It will probably never change minds, of course. After all, each side of the aisle will have news organs that “prove” their side is right. Still, the developments in the Menendez prostitution scandal might turn out to be something far bigger and much worse – though for now it seems unclear for whom it might be worse.
Last month the Daily Caller reported that they had interviews of women claiming that New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menedez paid them for sex; this followed a reports that Menendez was under investigation by the FBI for hiring under-age prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. This week, however, new developments may seriously change the very nature of the story’s narrative:
An escort who appeared on a video claiming Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican Republic police that she was instead paid to make up the claims in a tape recording and has never met or seen the senator before, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.An escort who appeared on a video claiming Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican Republic police that she was instead paid to make up the claims in a tape recording and has never met or seen the senator before, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.
The woman identified a lawyer who approached her and a friend to make the videotape, according to affidavits obtained by the Post. That man has in turn identified another lawyer who gave him a script for the tape and paid him to find women to fabricate the claims, the affidavits say.
At this point both the Post and Caller seem to be figuring out whose reporting is correct. (Or to be more precise, each is claiming they are in the right and leaving it to others to decide.) Dashiell Bennet over at the Atlantic Wire has a pretty good summation of what we do and don’t know so far.
Still, it seems that what started out as a run of the mill sex scandal may turn out to be something far more interesting. Political rivals paying prostitutes to lie about a sitting US Senator would be a pretty big story. That those same rivals may well be connected to the Daily Caller would be even bigger. So too would the story that Menendez is now paying hookers to lie about lying. And of course, above all of this looms the very real possibility that Menendez and the Caller are each despicable, dirty, and guilty of betraying their publics’ trust.
As the investigations unfold over the next several months – and as we watch the way in which the findings are presented to the public by various competing news sources – it might well end up becoming one of the more interesting stories of the early year.
I hope the truth – whatever it is – is discovered so that the culpable party is properly disgraced. Else it’ll just be one of those things where the assumption is that this is proof of how despicable the other side is.Report
+1
I worry that we’re getting to the point where even when truth is unequivocally discovered each side has developed the infrastructure to remain hidden from it.Report
I fear that as well.Report
Sadly this is probably true. The post-modernists have been proven right in a way.Report
“… but first, the politicians!”Report
that made actually lolReport
Nice.Report
What bugs me about this whole story is that there really is an issue here regarding Menendez’s relationship with the doctor and his free trips to the DR. The story definitely has some serious potential corruption issues going on here (a NJ Democrat faces corruption questions? Shocking, I know!) that ultimately may have caused Menendez some serious problems, maybe even rising to the level of forcing him to step down. But instead the right wing media made the story all about the always shoddy prostitution claims.
Now Menendez gets to look like a victim, and the corruption issues can be largely swept under the rug.Report
Very, very true. I wish I thought the right-wing media were bright enough to learn from that.Report
Menendez made it all up! 11 dimensional chess!Report
Between this and Friends of Hamas, no one will care about his child-prostitution-funded terrorist army.Report
>>> What bugs me about this whole story is that there really is an issue here regarding Menendez’s relationship with the doctor and his free trips to the DR.
Hey, it’s just a trip with “the boys”. All innocent, I assure you. Just ask Limbaugh…Report
Standard libertarian response: If prostitution was legal & regulated, this would be a less of an issue (unless he really was going after underage girls/boys).Report
It is legal and regulated in the DR. That doesn’t make the “moral issue” go away, any more than the legality of R-rated movies stops the idiot smears against Ashley Judd.Report
If it was legal in the US, the moral issue would be more on par with idiot smears.
Smears against Ashley Judd? Really? Are people that bored?Report
“If it was legal in the US, the moral issue would be more on par with idiot smears.”
I’m not sure that’s true. There are plenty of things that are legal which a sitting US Senator wouldn’t want appearing in print (legal sex clubs sank Jack Ryan, Mark Sanford never broke any laws, and neither did Bob Livingston). I don’t know if visiting a legal prostitute in Nevada would be a guaranteed career-killer, but it’s something most pols would rather avoid.Report
It depends. Does Tucker Carlson count as people?Report
Tucker is at this point a mobile billboard for the bowtie industry. Him and The Doctor.Report
And George Will. Is there anything sadder than a wannabee George Will?Report
But the Doctor wears a Fez. Fez’s are cool.Report
after i posted i noticed i should have noted that tucker and the doctor are the darkside/lightside of the bowtie.Report
the Doctors’ wife shot the Fez. The Doctor’s wife is cool.Report
“Smears against Ashley Judd? Really? Are people that bored?”
YesReport
Yet the Kardashians & Paris Hilton are unscathed…Report
Those two never threatened Mitch McConnell afaik, though it’d be pretty funny if they triedReport
I’m not invested in the story at all, but at a first read, the Atlantic Wire summation doesn’t seem “pretty good” to me — the writer is trying hard to keep treating the WaPo article as a strong refutation of the Daily Caller report, even though it looks a lot like they talked to the wrong woman. And the last update seems to not reflect well on WaPo’s credibility on this.
I do agree with Mark that the possible corruption should be the bigger story in any case.Report
In related news of elected officials acting badly:
Lawmaker makes lewd comment to 17 year old girl.
WTF is wrong with some of these people?Report
I don’t think that comment was meant the way it came out.Report
It’s creepy on any reading.Report