Joe Barton, Senior Republican, Caught in Storm Over Explicit Photo - Polidicks

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/us/politics/joe-barton-explicit-photo-twitter.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article"]source[/URL], from nov 22, 2017, so a bit old [QUOTE]WASHINGTON — The heightened scrutiny of sexual impropriety on Capitol Hill has swept up a senior House Republican who apologized Wednesday for a sexually explicit photograph that wound up on the internet and raised the possibility that he had been the victim of a crime. Representative Joe Barton of Texas, who was once the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is now its vice chairman, said that he was reconsidering his political future after the photograph appeared on an anonymous Twitter account. Mr. Barton, who has hired a crisis communications firm, made clear he was ready for a fight. In a statement Wednesday night, he said that he had suffered “a potential crime.” A Texas law, the so-called revenge pornography law, makes it a misdemeanor to intentionally publicize images or videos of someone’s genitals or sexual activity without consent. Hours after his initial apology, [URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.3fe0aba1a26e"]The[/URL] [URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.3fe0aba1a26e"]W[/URL][URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.3fe0aba1a26e"]ashington Post reported[/URL] that Mr. Barton, 68, had threatened in 2015 to report to the Capitol Police a woman with whom he had shared explicit photographs, videos and messages if she exposed him. The woman, who spoke anonymously, shared with The Post a recorded phone conversation in which the congressman confronted her about communications she had with other women connected to Mr. Barton, including sexually explicit material he had shared with her. Mr. Barton did not dispute the woman’s account. But in his statement, he said that she “threatened to publicly share my private photographs and intimate correspondence in retaliation” when he ended their relationship. [/QUOTE]

I wish news outlets wouldn't report on blackmail being released

There was already a thread about it when it happened. More texts to a different woman have came out since then, and he's announced he won't seek re-election.

[QUOTE=laserpanda;53024041]There was already a thread about it when it happened. He's since announced he won't seek re-election.[/QUOTE] Ok if it's late please lock/close or whatever.

[QUOTE=Rubs10;53023998]I wish news outlets wouldn't report on blackmail being released[/QUOTE] Why, so these skeezy sleazeballs can continue to bury their misdeeds?

[QUOTE=TestECull;53024135]Why, so these skeezy sleazeballs can continue to bury their misdeeds?[/QUOTE] No, because revenge porn blackmail is illegal and a terrible thing to do. It shouldn't be publicised in a media circus because that's what this woman wanted. And it's no joke, if the roles were reversed there would be an outcry.

[QUOTE=TestECull;53024135]Why, so these skeezy sleazeballs can continue to bury their misdeeds?[/QUOTE] eh? no the whole point is that blackmail's power comes from the material now being able to viewed and exposed to the masses. if the media pick up on this, that falls straight into the hands of the blackmailer. It doesn't sound like this guy did anything bad, just that someone tried to extort something from them while threatening to leak their nudes - and that's apparently what they just did.

[QUOTE=LAMB SAUCE;53024846]No, because revenge porn blackmail is illegal and a terrible thing to do. It shouldn't be publicised in a media circus because that's what this woman wanted. And it's no joke, if the roles were reversed there would be an outcry.[/QUOTE] Whilst I absolutely agree with you, do you think a Republican from Texas is one of those people who would have defended a gay man whose explicit photo was released? I absolutely don't think this man deserves this - it is cruel, but I am sure we could find some incredibly hypocritical statements from this man in the past if we looked.

[QUOTE=Dan The Man;53025955]Whilst I absolutely agree with you, do you think a Republican from Texas is one of those people who would have defended a gay man whose explicit photo was released? I absolutely don't think this man deserves this - it is cruel, but I am sure we could find some incredibly hypocritical statements from this man in the past if we looked.[/QUOTE] He has some horrifying positions such as support for the recriminalization of sodomy, but as far as hypocrisy goes, he was actually [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html?utm_term=.df95c37eef5a]on record[/url] during Bill Clinton's sex scandals as saying he didn't care about Clinton's private life [quote]But he is not known as an outspoken culture warrior. In 1998, amid the scandal over President Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, Barton was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying, “I personally don’t care a fig about what he does in his bedroom with his wife or any other sexual partners he may have, but I do care if he lies under oath.”[/quote]

[QUOTE=Bob The Knob;53025979]He has some horrifying positions such as support for the recriminalization of sodomy, but as far as hypocrisy goes, he was actually [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html?utm_term=.df95c37eef5a]on record[/url] during Bill Clinton's sex scandals as saying he didn't care about Clinton's private life[/QUOTE] I really appreciate him being non-partisan on that back then. It is so odd to think there was a time when that ever happened! Thanks for the share.

[QUOTE=TestECull;53024135]Why, so these skeezy sleazeballs can continue to bury their misdeeds?[/QUOTE] What misdeeds are you even talking about? Or are you speaking in general?

[QUOTE=TestECull;53024135]Why, so these skeezy sleazeballs can continue to bury their misdeeds?[/QUOTE] Oh gosh, a man who was separated from his wife had consensual sex with women. What a monster.