The Other McCain

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

He’s a Liberal, and Also Crazy

Posted on | February 19, 2011 | 10 Comments

Excuse me if that seems redundant, but it appears that one Democrat in Congress was even more crazy than the rest:

Three days before the Nov. 2 election, U.S. Rep. David Wu’s most loyal and senior staffers were so alarmed by his erratic behavior that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Their concern had been spiking for weeks in tandem with the Oregon Democrat’s increasingly unpredictable performance on the campaign trail and in private. He was loud and sometimes angry, some of them told The Oregonian. He said kooky things to staff and — more worrisome with a tough election fast approaching — around potential voters and donors. . . .
Several staff members confronted Wu for the final time on Oct. 30. Wu’s psychiatrist was brought into that meeting . . . The meeting was held after four consecutive days of troubling behavior that led the staff to agree that Wu needed a higher level of medical care . . .
“This is way beyond acceptable levels and the charade needs to end NOW,” wrote Lisa Grove, a senior and long-serving campaign pollster, in an e-mail to colleagues that day. “No enabling by any potential enablers, he needs help and you need to be protected. Nothing else matters right now. Nothing else.” . . .
Faced with a stalemate, the campaign essentially shut down at the very time when most other candidates were at their most frenzied. No public announcement was made, but campaign staff withdrew and Wu did not hold another formal campaign event until he emerged on Tuesday night after winning a seventh term.
Last month, The Oregonian reported that at least a half-dozen members of Wu’s staff had resigned after he won re-election in November. That group included his longtime chief of staff and his spokeswoman. In addition, he lost his campaign pollster and his fundraiser. . . .
For some staffers, the beginning of the end was Wednesday, Oct. 27, when Wu delivered a belligerent and rambling 19-minute monologue to Washington County Democrats that some in the audience said was inappropriate for the friendly crowd. His behavior left staff members aghast. . . .
In the early morning of Saturday, several odd messages written from Wu’s private House of Representatives e-mail address were sent to some staffers, all female, with still others copied on them. . . .
At that point, staff knew something was terribly wrong with their candidate. That Saturday, Oct. 30, they checked for available hospital beds and consulted with his psychiatrist. Veteran pollster Grove sent staffers the e-mail that signaled the end. She declined to comment for this story but earlier told The Oregonian that she would never work for Wu again.
There was no doubt Wu was having a rough 2010. He had separated from his wife, and he faced a credible opponent — Republican Rob Cornilles — in a difficult year for all Democrats. He told people he had stopped drinking in July.
But staffers and others who encountered Wu say his behavior that fall was not an ordinary response to stress. As the campaign wore on, they said, Wu became unpredictable and sometimes loopy, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and often not making sense. Nor would he own up to their concerns. . . .
He made few campaign appearances and near the end of the campaign was even placed under what one campaign official characterized as “house arrest.” . . .
Wu had shown signs of erratic behavior before. In 2007, he accused the Bush White House of acting like fake Klingons. In 2003, he appeared to go catatonic before a crucial vote on Medicare.
Sources reported that over the years Wu would have normal periods, followed by times when he seemed disturbed. Each episode seemed more erratic, they said. But just before the election, they said, was the worst they had seen.
As Election Day approached, the prevailing mood, according to one person, “was that the only thing worse than losing the campaign would be winning it.”

Those are merely highlights — or rather, lowlights — or a much longer article. All in all, it sounds like Wu was exhibiting bipolar tendencies, probably aggravated by the stress of separating from his wife.

In other words, a midlife crisis.

What’s interesting is that his loyal Democratic staff kept all this quiet, so the crazy Congressman could get re-elected.

UPDATE: Suggested TV commercial for David Wu’s 2012 re-election campaign.

Category: Congress, Democrats, Oregon

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