by Christopher Hessman
What is it about the treacherous atmosphere of Washington, D.C. that causes our elected representatives and any number of senior officials to act as if they were invulnerable and to (mis) behave accordingly?
Inquiring minds want to know!
What happens in this atmosphere to once decent, law-abiding people who unhesitatingly trade in a lifetime's good character for a tawdry, usually career killing, walk on the wild side?
Inquiring minds want to know!
What happens in our nation's capital and its alluring flesh pots that makes the most highly placed in the country lose even the semblance of common sense, doing things they wouldn't dream of, much less do, anywhere else?
Oh, yes, we all want to know!
The latest victim of Washington's bloated ego syndrome, whereby persons of power and position are absolutely certain they can have their cake and eat it, too, is...
(once) U.S. Representative Chris Lee, now no more R-NY, instead the cause of uncontrollable merriment and the most racy language... the perfect symbol of arrogance and foolishness.
Here are t he facts:
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Congressman Chris, at lunch time, was an obscure but quite definitely promising second-term Republican member from western New York.
Two hours later, at 2.33 p.m., Gawker.com posted an alleged e-mail exchange between a man who used Lee's name and photographs to respond to a personal ad posted at Craigslist and the woman who placed it. That was the moment you-know-what hit the fan.
Congressman Chris could hardly have been more accommodating to the prurient worldwide as he himself posted the dynamite that blew him, his career, and quite possibly his marriage and any future responsible posts under the Republic sky high.
The personal ad -- with picture -- did it...
At age 46, once buff Chris Lee's body is no longer the lithe and powerful sex machine of yore. Chris, in short, has succumbed to the marriage tax; he looks paunchy, under exercised, with hair no longer so lush and vibrant as before. In short, he looks his age.
Yet it is within the power of the Congress of these United States to bestow upon its Members the gift of self-delusion as well as franking... and Chris Lee called upon this gift liberally. The picture he posted of himself was an exercise in hope over experience. But Chris trusted his manly flesh, quite the focus of the ad, would do the trick. As a good conservative, however, he did not bare all... his pants remained on... as they would indeed throughout his entire, unconsummated affaire. Yes, a sex scandal without sex!
Where the bare chest photograph did nothing to help Representative Chris pick up chicks online, his ad response was worse, one lie after another.
He was not divorced (though that now may be coming).
He was not a Washington lobbyist (although this, too, may now ensue).
He wasn't 39 anymore, and even Congress might pause a moment before altering the birth certificates of its lubricious members to assist their extra marital capers.
He (as the picture made quite clear) is no means "very fit".
And, as all the world would soon know, he most assuredly is not a "classy guy."
In Chris' favor, he may be 6 feet, 190 pounds. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and full credit for this truth where so many others especially tweak the facts here, too.
In any event, Chris lied and lied and lied... just as we all do when venturing into the personals. It's the thing to do.
Ironically, it was the truth as much as the lies that polished off Chris Lee and his promising career.
You see, he responded with his real name and email address... which enabled the recipient, a black professional woman... and Gawker.com... to search and find the hapless, Chris, about to abdicate his role as Gold Plated Boy in favor of "deer in the headlights".
What happened then is what gives this little, unnecessary tragedy its importance and insight into our electronically exposed culture.
What the soon-to-be-ex congressman failed to understand was that the Internet, with its unmatched power for prompt, universal information dissemination, was not merely a force to be reckoned with; it was the deciding force, the thing that would change his life forever -- and all in an instant.
Once Gawker.com released the congressman's dirty little secret, he lost control of the story. There was hardly time to say "not guilty, milord", because Gawker.com had the facts and was pumping them out andante to a world hungry for mud and scandal.
Chris, living in a fool's paradise where the babes in Congress are protected from all responsibilities until their infractions become too glaring to ignore, had no means to defend himself. What could he say? That he wasn't that Chris Lee? Gawker.com would have pulverized him by increasing the heat about a man of stupidity, carelessness, arrogance, and abysmally poor judgement, not precisely the leadership qualities western New York constituents hungered for.
And so, at unparalleled speed, came the decline and sure, swift fall of Congressman Chris, whose place in history will be confined to that bare-chested picture and the unfathomable stupidity which caused him to post it... leading within just 5 hours to the hackneyed words that end most Washington sex scandals:
Chris "regrets the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all." Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Thus resigning, only to go home to the woman he so publicly humiliated by chasing after others he deemed (as least fleetingly) more desirable, important than she. Dinner that night, chez la famille Lee, must have been frosty indeed.
Ironically, in earlier communications to his constituents, then ascending Congressman Chris pondered the role of the 'net in society commenting on...
"the dangers and unknowns associated with a medium that is growing by several billion web pages per day... Responding to what may seem like a friendly e-mail or an appealing marketing offer can have serious consequences. Private information and images can so easily be transmitted to friends and strangers alike".
And no knows it better than ex-Congressman Chris Lee. Who, for an instant, but only for an instant, was world news... and a living warning to his ex-colleagues who are just as uninformed as he about the Great Force in the land that so unforgivingly influences their lives and fortunes.
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About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Hessman http://ProvenAutomatedBiz.com. Check out The List Edge -> http://buy2412.tledge.hop.clickbank.net
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