What Was Congressman David Wu Thinking?

Politicians are an interesting breed. No matter what the office, they work hard gathering support and then run hard-fought campaigns to get elected. All have difficult and time-consuming responsibilities—to their constituents and to themselves. They are public servants and strive to serve the public with utmost diligence.

Well, most of them anyway. Then you have the dopes, the real nitwits who defy any sense of reason or sanity. Neither party has a lock on stupidity either. Memory brings to mind names like Gary Hart, the moron senator photographed with Donna Rice on his knee aboard the yacht “Monkey Business,” and Larry Craig, also a senator, who swears that he wasn’t sending the universal “I’m available” signal to the gay guy in the next stall. There’s Bill Clinton, whose dalliance with Monica Lewinsky almost cost him the presidency, and too many more to recount. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t these shenanigans piss people off? Isn’t it our money and our trust that puts these jokers into office and our interests that they are supposed to serve?

[SIGNUP]The latest couple of idiots include Christopher Lee, a representative from New York who resigned recently over a shirtless photo he sent to a woman he contacted through Craigslist. Are you kidding me? We teach our children to never put personal information on the Internet, and we monitor their Internet usage to safeguard risky cyber behavior … and then we elect a man who sends inappropriate pictures to a complete stranger? It makes no sense. None.

Then, just this week we have Representative David Wu from Oregon sending pictures of himself in a tiger costume and swearing that his therapy and med use for mental illness is under control and he’s really okay. Sure. His own staff bailed because of his bizarre behavior and yet, he’s running for reelection.

Politicians who engage in this type of behavior should be rounded up for a study by the Pew Center or Penn or some other think tank to figure out why grown men work hard to achieve political standing and then sabotage it with their own ridiculous behavior. Just put them all in a room and let them cry and make scripted apologies about how their selfish actions had become a distraction to the job and so, for the good of the public they served, they had to resign, blubbering to each other until they figure out who is the dumbest one in the bunch. It will take a while, I’m sure. Could they possibly think they’re immune to the moral standards of behavior to which the rest of us are held? Do they think they’re invisible while they’re acting like buffoons all over the Internet? Do they think the voting public will tolerate this type of disregard for higher office?

If Wu wins in 2012, which he very well might, the answer will be yes. Go figure.