“He is in a deep, dark, unspinnable place,” – Chris Lehane
The day Chris Lee resigned I felt for his constituents first and his staff second. His constituents in need of someone to handle their Medicare, Immigration, Medicaid and flag requests. Then the staff that is now subject to possible ridicule for working for a man who managed to be so very irresponsible in his actions with little regard for who might be affected. This ‘I feel for you’ quickly turns to anger as I questioned why a member of congress might attempt to get their swerve on via Craig’s list and think that they won’t get caught. The balls on these men – the Lees, Vitters, Edwards and now Weiners of the world – to exploit not only themselves but their positions is not only disgraceful to the office they hold and the people they represent but also to those around them.
That is where Anthony Weiner finds himself today wrapped in shame, which is where he should be. He is part of rather close knit delegation of 31 – including the House and both Senators – and right now he finds himself the odd man out. The head of the DCCC also happens to represent the western part of Long Island and now he must stand with Leader Pelosi to say that a House Ethics investigation will proceed against a colleague who represents a district just a few miles away. Trace amounts of shame always ends up on those who are even in the periphery. As such he will remain an untouchable to the rest. No one else wants that on them.
What I keep going back to though, as I write this and as these sex scandals continue, is that they’re all men and always are men. That coincidence is not lost on me but I find myself wondering why. Is it a power trip in them? They’ve been elected and feel powerful and thus omnipotent? Is it something about what they are already offered to vote and do certain things (money) so that transfers into sexcapades? What is it about these men who are so brazen with their willingness to share photos of their genitalia but upon getting caught it’s hush, hush and suddenly hiding on the sidelines. How interesting that Weiner step out yesterday afternoon while in New York because the House is in recess this week. How do you go back to just doing your job – a job that requires interacting with people and deal with the sideways glances. How can you shake your constituents’ hand or hold their baby claiming that you will work for them in Washington but when you’re in Washington, you are doing this? How?
I wonder if things would be like this if women ran the world. I really do. I wonder if more women should run for office because they might take it a little more seriously and the power wouldn’t get into our heads in manifest in such a destructive way. Sure we have power trips but we end up Divas who want crushed ice not cubed in our water. Is there a natural something in our make up that makes it more difficult to exploit our power or our sexuality in such a public fashion? I suppose that what I am asking is what makes men and women so…different? For me It’s not just that this a politician and not just that my respect for politicians diminishes when a scandal like this occurs but it’s wondering if a woman would find herself in a similar situation and if so how would it be handled?
I guess more women are going to have to run for office and show these men how it’s done. Fingers crossed that this is how it ends.
Marriage Equality the Upstate, NY edition
That title is misleading as not everyone in Upstate NY is as close-minded, ignorant and just plain silly as the person I am about to introduce you to. And yet…it is people like this gentleman that give the entire area north of Rockland County a bad rap. The rest of us have to go about defending our honor of being true, Upstate NYers equipped with a brain and the ability to both read and think. Possibly at the same time.
It gets better:
Yes. Really.
Over the past month and into this coming evening, Albany, the wee capital of New York State has been making headlines over the back and forth haggling between legislators on the issue of marriage equality. It’s a tale as old as time: Some want it, some don’t. We’re just sitting around obsessively refreshing the state Senate website and Twitter to see if this measure gets a fair shake via up or down vote. If so, New York would be the largest/most-populous state to allow same-sex couples to marry. I must say that being from Albany and living in walking distance from where all of this is going on, makes me At the same time, I cannot help but have in the back of my mind the knowledge that there are people like Mr. Trombley above who are so willfully uneducated and oblivious to reality. Of course one person’s asinine views will not keep me from being at least someone excited to be on the cusp of something so huge.
I’m also loving the comments on this post from the Times Union’s Capitol Confidential Blog