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EDITORIAL: Take a lesson from those in news: Think before acting (6/13/11)Jun 13, 2011 (Reading Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It is almost impossible for anyone in the public eye to keep secret improper actions. "My mama always said, 'Stupid is as stupid does,'" Tom Hanks said playing the title role in the movie "Forrest Gump." If that is the case, we must conclude that some of the people who have been elected to represent us really must be stupid. Let's start with U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who finally admitted taking a lewd photo of himself and sending it to a woman via his Twitter account. What in the world was he thinking? Did he really believe he could use the social networking site to send such a photograph and it would not become public? Did he really believe that anybody would accept that lame explanation that someone hacked into his account or that the picture was not of him? Does he really believe he has done nothing wrong, as he has said, and that he should remain in Congress pending the outcome of a House inquiry? Didn't Weiner learn anything from the case of former U.S. Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., who resigned in February after getting caught in a scandal stemming from a photograph of himself shirtless that he reportedly emailed to a woman other than his wife whose personal ad he saw on Craigslist? Talk about stupid, Lee was claiming to be a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist when he contacted the woman, but he used his real name. The woman searched his name on the Web, discovered he was a married congressman and turned over her email correspondence to a news blog. These two cases should serve as lessons for every teenager -- or adult, for that matter -- who has entertained the thought of sending provocative emails or photographs. Such things do not go away. They are there for all to see, including any potential employer who knows how to perform a search on Google. And then there is former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who was the No. 2 man on the Democratic ticket during the 2004 presidential race with Sen. John Kerry. Edwards has been accused of failing to report nearly $1 million in campaign funds that were allegedly spent to keep his mistress out of the public eye when he campaigned for the White House in his own right in 2008. Edwards has proclaimed his innocence, and we are not attempting to convict him without a trial. But did he really think he could keep his affair a secret while a candidate for the presidency? Did he really think voters would overlook an affair at a time when his wife was suffering from cancer? Speaking of affairs, what was former U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., thinking when he engaged in a long sexual relationship with Cynthia Hampton, the wife of one of his top aides, Douglas Hampton? After the affair came to light, Ensign reportedly helped Douglas Hampton secure a job with a Nevada lobbying firm and funneled a $96,000 payment to Cynthia Hampton through Ensign's parents. This is the same man who once said, "Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded." Did he really believe he could cheat on his wife and it would not become public and then cover it up with a job and hush money? Each of these cases -- and there are dozens of others -- should serve to remind each of us to engage the brain before taking action that we most certainly will come to regret. To see more of the Reading Eagle, or to subscribe, go to http://www.readingeagle.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Reading Eagle, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |