Talk Elections

General Politics => U.S. General Discussion => Topic started by: All Along The Watchtower on October 10, 2012, 11:03:46 AM



Title: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: All Along The Watchtower on October 10, 2012, 11:03:46 AM
Quote
WASHINGTON -- A pro-life, family-values congressman who worked as a doctor before winning election as a Tea Party-backed Republican had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion, according to a phone call transcript obtained by The Huffington Post.

The congressman, Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, was trying to save his marriage at the time, according to his remarks on the call, made in September of 2000. And, according to three independent sources familiar with the call and the recording, he made the tape himself.

DesJarlais, who was provided a copy of the transcript by HuffPost, did not deny its contents, but in a statement released through his campaign characterized it as just another sordid detail dredged up by the opposition. "Desperate personal attacks do not solve our nation's problems, yet it appears my opponents are choosing to once again engage in the same gutter politics that CBS news called the dirtiest in the nation just 2 years ago."

That race featured charges culled from DesJarlais' divorce from Susan DesJarlais, which was finalized in 2001. The filing included allegations that he held a gun in his own mouth for hours in one instance and that he "dry fired" a gun outside his wife's bedroom in another.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html?1349878415 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html?1349878415)

.....



Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Lief 🗽 on October 10, 2012, 11:23:28 AM
D +1.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: angus on October 10, 2012, 11:29:04 AM

he "dry fired" a gun outside his wife's bedroom in another.


what's that?  shooting blanks?

I guess he wasn't shooting blanks when he cocked his big gun and fired it into his whore. 

Think there's any truth to this story?  It is from Huffington Post, after all.  If it's true, it sucks to be Scott DesJarlais.  Ethics problems on many levels here.  Check out some of the comments at the bottom of the page (yeah, I know people who publicly share comment on news articles are wankers, but they're also voters):

"Perfect fit into today's Republican outlook. Abortion = bad

Fine Print ---- except when I might be the father of an illigimate child!" 

ouch.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Grumpier Than Uncle Joe on October 10, 2012, 11:35:35 AM

LOL, a different R, perhaps but not D+1.  His CD is Blue as blue gets.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Snowstalker Mk. II on October 10, 2012, 11:49:34 AM

LOL, a different R, perhaps but not D+1.  His CD is Blue as blue gets.

Isn't it the kind of district that likes voting for DINO's at a state/local level sometimes?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Grumpier Than Uncle Joe on October 10, 2012, 12:02:31 PM

LOL, a different R, perhaps but not D+1.  His CD is Blue as blue gets.

Isn't it the kind of district that likes voting for DINO's at a state/local level sometimes?

Perhaps....but I saw national only.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Lief 🗽 on October 10, 2012, 12:07:10 PM
I don't think there's time for a different R to get on the ballot. Of course the D that won this year would lose in a landslide in 2014.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Donerail on October 10, 2012, 12:10:18 PM

LOL, a different R, perhaps but not D+1.  His CD is Blue as blue gets.

Isn't it the kind of district that likes voting for DINO's at a state/local level sometimes?

It was D for the last 8 years, so yes. Gore's CD for a time.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY on October 10, 2012, 12:39:53 PM
So this man openly admits to being fine with murdering children?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: All Along The Watchtower on October 10, 2012, 12:42:31 PM
So this man openly admits to being fine with murdering children?

Hey, so is Charles Fuqua.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/08/charlie-fuqua-arkansas-candidate-death-penalty-rebellious-children_n_1948490.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/08/charlie-fuqua-arkansas-candidate-death-penalty-rebellious-children_n_1948490.html)


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Insula Dei on October 10, 2012, 12:45:47 PM
That's pretty low.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Mechaman on October 10, 2012, 01:37:32 PM
So, a "pro-life" Congressman pressures a mistress to get an abortion a decade before he ran for Congress two years ago?

Yeah, seems like a legit point.  Makes perfect sense!  I'm sure the GOP is itching to run him out of the race and replace him with somebody who's biggest mistake was not paying a parking meter in 1975!


EDIT: Just in case somebody gets the impression that I think this guy is an upstanding individual I am not.  What he did was really bastardly and not that nice.  I think he might've even had mental issues that he needed to discuss with (and hopefully did) a therapist.  However, I don't think using something from a time period of 12 years ago is effective, given that last time the opposing candidate's campaign used something more recent and more serious than this and ended up losing against this guy in the first place.  That, and twelve years is more than enough time to have a change of heart (hell, looked at this guy's wikipedia and it says he had since been remarried and has three more kids).  Really, I don't see the attempt at painting a picture of a hypocrite is fitting in this situation, given the amount of time between the affair and this guy's congressional career.
Just saying.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Keystone Phil on October 10, 2012, 02:04:00 PM
Disgusting


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Link on October 10, 2012, 03:45:09 PM


Please let the other blue Avatars know it is okay to post in this thread.

So this man openly admits to being fine with murdering children?

Only in conjunction with adultery and violating the Hippocratic oath.  Knock it off with the partisan hyperbole. :D

What he did was really bastardly and not that nice.  I think he might've even had mental issues that he needed to discuss with (and hopefully did) a therapist.  However, I don't think using something from a time period of 12 years ago is effective, given that last time the opposing candidate's campaign used something more recent and more serious than this and ended up losing against this guy in the first place.

Lol.  I love how someone wanting to take the high road in this thread uses the word "bastard."  Ain't irony delicious?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Mechaman on October 10, 2012, 04:32:11 PM


Please let the other blue Avatars know it is okay to post in this thread.

So this man openly admits to being fine with murdering children?

Only in conjunction with adultery and violating the Hippocratic oath.  Knock it off with the partisan hyperbole. :D

What he did was really bastardly and not that nice.  I think he might've even had mental issues that he needed to discuss with (and hopefully did) a therapist.  However, I don't think using something from a time period of 12 years ago is effective, given that last time the opposing candidate's campaign used something more recent and more serious than this and ended up losing against this guy in the first place.

Lol.  I love how someone wanting to take the high road in this thread uses the word "bastard."  Ain't irony delicious?

I like my irony cold and with extra lime juice Link :D

I'm sorry if I've given anyone the impression of taking a "high road" on this news story.  No matter how you slice it the guy did act like a bastard.  He did.  Cheating on your wife and then casting off your cheating other like they are Undesirables in an Indian Caste system is a bit bastardly.  And I don't say that as a holy roller man either.  I'm not sure about you, Link, but I tend to lean on the side of calling a spade a spade.

However, at the same time it seems a number of people here have ignored the details of what occurred.  Sure, it was a typical Republican story of marital infidelity and unwanted children.  And the man in this situation is a huge ass hypocrite for wanting the woman he was getting the uhlala with an abortion so he could kill off their relationship.  Well, he would be that huge ass hypocrite if we knew he stayed consistent in his thoughts, actions, and beliefs in the 12 years since it happened.  Me?  I don't know how he lived his life after that event, after his first divorce so I won't just go ahead and call him evil based on differences between the past and present.

Normally, given that this is a Teabaggerurrrruhrrrrrrhurrrdurrrdurr I would probably throw in some lame joke or one-liner about tea-bagging.  However, it also counts to pay attention to details.  This isn't about moral authority or being on a higher road than anyone (I'm in no position, given my posting history, to act in higher moral authority), this is about considering the background of the news story.  And given that, I feel this isn't very effective for this man's opponents to paint him as a hypocrite, given time lag.

Now excuse me while I go back to eating my Irony Soup.  Tis getting cold.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Antonio the Sixth on October 10, 2012, 07:34:51 PM
Why am I not surprised that a champion of "moral value" is the most likely to be an absolutely immoral individual?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Franzl on October 10, 2012, 07:47:09 PM
Why am I not surprised that a champion of "moral value" is the most likely to be an absolutely immoral individual?

Because you're familiar with conservative American "family values" politicians?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Link on October 10, 2012, 07:50:13 PM


Please let the other blue Avatars know it is okay to post in this thread.

So this man openly admits to being fine with murdering children?

Only in conjunction with adultery and violating the Hippocratic oath.  Knock it off with the partisan hyperbole. :D

What he did was really bastardly and not that nice.  I think he might've even had mental issues that he needed to discuss with (and hopefully did) a therapist.  However, I don't think using something from a time period of 12 years ago is effective, given that last time the opposing candidate's campaign used something more recent and more serious than this and ended up losing against this guy in the first place.

Lol.  I love how someone wanting to take the high road in this thread uses the word "bastard."  Ain't irony delicious?

I like my irony cold and with extra lime juice Link :D

I'm sorry if I've given anyone the impression of taking a "high road" on this news story.  No matter how you slice it the guy did act like a bastard.  He did.  Cheating on your wife and then casting off your cheating other like they are Undesirables in an Indian Caste system is a bit bastardly.  And I don't say that as a holy roller man either.  I'm not sure about you, Link, but I tend to lean on the side of calling a spade a spade.

You misunderstood.  It's just in responding to a story about someone aborting an illegitimate child you tossed the word bastard in the mix.  I'm not defending the guy or criticizing you.  Just making a funny (or not funny) observation.

However, at the same time it seems a number of people here have ignored the details of what occurred.  Sure, it was a typical Republican story of marital infidelity and unwanted children.  And the man in this situation is a huge ass hypocrite for wanting the woman he was getting the uhlala with an abortion so he could kill off their relationship.  Well, he would be that huge ass hypocrite if we knew he stayed consistent in his thoughts, actions, and beliefs in the 12 years since it happened.

Well I haven't gotten divorced or pressured anyone into having an abortion.  I just think people who have should get out of the telling people how to live their lives business.  Am I some kind of freak of nature?  Is there no one else who hasn't cheated on their spouse, gotten a divorced, and then demanded someone undergo an abortion?  Am I the only one who is free of those vices?


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Simfan34 on October 10, 2012, 09:20:08 PM
Throw him to the wolves! Hypocrisy should not be tolerated.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Indy Texas on October 11, 2012, 07:33:54 AM
So, a "pro-life" Congressman pressures a mistress to get an abortion a decade before he ran for Congress two years ago?

Yeah, seems like a legit point.  Makes perfect sense!  I'm sure the GOP is itching to run him out of the race and replace him with somebody who's biggest mistake was not paying a parking meter in 1975!


EDIT: Just in case somebody gets the impression that I think this guy is an upstanding individual I am not.  What he did was really bastardly and not that nice.  I think he might've even had mental issues that he needed to discuss with (and hopefully did) a therapist.  However, I don't think using something from a time period of 12 years ago is effective, given that last time the opposing candidate's campaign used something more recent and more serious than this and ended up losing against this guy in the first place.  That, and twelve years is more than enough time to have a change of heart (hell, looked at this guy's wikipedia and it says he had since been remarried and has three more kids).  Really, I don't see the attempt at painting a picture of a hypocrite is fitting in this situation, given the amount of time between the affair and this guy's congressional career.
Just saying.

If you or your sexual partner has had an abortion, it's one thing to later be personally opposed to it, but a person who's had an abortion has no right to publicly advocate denying everyone else a choice they themselves had. If Scott Desjarlais and his ladyfriend lived in Tea Party Utopia, they wouldn't have that choice. Instead, they'd have a kid together and in all likelihood he would never have become a congressman.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: FEMA Camp Administrator on October 11, 2012, 09:29:02 AM
Disgusting.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: fezzyfestoon on October 11, 2012, 09:42:17 AM
Of course he did, social positions aren't real. They're specifically designed to distract people, not actual issues politicians care about. They'll do or say whatever we'd like as long as it doesn't personally damage them...which isn't news.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on October 11, 2012, 11:22:58 AM
Surely the word 'pressured' (combined with certain other details) makes this a wee bit worse than this man being a hypocrite.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: angus on October 11, 2012, 11:38:18 AM
Surely the word 'pressured' (combined with certain other details) makes this a wee bit worse than this man being a hypocrite.

To be fair, the good doctor impregnated his patient and then pressured her to fix the problem long before he became a Tea Party congressman.  ;)


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Person Man on October 11, 2012, 02:11:03 PM
Throw him to the wolves! Hypocrisy should not be tolerated.

....or to the weasels.

But seriously...this is why the anti abortion thing is retarded.  It appears more based on everyone getting together and saying "you ought not to do this" than actully sending the cops in  to shoot the locks off of homes and clinics and scooping up hordes of women and doctors and cramming them in a bunch of prisons that are already crammed as it is. ..and nobody disagrees with that...well almost nobody.

In other words, the most popular situations where abortion should be tolerated are "rape, mortal maternal danger and me". :P


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: DC Al Fine on October 11, 2012, 03:45:20 PM
Quote
it's one thing to later be personally opposed to it, but a person who's had an abortion Ford Pinto has no right to publicly advocate denying everyone else a choice they themselves had.

What about if they enjoyed a massive tax exemption for capital gains?

The reformed _____'s are often the best people to show you why _____ is a bad idea. That said what the guy did was horrible.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: minionofmidas on October 12, 2012, 05:23:00 AM
Surely the word 'pressured' (combined with certain other details) makes this a wee bit worse than this man being a hypocrite.
Exactly. A dumb quote of 12 years ago shouldn't matter anymore. A drunk driving incident of 12 years ago shouldn't matter anymore.
This sort of thing otoh...


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Badger on October 12, 2012, 04:44:51 PM
I'll bet a $1000 that to the extent this guy was involved in local politics 10 years ago, he was (publically) adamantly pro-life.

I agree with Cathcon and Keystone Phil: Disgusting.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: minionofmidas on October 13, 2012, 05:41:13 AM
Lol wikipedia.

"DesJarlais has since stated that he supports abortion only in cases of rape, or to save the mother's life, although there is no evidence that he had raped his mistress or that her life was in danger."


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: memphis on October 13, 2012, 08:50:23 AM
I don't understand why this should matter to voters. Guy's not seeking election as Husband of the Year. All the personality driven crap is what's wrong with politics. Policy is much more important.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Lief 🗽 on October 13, 2012, 09:26:32 AM
Good news guys! She wasn't actually pregnant! Everything's fine.

Though this may be one of those abortions performed on non-pregnant women that Todd Akin was warning us about. Hm...


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: RI on October 15, 2012, 09:34:00 PM
Ugh. This is about as low as you can go.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Linus Van Pelt on October 15, 2012, 10:03:35 PM
I don't understand why this should matter to voters. Guy's not seeking election as Husband of the Year. All the personality driven crap is what's wrong with politics. Policy is much more important.


A doctor having an affair with a patient and then pressuring her to undergo an optional surgical procedure for purposes of covering his ass rather than her medical need is a gross violation of professional ethics that surely casts doubt on someone's ability to maintain the public trust in office. This is totally consistent with thinking that extramarital sex shouldn't normally be politically relevant and that abortion isn't immoral as such.


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: © tweed on October 15, 2012, 11:01:26 PM
he should pull one of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RvNS7JfcMM


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: ○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└ on October 16, 2012, 02:21:44 AM
Lol wikipedia.

"DesJarlais has since stated that he supports abortion only in cases of rape, or to save the mother's life, although there is no evidence that he had raped his mistress or that her life was in danger."

I LOLed


Title: Re: "Pro-life" Congressman pressured mistress to get abortion
Post by: Bacon King on October 16, 2012, 03:29:19 AM
I posted this in the thread in Congressional Elections but it fits here too:

TN-04 News!

()

A watchdog group has filed a complaint about with the Tennessee Department of Health (http://www.citizensforethics.org/page/-/PDFs/Legal/Investigation/10_15_12_DesJarlais_Complaint.pdf?nocdn=1) over DesJarlais's conduct.

Mitt Romney's campaign quietly removed DesJarlais's endorsement from their website (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/scott-desjarlais-mitt-romney_n_1959647.html) last week, without making a comment on the matter.

DesJarlais has responded to everything (http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/86e4ab4255cb41e7a6077cc879c6830d/TN--DesJarlais-Abortion) by highlighting that it was a difficult time for him, in the midst of a long two-year divorce, but emphasizes that she ended up not being pregnant so she didn't get an abortion. He also points out that he's been happily married for the last decade, and claims these allegations were brought up by "a disgruntled, defeated ex-congressman, a vindictive ex-wife, and a desperate Democratic candidate." TNGOP has released a statement supporting DesJarlais, but when reporters asked Governor Haslam and Senator Alexander about it they both dodged the question and made no comment in support of the Congressman.

Stewart's first ad is up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlm-tcI6_9s&feature=youtu.be&t=3s). It attacks DesJarlais for voting to raise taxes, trying to "destroy Medicare", increasing the deficit, opposing pay raises for soldiers, and "chickening out" of a debate with Stewart.

And here's some more fun facts! (From the links in the quote above, mostly. Emphasis below is my own)

Quote
The DesJarlais campaign has dismissed the details as "old news" and personal attacks by the congressman's opponents from the last election cycle. But while the 2010 campaign did feature allegations raised during his divorce that he intimidated his ex-wife with a gun — and in one instance put a gun in his mouth for three hours — the abortion element was not public knowledge until this week.

Quote
"First, there was never any pregnancy and there was no abortion," he said. "Second, my ex-wife and I had been separated for quite some time before this incident. There was an agreement in our separation that both she and I could see other people while finalizing the divorce. To say that I had a mistress or that I had an affair is inaccurate."

According to court records, the couple had a "written" agreement at some point regarding "dating" others. But the court records make clear that the pair had been trying to reconcile for a year when the call was recorded in September 2000, and that both had ceased making charges in court. It's unclear why the reconciliation collapsed, but it happened shortly after the call was recorded.

DesJarlais admitted to at least four affairs, according to the court filings. The judge on the case said DesJarlais' indiscretions caused the marital problems.

What a great guy!