You Just Cannot Make This Stuff Up...Or Maybe You Can ~ Part Deux

BREAKING NEWS: SANTOS FESSES UP BUT DOES NOT RESIGN 

from the NY TIMES: George Santos Admits to Lying About College and Work History

When I wrote about Congressclown-Elect George Santos a week ago, barely anyone outside of Nassau County was talking about this clown. Now, he is all over the place. This guy gives Pinocchio a run for his nose, and it keeps getting longer with every utterance. Increasingly apparent is the concept that IF...better yet, WHEN it falls outta his mouth, it's not true. 

Several questions rise to the surface and none are being adequately addressed. In fact, there's so much blame-passing it's beginning to look like an oil spill in Alaska. 

The LI Herald published an article on December 22nd, 2022, quoting candidate Zimmerman himself:

"My campaign has been calling out George Santos' scams and lies about himself for several months," Zimmernan said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Really? And you're expecting us to believe this because...? Were you going for a Muppet-esque whispering campaign? How is it that News 12 Long Island didn't bother to pick it up? This is just their kinda story. 

Meanwhile, the GOP, running Nassau County since I was a kid, is suddenly being excoriated for not vetting this guy prior to nomination. Now you do this? How did they nominate someone for Congress without a simple HR check? A SECOND TIME!?!?! It's not like they didn't have time to vet the guy the first time. 

Jeet Heer of The Nation, a liberal magazine, published a rather explicit article, The Making of a Congressional Con Man (26DEC2022, 5:30 AM) damning the NYTimes and other news providers:

But the Times hardly covered itself with glory. For much of the last two years, its coverage of New York was slanted toward sensationalistic reporting on crime that only benefited the Republicans. Smaller local papers (notably The North Shore Leader and Newsday) did a better job covering Santos. Mark Chiusano, a member of the Newsday editorial board, did several important pieces that highlighted how sketchy Santos was about his background. But like a lot of local papers, The North Shore Leader and Newsday don’t have the reporting staff they possessed even a decade ago, when they could have pursued the story with vigor. The New York Times—which does have the staff—stayed away from the story until it was moot since Santos had already won.

He's spot on. This was real, hard news, and journalistic pundits at every level chose to ignore it. And if you're gonna choose not to investigate such incredibly disturbing leads, what is your purpose? Clearly, it has nothing to do with providing your readers with news they can use... or at least talk about at the luncheonette counter over a hard roll and coffee. 

Just put GEORGE SANTOS in the Google search box and go to NEWS. Here; let me do it for you. Click this: GEORGE SANTOS NEWS. Pick through the articles; they're all scary. 

Not scary on the level of Feckless Loser and his insurrection, but scary in a Manchurian Candidate sorta way. Not that Santos is an assassin, merely an asshole, but still, who is paying for this? 

And his marriage to Uadla Santos Vieira Santos? He's supposed to be gay. He's supposed to be married to some guy. Granted, divorce records in New Jersey (where the divorce was filed) are sealed, but still, the petition is still visible. And how did the GOP miss that he was married and divorced, and that no record of a second marriage exists?

This is a whole new kinda scam. While part of me believes that Santos thought this up because, after all, the GOP really doesn't vet anything at all (see Marjorie Taylor Green and Madison Cawthorn...oh, yeah...Feckless Loser to name a few,) and he trusted that no one would vet him either, I cannot believe there isn't an outside brain thinking this stuff up. I just don't think he's that smart, or that he can play this virtual chess game several moves ahead. However....

...and gee, isn't there alway a however? This was not the first time he ran for this seat. One would think someone would've noticed the stench the first time and checked into this guy a little more thoroughly, but clearly, no one did. If that is indeed the case, how did both parties manage to lose the ability to Google stuff over presumably 3-4 years of candidacy?  That no one checked on this guy's resumé in either run for office screams more than simple sloppy research, it screams intentionality.

When Tyler Kistner ran against Angie Craig the first time, he was an unknown quantity. He seemed honorable enough because he was an active duty Marine captain from 2011-2019, a status that is easily documented. He becomes a captain in the Marine Reserves when he leaves active military duty in 2019 and appears to still be in the reserve. Does he have another job, or was he looking to go to Congress for employment? I can't figure that out. Reservists serve part-time, but officers get paid about $50K in the reserves, so he has an income. 

During the 2020 campaign, he claimed to have led combat missions. He lied about that, then lied about lying, saying he never saw combat. You'd think the GOP would think twice about running him again. Nope. They did, and amazingly, Kistner went down the same Pinocchiroad a second time.  Minnesota Reformer detailed the issue. Even though there was ample hard proof he was aggrandizing his service as he veered off the Truth Trail, GOP chose to run him again, as if We, the People of MN2 didn't remember he lied about his military service the first time around.

Which brings me back to Santos. 

My guess would be that honesty is not a policy for vetting candidates. I'm not suggesting that this is only a GOP problem; I am absolutely certain the Dems are guilty of the same sin of embellishment. Ilhan Omar is a good example of what not to do..or whom not to date. The optics were horrendous, but she married the guy. This time, she still managed to win the nomination in a rather heated field of Democrats, and then went on to retain her place in the House. That would indicate her ability to tell the truth is not a factor. The difference is that her inability to be honest with her constituency was exposed, examined, and intentionally set aside by the voters. Then it's their choice. But a candidate like George Santos who completely fabricates his educational, occupational, and marital resumé one might think the national party would hesitate at putting a liar of that magnitude in Congress. 

Or would they? 

If the journalist and news organs are supposed to serve the public by reporting accurately and honestly, how did they miss George Santos' lies twice? How is it not one single reporter went to city hall to check records? How is it that no one checked his yearbook for famous classmates? Hell's bells! The TV stations haul out the brother's-uncle's-cousin's-friend's-sister-in-law any time someone stubs a toe overseas. How is it that no one bothered to check on his family's Holocaust history? Everyone loves a heroic Holocaust story. Lots of votes to be had with that one. If what he had said was true, this was great human interest ratings-getters...but no one ran with that either. Why the hell not?

I replay this stuff in my brain over and over and over. There is something really fundamentally broken with Santos, and I cannot tell if it's him or the Nassau GOP that ran him. Years of living in the thumb of the county Republican Machine had taught me that it doesn't matter how corrupt or evil you are; if you're a big Republican in Nassau, no one can touch you. My cousin Ellis, a guy active in the Nassau County Democratic Party, assures me this is slowly changing; that Democrats have actually won a few local elections. Be that as it may, why didn't Zimmerman's campaign go after Santos for a House seat that woulda made a significant difference? What were they afraid of?  

Maybe that's the question no one is asking because they're afraid of the answer. Maybe it's time to ask the question before another election cycle starts in about a week. 

Happy secular New Year to all. May this one be a marked improvement over the last.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The Vikings' win over the Giants on Saturday

will necessitate a cemetery run. 

Gotta make sure Ziggy hasn't clawed his way to the top.