Suppose a conservative politician preaches about "family values" a lot and then one day 'fesses up and admits that he has been cheating on his wife for a long time. Or suppose a liberal Supreme Court Justice criticizes conservative judicial activism, claims that he is not a judicial activist himself, but nonetheless strikes down laws in the name of a constitutional "right" that is not actually in the Constitution at all. These people do not practice what they preach. There is inconsistency.

Do you say that the inconsistency is "ironic," or do you say it is "hypocritical"? Is the difference between irony and hypocrisy merely a matter of your willingness to forgive them? I think if I am unforgiving of a person who doesn't practice what they preach I call them a hypocrite, but if I do forgive them ("they're only human") then I say that their behavior is ironic. Do you agree?