The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Best. Republican. Scandal. EVAH!
UPDATE: Is ‘Lurid’ Photo a Hoax?

Posted on | January 7, 2011 | 43 Comments

The Party of Faith, Family and Freedom — and Famous Congresswomen Getting Their Breasts Licked by Disgraced Bankrupt Ex-Billionaires Reportedly Under Federal Investigation.

Left Coast Rebel is among the bloggers commenting on this story. I’m thinking maybe Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, David Vitter and Mark Foley should form a new 527 organization, perhaps with G. Gordon Liddy as their honorary chairman:

Republicans for Reform
Bring Back the Good Old Days
When GOP Scandals Were
Slightly Less Embarrassing

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: In the comments, some readers raise the related questions (a) is this a PhotoShop? and/or (b) does the “exclusive . . . lurid photo” posted by Radar Online actually show what it claims to show?

While I don’t want to turn this into a full-on RatherGate-style photo-fisking, one commenter who suspects fakery writes: “If you really *look* at it, Mary is leaning back, and the other woman is at least a foot closer to the camera and sticking her tongue out at somebody out of frame.”

There’s definitely something odd about the lighting/perspective of the photo. And here’s Radar’s description of what it claims to show:

In a scandal set to rock Capitol Hill, RadarOnline.com has learned the image was taken at an out-of-control event four-years-ago, at Blixseth’s $75 million Porcupine Creek estate in Rancho Mirage, California.
With her head thrown back, Bono’s plunging bra is exposed as Blixseth — who now dates Dallas actor Jack Scalia after splitting from her husband Tim in 2008 — is seen diving into the politician’s cleavage with her tongue out.
“Mary was partying hard,” one source, who was at the event, told RadarOnline.com. “She was blitzed and clearly having a great time.”

This description is not, however, proven by the photo. Bono appears to be sitting on a sofa, engaged in conversation with someone seated to her left. What is described as a “plunging bra” actually looks more like a swimsuit. Was this taken at a pool party? Was Bono wearing a brown sundress over a black swimsuit? So as evidence that Bono was “partying hard” or “blitzed,” this photo just doesn’t work.

Darn it.

Mary Bono was one of the “Cap-and-Trade 8” House Republicans who voted for that job-killing Waxman-Markey bill, so I’d have no problem with her resigning from Congress. But other than getting a $1,500 contribution from Blixseth and having her on the campaign’s fund-raising committee, this scandal seems a tad overblown.

Another point: Blixseth is the one reportedly under FBI investigation, not Bono. Lots of people give money to political campaign and, while it may be embarrassing when a contributor is caught in shenanigans, this does not automatically implicate the recipient of the donation in whatever it was the contributor did wrong. See my recent American Spectator column, “The Scandal of Being Republican.”

UPDATE II: Linked by Threedonia, Uncoverage and Little Miss Atilla — thanks!

UPDATE III: Guest-blogging at Michelle Malkin’s site, Doug Powers offers a good example of how the foreground/background photo illusion works.

Category: California, Republicans, Scandal, Sex

Comments

Comments are closed.