Congressman elect George Santos has ignited a storm of criticism by having embellished his resume, including misrepresenting his Jewish heritage. Among the offended includes the Jewish Republican Coalition, which will not invite him to future events. The Democrat he defeated wants a rematch!
I am one Jew who is not offended. In two short years Santos will be up for re-election. If the voters of his NYC district are not satisfied with his performance, or cannot forgive his exaggerations from this past election cycle, they simply need not continue his employment as their representative.
As a local pundit I have seen numerous elected officials misrepresent in office. I have seen them exaggerate their accomplishments for constituents, and pander for re-election. I have seen them praised, despite what I consider unethical behavior. This baptism by fire might actually make incoming representative Santos more responsive to truth than his colleagues, when he actually serves.
It's no surprise that this pre-inauguration protest is coming from more Democrats (Santos is Republican), and that the Democrats are also criticizing the Republican Party for not proposing harsher punishments for Santos. I think that all Santos' critics should be put under the same microscope.
We don't condemn exiting politicians from becoming lobbyists, which is at the bottom of the ethical barrel.
*****Five Star Post: Occasionally I have the pleasure of writing a post that I know will be appreciated by no one. I suppose it's a result from being an independent. While I'm politically a non-partisan independent, I'm also socially independent. The last group I belonged to was the Cub Scouts, over seventy years ago. Specifically, in regard to this post, so many of your elected officials(both R & D) are lying sacks, who you have elected over and over again. If I have offended you, you may request a subscription refund.
ADDENDUM: I wrote this post several days ago. Since then both the number of investigations of Mr. Santos, and the public outcry, have been steadily growing... That growth and/or scapegoating, allows both you and your elected officials to feel better about the myriad of ongoing deceptions in your district.
You are right on, Politicians have been enhancing their qualifications and resumes for years. One of the worst offenders is the current president, who continues in his falsehoods to this day.
ReplyDeleteThe voters will be able to judge this person in 2 years. The opposition can reveal all his exaggerations. He has been duly elected. End of story.
It has become so ugly for good people to run as a Republican, few really qualified people of integrity are willing to go through the gauntlet that is typical of campaigns today. Locally Dean Browning ran for state senate as a Republican, the reward for doing so was to be smeared as a "racist" in TV ads, internet ads, and mailers. There was no evidence that Dean was a racist, because like most Americans he isn't and never was, they just made it up and ran with it. In fact nearly any Republican who runs for public office is labeled the same merely because the Democrats have no scruples and get away with it. Even Black Republicans are smeared the same way and labeled viciously as Uncle Tom's and worse. Republicans also face private investigations into their pasts so they better be squeaky clean. Only Democrats are rewarded for being morally compromised, Republicans are raked over the coals. Every Republican candidate will also be slapped with the labels, "extremists" and denier" merely because they oppose late term abortions and question man made global warming. All this makes makes candidate recruitment very difficult for Republicans and that is exactly how the Democrats want it. By the way, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal lied about his military record, stolen valor, if he was a Republican he would have been forced to resign in shame. Every Republican would have been asked by the press if they condemned his actions and when they would demand his resignation. None of that happened to the Democrats and Richard is still a senator held in high regard by his party and the media. If Mr Santos was a Democrat his lies would have been a local story if it was covered at all.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Santos committed fraud. Pretty simple. He didn’t embellish his resume, he made total fraudulent statements. His claim of being “Jew-ish” is like a toddler explaining missing cookies. If a guy who claimed to be a plumber but had no credentials arrived at your door would you trust him making decisions about your plumbing? I don’t think so. But you’re willing to trust this guy to govern? I’m a Republican and if you want more frauds running our country them let this guy slide. Don’t point fingers at other people, that’s just evading the issue
ReplyDeleteJustice applied unevenly is not justice, nor are standards of ethics, ethical when applied unevenly and selectively.
ReplyDeleteHermano Santos employed alternative facts to his advantage something any ambitious striver is want to due, the cancel culture wokesters want his head on a pike but they won’t get it because the people have spoken, Uhuru!
ReplyDeleteAs a life long Democrat "The truth above all" is a favorite phrase of mine and I try my best to live by it. Also the reason I supported Bernie Sanders and Nat Hymen, two individuals which I saw as the most truthful candidates. When my primary choice for the most truthful candidate loses, I choose the candidate I believe is telling me the fewest, least dangerous lies and actually has a true plan and not platitudes. I try to ignore the false arguments of "what-about-isms" which are quickly hurled when their candidate is under scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteHaving moved to Allentown over 20 years ago I can understand why some people would lean away from the Democratic party, but the way some on this blog and elsewhere have continually and unjustly slammed Democrats in general makes me wonder if the commenters had some terrible experience with a Democrat they cannot get over, causing the desertion of truth for political prejudice.
If you voted for the current president, then anything you wrote above is a sham.
Delete...and so it goes.
DeleteI have to say, I have mixed feelings about this post.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone can dispute that Santos lied about his background, which is certainly wrong and can't be condoned.
At the same time, we have a President who lied about knowing about his son's business dealings with foreign governments (and who may have been involved himself); a Senator-elect who lied about his physical health and mental abilities up until the point that it was exposed in a debate (well after voting started); another Senator (Warren, Massachusetts) who not only was elected after falsely claiming to be of Native American heritage but received racial preferences in her job (prior to election) based on that claim; and a local Mayor who was re-elected based on the lie that he did not shake down city vendors for illegal campaign contributions.
To my knowledge, none of those have been investigated or punished for their lies in getting elected (Pawlowski was convicted of the actual crime, not the lie in the election), which does seem like this standard is not equally enforced and is politically driven. As another comment noted, justice applied unevenly is not justice.
I'm not sure what the answer or solution is here, but if we are going to apply the standard equally and actually start prosecuting people for lying in elections, we had better be prepared to build a lot more prisons.
While the media and political class obsess over the Santos story, they are largely ignoring what I believe is the biggest story of our lifetimes - the collusion between parts of the government and a handful of powerful tech oligarchs to suppress what we information we have access to and what we can say online.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the attack on the First Amendment by the government and others is a far greater crime and threat to the country than the lies that a single representative used to win election. It also has grave implications to our freedoms and this country's future if not forcefully addressed.
That so many in the media are willing to overlook or minimize that story is telling, and just another reason why the public distrusts their reporting on other issues like the Santos story.
Santos should step down as soon as Biden, Warren, and Blumenthal do. They are all guilty of the same sin. Who here thinks only one of four should resign while the three other guilty parties stay in office? I am sick of the one sided demand for integrity, any Democrat saying Santos should resign is wearing their lack of integrity on there sleeves.
ReplyDeleteThe Santos story gets deeper. Defending this guy is ignoring the facts. Hunter Biden has nothing to do with George Santos. Distract and accuse is right out of the Trump handbook and really just not a logical comparison at all in this situation.
ReplyDeleteAgain, selective moral indignation is itself contemptable behavior, until you post your name and demand Biden, Warren, and Blumenthal resign with Santo you are exactly what you accuse us of being. We are only asking for equal justice. You are demanding selective justice. That speaks for itself doesn't it.
ReplyDelete