With all due respect, Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) appears to be the gold standard for fabulist exaggeration and prevarication in Congress. There are even allegations of misusing campaign funds and other purported crimes.
Well, golly gee, who ever knew that there were members of Congress who didn't tell the truth and who managed to enrich themselves while campaigning and serving in office? Please, there is no gambling going on in that casino!
In the history of the House, only five other members have been expelled, most for being on the losing side of that unpleasantness between the states. Two were bounced AFTER convictions.
And now the purists at the GOP want to toss this fast-talking homosexual with the squeaky voice from Queens and Nassau County, N.Y. The last time New York faced a Congressman on the outs with his peers was Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of Harlem. His peers refused to seat him for not attending Congress and living a lavish lifestyle, possibly based on campaign fund violations.
Surprise, he got elected to the seat they vacated. When his opponent challenged Powell's high living in a campaign speech, someone from the crowd shouted out, "Now that's living!" to much applause. Two terms later, he was beaten by Rep. Charlie Rangel, a case of going from bad to worse. Charlie stayed in Congress for the next 46 years.
One suspects that in his closed-door meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Santos may have outlined all the fun he would have exposing the peccadillos of his fellow members of Congress. The rule against disparaging fellow members of the club would be voided as he travels the talk show and speaker circuit. The newest Chatty Cathy Christmas release would be a welcome ratings gift. For spectators of the House of Hypocrisy on the Potomac, it may even be enlightening for voters. Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, as the old song goes.
The first stupidity of the GOP leadership is that their threat would cause Santos to immediately resign. Talk about playing tic tac toe rather than chess or even checkers. What exactly are they offering him in exchange?
The second stupidity is tossing a representative out for penny-ante stuff before he even goes to trial. Please, spare me the pearl-clutching that he has done wrong or brought politics into bad repute.
Here is an idea. How about the Senate expelling favorite son, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)? He of the alleged gold bars falling into the family's lap and jackets stuffed with $480,000 in cash. He already beat a similar rap a number of years ago, so why wait for a trial to expel him?
Or expel President "Mumbles" Biden, who, after graduating from a black college, working in a coal mine, and driving an 18-wheeler, rose to be a civil rights icon when he went to jail in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, no joke. He also managed to become a multi-millionaire on what, an average $200,000 salary over his one thousand years in Congress? This he parlayed into a $15 million pot of leprechaun gold for family and friends?
And what about Rep. Nancy "Money Bags" Pelosi (D-Calif.) who, between talking about "the children, the children, the children," beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average by a billion percent with her stock picks and, like George Washington, never told a lie?
Years ago, I would eat at the local lunch counter with a gentleman whose nephew played for the NFL. The nephew came from the local projects. He was raised by the extended family after his old man was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. There was a domestic abuse incident, after which the nephew and his wife went to counseling. They worked it out. The police dropped it. The NFL tried to drop it, but the media picked it up, and the woke wouldn't drop it.
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Of course, the mob has no use for second chances. It ended his career. It also ended the flow of money that helped him and his wife lead a life far from those projects. A win-win of redemption became a cancel culture lose-lose. A sports lawyer on TV, when challenged about the double standard, given the behavior of other players, said, "Oh, the NFL could have found a way back for him, IF he were a big enough star."
George Santos is not a big enough star. But by inserting itself into the place of his voters, the GOP leadership will have set a beautiful precedent for tossing Republican members of Congress. Democrats are all-stars, so they can happily live with that precedent.
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