Once again, another Republican cannot keep himself fully dressed.
Before getting to the main event, a pair of Democrats have done the Republican Party a favor and are running for the hills.
Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb has decided not to run for reelection in 2012. After one term, he leaves behind a legacy of an asterisk.
His election in 2006 took place because the blogosphere torpedoed the campaign of George Allen.
(Full Disclosure: I did an event with Governor Allen recently. I am enthusiastically supporting his return to the Senate.)
Joe Biden gets to spout nonsense on a daily basis, but one comment blown out of proportion led to George Allen going from a top tier presidential candidate to an agonizingly close Senate loss. The vote was close enough for a recount, but George Allen is not Al Gore. He put the people over his own ambition and walked away honorably.
The man who defeated him entered just as dishonorably. When President George W. Bush tried to welcome Mr. Webb by asking about his son, Webb replied, “That’s between me and my boy.” Webb’s classlessness is one reason he will not be missed. As for why he is leaving, George Allen is making a comeback. For a man who loved attacking Republicans, his cutting and running for shelter is a tad gutless. Either way, good riddance to Mr. Webb.
The resignation of Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman is a bigger stunner on several levels.
For one thing, Ms. Harman no longer has a competitive seat. Redistricting has made her seat. Additionally, her carefully crafted image as a moderate Democrat is legitimate. Her pro-defense stands often put her at odds with the Pelosiraptor.
Ms. Harman does not need the money. She is the wealthiest woman in Congress with a net worth of around 800 million dollars. She is not under any cloud of scandal.
Yet she has decided to just up and leave to take a job with a George Soros entity.
This is surprising because Ms. Harman defeated a Soros sycophant in the most recent Democratic primary. Her views are not in sync with him. Since she is already wealthy, time will tell why she would leave Congress for a job working for the very man trying to undermine America.
She recently defeated Mattie Fein in the general election, and Ms. Fein may run again.
(Full disclosure: I know Ms. Fein personally and supported her in her race against Ms. Harman.)
Yet if Mr. Webb leaving is a storm and Ms. Harman’s departure is a hurricane, then the downfall of Christopher Lee is a sexual tsunami.
New York Republican Congressman Christopher Lee was just immediately resigned from Congress. The married Congressman was caught sending half-naked pictures of himself to a woman on Craigslist.
Would it be too much to ask for one of these sexually repressed Republicans to keep their trousers on? Is it that hard to love the person representing the sacred vows found on the wedding ring?
This is a disgrace and a distraction for the Republican Party. If Republicans need to have it spelled out again, there are certain rules for those wanting to let their proclivities run wild.
Step one is to not run for political office. Everybody born after 1920 knows this thing called the Internet. Everything is public. Nothing stays secret. There is no privacy. To run for office while mired in secret scandals is selfish, and destructive to America. Imagine if (shudder) John Edwards had won the nomination and then gotten caught. America needs to focus on killing terrorists, which is hard to do when leaders are preoccupied with adolescent carnality.
Step two is to stay single. A certain blogger who resembles yours truly in every way does not have to worry about being caught in the Jacuzzi with a pair of Republican Jewish brunettes. Shame? Try finding the guys and bragging about it as high-fives are exchanged. Single people get upset when the truth fails to leak out. It is important succesful stories of conquest reach critical mass so more single liaisons can take place.It is also hard to blackmail people volunteering to go public.
Married people do not have the luxury of disclosure, nor should they. For those bored with their spouse, take them to some role-playing seminar taught by Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Just don’t talk about it. You’re married. You’re boring. Accept this. Know that once you walk down that aisle, a sacred oath is taken. The public is in no mood to trust people who cannot even behave honorably with those they claim to love most.
Step three is to never ever take public pictures. The blogger mentioned earlier understands the difference between self-confidence and hubris. Every American needs to look in the mirror just once at their naked body and ask themselves if they really think they are that special that anybody else would want to look at that. Be honest. Surgeons make millions off of liposuctions, rhinoplastys, and tummy tucks because none of us are perfect. Nobody wants to see it. Keep your clothing on.
(If you are the leader of a nation, be it Obama, Putin, or Sarkozy, there is an exemption. Sarkozy wants the world to know he is married to Carla Bruni. This is normal.)
Step four is to leave America. Go to Europe. British Prime Minister David Cameron’s wife took illicit pictures of herself. She can. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a walking peccadillo. He is a billionaire Italian. It comes with the territory.
Step five is to become as politically liberal as possible. Bill Clinton sexually abuses women for sport. Ted Kennedy got one killed. Elliott Spitzer trafficked in prostitutes yet spent zero time in jail.
Republicans are not allowed to behave this way because Republicans preach morality. Many liberals allow moral bankruptcy, so they get a pass. Al Gore was sanctimonious, so he did not.
The good news for Republicans is that Christopher Lee is from Western New York, which most people think is from Canada anyway. Buffalo is Hamilton.
The bad news is that once again we Republicans will be accused of being moralistic hypocrites. Even Republicans like me who publicly lower the morality bar get dragged down because we belong to the party of family values.
It is time for the Republican Party to keep their pants zipped or watch Democrats recreate the Salem Witch Trials and purge the entire Republican Party out of existence.
Go now Mr. Lee. Try and salvage your family. Just don’t ever return to the political arena.
Republicans have enough distractions.
eric
[…] Tigrrrr Express had an accurate observation about the Webb-Allen issue with honest insight into what happened during the 2006 senate race: Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb has decided not to run for reelection in 2012. After one term, he leaves behind a legacy of an asterisk. […]
There’s that “civility” thing again…
Why did you selectively quote Webb like that? You do know the whole story, right?
I’m hoping you don’t. So, let’s revisit…
http://johnfenzel.typepad.com/john_fenzels_blog/2006/12/peggy_noonan_gr.html
Here’s was Peggy Noonans reaction to that little spat:
“The latest example of a lack of grace in Washington is the exchange between Jim Webb and President Bush at a White House Christmas party. Mr. Webb did not want to pose with the president and so didn’t join the picture line. Fair enough, everyone feels silly on a picture line. Mr. Bush approached him later and asked after his son, a Marine. Mr. Webb said he’d like his son back from Iraq. Mr. Bush then, according to the Washington Post, said: “That’s not what I asked you. How’s your son?” Mr. Webb replied that’s between him and his son.
For this Mr. Webb has been roundly criticized. And on reading the exchange I thought it had the sound of the rattling little aggressions of our day, but not on Mr. Webb’s side. Imagine Lincoln saying, in such circumstances, “That’s not what I asked you.” Or JFK. Or Gerald Ford!
“That’s not what I asked you” is a sentence straight from cable TV, from which many Americans are acquiring an attitude toward public and even private presentation.”
Here’s the generally accepted wiki on the whole thing:
“Tense exchange with President BushOn November 28, 2006, at a White House reception for those newly elected to Congress, Webb declined to stand in the line to have his picture taken with the president, whom Webb often criticized during the campaign. The president approached Webb later and asked him, “How’s your boy?”, referring to Webb’s son, a Marine serving in Iraq. Webb replied “I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President.” Bush responded, “That’s not what I asked you. How’s your boy?” Webb responded, “That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President.” The Hill cited an anonymous source who claimed that Webb was so angered by the exchange that he confessed he was tempted to “slug” the president.[33] Webb later remarked in an interview, “I’m not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall.”[34]
In response to the incident, some conservatives criticized Webb, including George Will, who called Webb a “boor” and wrote, “[Webb] already has become what Washington did not need another of, a subtraction from the city’s civility and clear speaking.”[35][36] Others, such as conservative columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, reserved their criticism for Bush, writing: “I thought it had the sound of the rattling little aggressions of our day, but not on Mr. Webb’s side.”[37]
(Webb) told (Chris) Matthews:
“My feeling about that — first of all, it’s been kind of a bit overblown. But I think when people are now seeing how John McCain is handling the situation with his son being in the Marine Corps, perhaps they can understand a little bit more what I was having to go through during the entire campaign. I greatly respect my son‘s service and all of the people who are serving. At the same time, I have not commented, even to many of my friends, about the operational side. That‘s personal to me in terms of my feelings about it. And it was not a casual comment. As I said in the piece that you just ran, I think the best article that was written on that was by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal when she basically said that the lack of civility was not mine and I feel that way.”[38]
After his son returned from Iraq, Webb “buried the hatchet” with the president by setting up a private chat with his son, the president, and himself in the Oval Office.[39]”
Why did you verbally spit on Webb like that? he was understandably PO’d. If someone talked to me like that, I’d react the same way. I would also realize, as Webb did later, that the president probably didn’t mean any harm. He is an idiot, after all.
Why did you leave out the Harmon scandal? You do know what it is, right?…
“She is not under any cloud of scandal.”
Really??? I mean, REALLY???
JMJ
JMJ