Well put.
My guess is that the dollar value of the theft is the least important aspect of the crime here.
Stealing $700 from someone? Not that interesting to Brazil.
Stealing someone’s checkbook and “writing” checks from it? A lot more interesting to Brazil.
And he’s still on a roll…
I read elsewhere (WaPo?*) that this isn’t necessary just another one of his lies, but something that several congresspeople did on the (foolish!) presumption that all was normal.
*Yes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/04/george-santos-sworn-in-mistake-house/
From that article: " Identical statements were posted on the websites of other incoming freshman lawmakers, including for Robert Garcia, a California Democrat; Michael Lawler, a New York Republican; and Yadira Caraveo, a Colorado Democrat."
I’ll bet his office staff will be just as sketchy as him. I imagine most regular people wouldn’t care to work for/with him.
“It’s okay that he lied! We ALL lied!”
That wasn’t my point. My point was that this was more of a stupidly automated announcement than a lie.
The net effect is still one of untruth, and it’s still unacceptable, but it clearly came about for different reasons, and should be analyzed differently.
According to CNN, when he admitted to the crime in Brazil years ago, he claimed he was a professor.
But he clearly meant pro fessor.
What the fuck a fessor is shall not be answered.
Maybe a profess-or? Someone who professes something?
Somebody who tells the truth about what he’s done would be a confessor.
Santos is the opposite of that, so he’s a professor.
It’s the opposite of a CONfessor, I imagine. Instead of a priest to whom you tell all of your sins before asking for forgiveness, it’s a priest you brag to about all the good deeds you do in exchange for a spiritual reward of some sort.
I’d say no harm, no foul, but you’d think their various staff would be aware enough of the issues surrounding Speaker selection that they would have put an Embargo Until on the press releases.
I’m not a fan of excusing incompetence that arises from places of laziness and lack of attention to detail.
Good point. I wonder who will want to work in his office.
I’m at work and can’t do the research, but I read an article this morning that Santos was charging donors to attend his swearing-in ceremony, have lunch, and take a tour of the Capitol. Wonder how that’s working out for him?
“I don’t understand this uproar about George Santos. Yes. He committed check fraud. But he was first man on moon. Grandma died 7 times. Family survived 2 nuclear bombs in Japan.”
*as posted on one of my Facebook groups.
Interesting NY Times opinion article from Tom Suozzi, outgoing Congressman. It’s a “gift link”, meaning that NY Times non-subscribers have access. I wasn’t a huge Suozzi fan, but at least I wasn’t embarrassed to say he was my representative.
Here’s a quote from the article:
I know from my experience as a mayor of my hometown, as a county executive and as a member of Congress that you cannot get things done without building trust with your colleagues. How can Mr. Santos be trusted? How could he be effective?
Even before Mr. Santos’s lies were exposed in the media, he showed himself to be an avatar of this age of no-consequences impunity. He ran against me in 2020: It was the middle of the Covid pandemic, he did not live in the district, and no one had heard of him. He had little in campaign funds, and during our few joint campaign appearances, all virtual, he came across as a phony. I ignored him, hardly mentioned his name and beat him by 12 points.
I saw video of him yesterday, sitting in the chamber next to a child. I was informed that the child was the only one willing to sit next to him. But that’s probably not important to the point I’m trying to make.
In the same video, George picked his nose and wiped the booger on his pants. So good news everybody, George does not eat his boogers!