How was George Santos' resume not an election issue?

[dirtball]

@Elendil_s_Heir

@Euphonious_Polemic

@Chronos

He could become a radio-show host, or write a book, or go on the speaking circuit, or join a think tank, or any combination of those.

I can’t wait to see him as a talking head on Fox, where he’ll be billed as a “three time successful Senator, and Senate Majority Leader”

Don’t forget astronaut and lion tamer!

As well as physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star!

[RickJay]

One does wonder if Santos IS insane; he is dishonest way past the low standards of politics, and well into the point of genuinely irrational, pathological behaviour.

Pathological lying is not by itself a formally recognized mental illness, but it can be an indication of some

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@dirtball

As well as physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star!

On behalf of Buckaroo Banzai fans everywhere, I strongly object.

[susan]

We can’t all be Lectroids.

/John Small Berries

[Love_Rhombus]

Oh, I took it as a dig at Trump’s NFT’s.

[dirtball]

@Elendil_s_Heir

On behalf of Buckaroo Banzai fans everywhere, I strongly object.

Ah, no disrespect intended toward what I agree is a very fine movie. It just came to mind, and I couldn’t help but blurt it out (or whatever the internet message board equivalent of blurting might be).

[Whack-a-Mole]

@susan

We can’t all be Lectroids.

/John Small Berries

I thought that was John Ya Ya. Or possibly John Bigbooté.

I need to check the historic record again.

[puzzlegal]

@Little_Nemo

I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to think that a person who ran for the Congressional seat in New York’s 3rd District has a desire to be the Congressman from New York’s 3rd District.

I realize there are some people who feel the primary goal of the Republican party is to attack liberals. These people need to get over themselves. Other people are not making you the center of their world.

I think he wanted to be congressmen. And now that he’s not going to get reelected, he’s looking for his next gig.

There are still lots of Republicans whose goal isn’t to own the libs, but to cut taxes and regulations. But they aren’t going to support this clown, either. His future is with the nasty extreme.

[Fear_Itself]

A campaign fundraiser for George Santos impersonated Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff to help raise campaign cash.

Wealthy donors received calls and emails from a man who said he was Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, according to people familiar with the matter. His name was actually Sam Miele, and he worked for Santos raising money for his campaign, according to one GOP donor who contributed to Santos’ campaign.

'We were duped': How George Santos raised money from wealthy GOP donors while...

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Somebody’s got to go to prison.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@DSeid

Serious about the MJT line though.

Yeah–that’s pretty close to what I’ve been thinking. Santos has become radioactive to almost everyone, including to mainstream Republicans. He might be a lying little weasel, but he’s become a lonely lying little weasel. And even weasels need friends.

But there’s a group of folks who don’t mind if you’re a lying weasel, as long as you’re willing to be gross and hateful about it: MTG and other soldiers of 4Chan, folks who view politics as one giant chance to troll libs for teh lulz. If Santos can act like enough of a bigoted dillweed, he’ll become their hero, and the lying weasel will have friends again.

Thus the White Power symbol. There’s no more to it than a second grader saying, “I like your shoes” to another second grader on their first day at a new school, except instead of saying “I like your shoes” he’s saying “I like your idiotic bigotry.”

[JRDelirious]

@Fear_Itself

campaign fundraiser for George Santos impersonated Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff

OK, that is going to require some ‘splainin. Can’t wait to hear it.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

Oof. Dude has got some minimum security time in his near future.

@WaPo (gift link)

A complaint filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission accused Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has admitted to fabricating key details of his biography, of wide-ranging campaign finance violations.

The alleged wrongdoing includes masking the true source of his campaign’s funding, misrepresenting his campaign’s spending and using campaign resources to cover personal expenses.
…
The complaint also accuses Santos of misrepresenting his campaign’s spending. It notes that his campaign reported “an astounding 40 disbursements between $199 and $200, including 37 disbursements of exactly $199.99,” thereby eluding requirements to keep a receipt, invoice or canceled check for all spending above $200.

In some instances, the reported spending did not stand up to scrutiny, according to the complaint. It highlighted a reported $199.99 payment for an Oct. 13, 2021, “hotel stay” at the W South Beach, a Miami hotel whose least expensive room for a midweek stay in October is priced at more than $700. On a single day in November 2021, the campaign twice spent exactly $199.99 on food and beverage at an Italian restaurant in Queens, according to its public disclosures.

“This almost certainly is not an accurate accounting of the campaign’s expenses and suggests instead that the payments were either falsely reported or structured to avoid crossing the $200 mark,” the complaint argues.

And there’s more at the link. This looks absolutely bananas, out-of-control fraud with absolute expectation of impunity.

[Chronos]

I wonder, did he ever plan on being re-elected? I mean. maybe he figured that there was a chance that his lies wouldn’t be discovered until election day (as indeed they weren’t), and they weren’t discovered in the two years he spent as a nobody, following his first failed campaign, but surely he had to realize that actually being a Congressmember would attract at least some modicum of attention from someone.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Chronos

surely he had to realize that actually being a Congressmember would attract at least some modicum of attention from someone.

The “he’s an idiot” hypothesis may actually be right: he may lack some fundamental prefrontal cortex activity that would help him game out various scenarios and make choices that keep him out of the big house. I know it’s common to say that political opponents are dumb, but in this case it’s so weird it’s almost pitiful.

[Little_Nemo]

@Fear_Itself

A campaign fundraiser for George Santos impersonated Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff to help raise campaign cash.

Stealing money that was intended for a more powerful Republican. The Republicans would overlook everything else but that’s a move that will get Santos in trouble.

[Love_Rhombus]

@Little_Nemo

Stealing money that was intended for a more powerful Republican.

Or even from Kevin McCarthy. It would be oddly funny if it was Santos who cast a vote to dump McCarthy. I mean, what can they offer him that won’t look weird given all of the questions about Santos’ campaign?

[Little_Nemo]

McCarthy may be a weak Trump puppet. But he’s still got more power than Santos.

[Love_Rhombus]

In a weird way, he’s done the GOP a possible service. They can investigate and beat up on George and paint themselves as “battling corruption.”

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

If they expel him from the House, their razor-thin margin becomes monofilament-thin. Their choices are:

1. Show honor, integrity, and courage at the cost of their immediate political position; or
2. Maintain their immediate political position at the cost of looking like a bunch of unprincipled cowards.

Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Which will Kevin McCarthy choose?