The article is pretty bizarre. The tone of the article and some of the people discussed make it sound like the Congressfolk were caught shooting up heroin or something instead of…swimming? I’m half convinced “swimming” must be a euphemism for something I’m unaware of.
I rather wish lobbyist paid trips by Congress and their staffs were illegal. But they aren’t, so if Congresscritters are going to take them, they mind as well have a good time.
Actually, some tried to make that claim:
:rolleyes:
How disrespectful! Almost as bad as putting your feet up on the desk in the Oval Office.
While perhaps slightly humorous and embarrassing, I’m not seeing a controversy here.
Here’s what I don’t understand:
“The FBI looked into whether any inappropriate behavior occurred, but the interviews do not appear to have resulted in any formal allegations of wrongdoing.”
Why in the world is FBI investigating the skinnydipping incident in the first place? What’s next? FBI will start investigating people sneezing in public without covering their mouths? Leaving bathroom without washing their hands?
Probably something to to with improper expenditure of government funds, but that would be a stretch.
The trip was paid for by a lobbying group.
It happened a year ago, didn’t involve Romney or Ryan, only one congressional skinnydipper. I was so hoping for better than this!
When come back bring dirt.
Not Congressional salaries, or their aides’. I wonder if they were on the clock?
Not to say this is the reason, but it’s the only one I can think of that might justify some kind of criminal investigation.
I’m flashing back on the “Senator and Mrs. John Blutarski” caption from Animal House.
This story is of note only because the people involved are Republicans and thus belong to a party that makes a big deal about being God-fearing and morally upright. One would think that these people would know better when going abroad and visiting a holy site not to act like a pack of drunken idiot fratboys.
These people aren’t just stupid American tourists. They’re representatives of our government. While there were probably no major laws broken, such behavior does invoke the Ugly American factor. The Israelis and Palestinians don’t agree on much but, after this incident, they’re probably both wondering how low standards must be in this country for people like that to get elected.
Is swimming naked in the Sea of Galilee really a big deal? I’m honestly curious here. Yes, I understand its importance in Christianity, having been raised in the Christian (Catholic) tradition myself. But is it really considered that big a deal? I need some perspective here.
Alcohol, skinnydipping, daughter, representatives of the U.S. in a foreign land…all hot buttons with the potential of being an embarrassment for the country. It begged for an official investigation. Now it looks like nothing excessive happened, but we only know that because of the investigation.
What weirds me out is that one Congressman took all his clothes off. I’ve had bad dreams about being the only one naked in a crowd.
“Holy Site?” Lots of people swim, wakeboard, waterski, whatever, in the Sea of Galilee. People visit it for religious reasons to, but its not like he was playing beer pong on the Wailing Wall or something.
I don’t have a problem with people doing things like that at the Sea of Galilee. It’s just that in this case, the people doing it claim to be such Holy Joes. The hypocrisy they displayed in this situation (along with their supposed boorishness and stupidity) makes them a ripe target for ridicule.
Other than that you can imagine what Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and the right-wing blogosphere would have made of it if it had been a Democratic Congresscritter skinnydipping in front of a coed audience, nothing really. Mildly amusing, but that’s about it.
What I can’t understand is why the FBI is interested in this. Unless there’s something going on here well beyond Congressional nudity, they really ought to find something more worthwhile to investigate.
Why did you make me think of Rush Limbaugh skinny dipping?
Prior possible alcohol involvement:
moon burn.
It’s apparently illegal under Israeli law, at least according to the article I read.
So you’ve got an American congressman, on a trip paid for by an Israeli-American group, traveling to Israel, drinking at least a little bit (“alcohol was involved” according to the article I read), then taking off his clothes and skinny-dipping in violation of Israeli law.
Fortunately for my liberal bias this particular idiot happened to be a member of the Republican party. Unfortunately for me, the next incident of this ilk will probably involve a Democrat.