showers.

This young couple made some major concessions to COVID by settling for a very small wedding and reception held outdoors, and we’re inclined to cut them some slack for not following the letter of the law.

What we take issue with is McCarthy’s hypocrisy.

This is a guy who’s been blasting “Democrat elites” for thinking none of the COVID rules apply to them.

He’s been especially scornful of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attendance at that now-infamous dinner at The French Laundry.

“Maybe if we renamed Congress ‘The French Laundry,’ Democrats would show up,” McCarthy posted on Facebook on Dec. 5 — the same day he attended his son’s wedding.

At least Newsom eventually apologized for attending the dinner.

“We’re all human,” the governor said. “We all fall short sometimes.”

It’s true that for Newsom, The French Laundry faux-pas was a perfect example of “do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do.”

But the same could be said of McCarthy, who has publicly endorsed wearing masks — and then appeared at a social event without one.

But we’re unlikely to get any apology out of McCarthy.

Instead, he posted a self-righteous, hair-on-fire screed on Facebook that blamed the media — the L.A. Times in particular — for “targeting” him and his family.

“Unfortunately, the media we are supposed to trust continue to discredit themselves by obsessing over things like this,” he wrote. “And, I might add, they usually obsess based on your party registration.”

Yet McCarthy was all too happy to ride the coattails of the negative coverage of Newsom’s dinner, Nancy Pelosi’s visit to a hair salon during a COVID lockdown, and Austin Mayor Steve Adler’s trip to Mexico.

Kevin McCarthy has been in politics for a long, long time and has managed to work his way up to a top leadership position.

He knows full well that his every action is subject to scrutiny, and he shouldn’t be shocked over press coverage of what he refers to as a “micro-wedding.”

And did he not see the irony in chastising Newsom over The French Laundry fiasco on the same day he attended a social event that did not fully meet COVID regulations?

Or is McCarthy one of those “elite Republicans” who think the rules don’t apply to them?

In the grand scheme, an outdoor wedding and reception with a dozen or so family members is not a big deal, even if it did technically violate the rules.

It’s Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s strident, unforgiving attitude toward his political opponents — along with his failure to recognize his own shortcomings — that is the bigger issue here.

It’s time McCarthy recognized that we are, indeed, all human, and we all fall short sometimes — even the minority leader of the House of Representatives.