So there's this guy, Chris Lee. I've never heard of him, as I'm not from New York's 26th Congressional District. He is married, and he has a little boy, and he lives in one of those upstate New York towns with a name like a Ben & Jerry's flavor.
Also, he recently opposed gay people serving openly in the military. And he had an op-ed piece in the Tonawanda News two years ago, starkly warning of the dangers of sharing too much personal information on the Internet. Aha! A social conservative!
He's not bad-looking, as you can see from the above photo. He was trolling Craigslist last month, and he got into a sort of flirting thing with a woman, and he sent her the above picture. He also told her some egregious lies about himself: he shaved about seven years off his age, he said he was divorced, he said he was a lobbyist. Gawker, which broke the story, has the whole email string here.
You will notice that he used his real name, as well as an email address linked to his Facebook account.
The woman with whom he was flirting was smart enough to do a quick websearch on this guy. Just to see what happened, I did the same. Well, you get a lot of Christopher Lee who played Saruman in “The Lord Of The Rings.” And then, right after that, you get the websites associated with Congressman Chris Lee, NY-26, complete with family photos and bio.
First his office said it was a put-up job, his Blackberry was hacked, etc., etc. Then, within hours, the Congressman resigned. Kaput!
One Internet comment struck home with me: “When I see a story like this, I hold my breath until I get to the party designation. If it's a Republican I curl my lip in disgust. If it's a Democrat I just sigh.”
Listen, stupidity is common to all. I know that. Look at Al Gore and John Edwards, for God's sake! Two of the most wooden-headed boobs on earth. I used to like Al Gore. He seemed to have a sense of humor about himself, along with the stiffness and pomposity. But look at what he did to himself! (Not so much John Edwards; he always seemed to me like a walking hairstyle. As it turns out, that's pretty much all he was, too.)
But it's nice when lightning strikes on the other side of the aisle too.
And always remember: sex makes smart people stupid.
And I remember a comment I read in “George” magazine in 1996, made by a prostitute who was working the political conventions that summer: “Republican conventions are wild. Most of those guys are up there on the podium wearing ladies' underwear under their dark suits. We get a lot of business then. Not so much Democrats. They don't need us. They're doing it with each other.”
I leave you with this link. It's peripherally relevant, and it's a good song.
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