Joe Barton's Peccadilloes Have Been Given a Pass By the Media

[dlk]

There appears to be a double standard in the media when reporting Congressional misbehavior. Remember when Bill Clinton cheated on his wife? Granted, he was president, however, there was a special prosecutor appointed, over $70 million of taxpayer dollars spent, and a Supreme Court case made. How is Barton any different?

[malaise]

1. Amazing indeed

[Glorfindel]

2. He's a Repuke. It's OK if you are a Repuke.

A Repuke could behead a month-old child on national TV, and that would be quite all right. "Oh, that naughty congressman," they'd say, "but then, boys will be boys!"

[unblock]

3. anthony wiener is a better comparison, but your point holds.

he was also a mere representative, but the media still gave us wall-to-wall coverage of his extracurricular activities for months and months.

hey i think we need to subpoena ivanka's computers to make sure those barton's videos didn't show up there!

[Paladin]

4. I don't care. He's not running again in 2018. That's enough for me.

Just for the record, though: Barton is a flaming hypocritical asshole, whose body makes the Pillsbury Dough Boy look like Schwartzineger by comparison.

[Blue_true]

5. His stuff appears to have been consensual.

The threats came after a woman threatened to expose his cheating. Not the same as sexual harassment or sexual assault or inappropriate touching.

[MichMary]

6. What he did was stupid

but not sexual harassment. He sent pix to a woman he was dating. He trusted her; he shouldn't have. It's the same mistake millions of young women make, and we don't condemn them. (Rightly, I might add.)

Not anywhere nearly the same as Matt Lauer or Bill Clinton or John Conyers.

[BannonsLiver]

7. Fascinating some of these responses

To summarize:

“Oh well it was probably/maybe consensual so you know no big deal that he’s sending dick picks to someone who may not have wanted to see his pasty white skin folds. Nothing to see I’m sure he never did that to anyone else. Just a little misguided fun and games la la la.”