In their meeting at Anthony’s party, Sen. Geary tells Michael: “I despise your masquerade -- the dishonest way you pose yourself. Yourself, and your whole fucking family.” Michael replies: “We’re both part of the same hypocrisy, Senator, but never think that it applies to my family.”

This admission strikes me as out of character for Michael. His life after his return from Sicily was defined by his quest for “legitimacy” and his nonstop efforts to rationalize his business and his behavior as no less justifiable and respectable than what politicians and other big businessmen did. He expressed it perfectly to Kay in New Hampshire in GF: “My father's no different than any other powerful man --any man who's responsible for other people. Like a senator or a president.” Now, with Geary, Michael seems to be acknowledging that he’s a phony and is part of a general fraud on the public (as is Geary).

Your views?

I don't think it's inconsistent if you assume he's bending the truth to Kay. Vito's like a senator or president, but thinking "They're all crooks, too." He really can't disavow any business corruption in the meeting.

One interesting aspect of the scene is the double use of the word "family." Did Geary mean that in the mafia sense, and Michael mean it personally? I'm not sure.

Since the context was Anthony's first communion party, I think both Geary and Michael meant Michael's blood family.

To be honest most of Mike's bloodfamily is/was involved in the mafia. Senator Geary definetly was a ass BUT Mike was a murderer and a criminal and whether he admitted it or not "the hypocrisy" was accurate toward him

Kill or be killed, their chosen business

Mike admitted "the hypocrisy" toward him, not his family of wife and kids

You know TB, I didn't understand why Michael felt it necessary to address his family's exemption from Geary's statement. Perhaps it was just Mike's glandular reaction to Geary's statement, but I see no value in it. If Geary said it to me about my family, I would figure that he was just trying to antagonize me and I wouldn't respond to it.

That's an interesting point, Oli. Perhaps it was yet another example of Michael trying to hold onto his "legitimate" image--or an acknowledgment that he was trying to hide his criminality from his family.

A good example of Michael's family hypocrisy came in III, when Kay confronted Michael at his party. "I spent my life protecting my family from the horrors of this world," he trumpets. "But you became my horror," Kay replies.

Senators and casino owners (among other professions) are frequently criticized as being corrupt, unduly capitalistic, and extremely self-interested. Those traits alone do not mean either are part of or controlled by organized crime. Perhaps that was the point Michael was trying to make in saying “We’re both part of the same hypocrisy". They're both hypercapitalists, nothing more (which of course is false). It's also a statement that connotes a certain seediness without admitting to anything at all.