Originally Posted By Dabob2 ... in the tri-state area. This, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit, is MY congressman. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ny1.com/content/news/202674/rep--grimm-threatens-ny1-reporter-following-state-of-the-union">http://www.ny1.com/content/new...he-union</a> It's a brief video. Watch it. The reporter was trying to ask him about fund raising irregularities - hardly the only shady thing this idiot has been involved with. As you'll see, he didn't just walk away; he had to threaten the reporter. Not the first time he's acted this way, either - see link also for a little more detail on what the reporter last night was trying to ask him about: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://boingboing.net/2014/01/28/republican-congressman-threate.html">http://boingboing.net/2014/01/...ate.html</a> "Grimm's campaign finance scandal dates to the 2010 election in which he allegedly solicited donations from his major donors for other Republican candidates, who had done the same for him in return -- a "donor swap" arrangement that allowed him to skirt fundraising limits. Grimm is under investigation by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York for this, and for other finance irregularities, including accepting cash donations larger than $100, and for laundering a donation of $25,000 through a third party. Grimm is a former US Marine who served in Iraq, and then worked for the FBI. While at the Bureau, he was investigated for abusing his authority: threatening his date's husband ("I'll {freaking} make him disappear where nobody will find him") and pulling a gun in a nightclub. Grimm argued that reports of the incident were a "witch hunt" but the NYPD and FBi refused to release their files on the matter, and the New Yorker reporter who wrote the original story produced supplemental documents supporting his account. Grimm is a Tea Party darling who was endorsed by Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani. " Yes, I have the dubious distinction of living in the ONLY congressional district in NYC represented by a Republican (and a tea partier at that). That's because the district is only a little bit of Brooklyn, but mostly Staten Island, and it always elects some idiot FROM Staten Island. At least the last Republican idiot congressman from the district only "decided to retire" after being caught with a mistress and love child. We had a Democrat for one term after that one declined to run again after the mistress/love child thing, because the Staten Island machine couldn't produce anyone with any stature so close to the election (when the scandal happened), so the Democrat got in. But then Grimm took his place after the GOP wave election of 2010. And I thought we'd be stuck with him forever. Maybe not now, if this gets wider coverage... (I can hope.)
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Not exactly going out on a limb here, but I predict he'll enjoy a huge windfall of financial donations from Wingnutland thanks to this incident.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>threatening his date's husband<< Let me guess: He runs on a "traditional family values" platform.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Let me guess: He runs on a "traditional family values" platform.> He does, actually. Believe it or not. To be fair, he points out that the woman in question in this case was estranged from her husband - separated de facto if not legally. But yeah... this guy is "Mr. Family Values" as long as they don't apply to himself: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-grimm-sex-scandal-republican-congressman-new-york-slapped-womans-butt-spent-15-minutes-her">http://www.ibtimes.com/michael...utes-her</a> Note this bar is in my neighborhood, and a guy I know who lives near it says it was quite the topic of discussion (though he wasn't there the night in question). Of course, Grimm says this story was " a typical Democrat-led smear campaign." Which is kind of laughable. Most Democrats (including me) don't care what a single guy, which Grimm is, does with a single lady. The bar patrons were just ticked off that they were doing it in the ONLY bathroom in the place instead of taking it home - they were hoping to use the bathroom for its intended purpose and had to wait till Grimm and his lady friend, um, finished up. For a fuller rundown of my beloved congresscritter: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/01/grimms-tales-rep-michael-grimms-history-of-confrontation-182242.html">http://www.politico.com/blogs/...242.html</a>
Originally Posted By ecdc >>The bar patrons were just ticked off that they were doing it in the ONLY bathroom in the place<< I've seen my fair share of bar bathrooms. Ewwwww....
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I've been there. It's a nice place. And since there's only one bathroom, it's unisex, and they keep it nice enough for the women folk. BUT... it's fairly small, there would pretty much have to be have one of you sitting on the throne to do "sexy time," and... Come to think of it, yeah. Ewwww.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The topic of this thread segues nicely into this one: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/gallup-poll-finds-democra_b_4683688.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...688.html</a>
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>To be fair, he points out that the woman in question in this case was estranged from her husband - separated de facto if not legally.<< If he markets himself as a "Christian" then she's still off limits.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Except that, as the link points out in post 10, Republicans (and many Christians too) almost always choose what suits their needs first before taking the high and mighty moral high road that they guard so vigorously when repeating their political talking points to the media.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 "If he markets himself as a "Christian" then she's still off limits." Born again Christian, maybe. Christian in general, not necessarily. And I don't think he sells himself was born again. Sanctimonious, sure, but not born again.
Originally Posted By fkurucz "Born again Christian, maybe." ^^I looked at his bio on Wikipedia. Apparently he was raised Catholic, which means that married women, even those separated from their husbands are off limits to him.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 So is birth control officially - and something like 95% of pre-menopausal Catholic couples use it. And you know, if he was just a Catholic pol who didn't make a big thing about being all "upright" I'd have no problem with him dating a separated woman, or using birth control, or whatever. It's when you set yourself up as some sort of moral arbiter for others and are all sanctimonious about it that you set yourself up for hypocrisy if you don't abide by those standards yourself. I do believe Catholic belief probably has something in there about not throwing people off balconies, too.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>It's when you set yourself up as some sort of moral arbiter for others and are all sanctimonious about it that you set yourself up for hypocrisy if you don't abide by those standards yourself.<< My point exactly.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Right. But just being Catholic and seeing a separated woman wouldn't raise an eyebrow... UNLESS you (like Grimm) set yourself up as Mr. Upstanding.
