And he's outta here.
Blaming media that have "gotten out of control," Republican Jack Ryan folded his bid for the U.S. Senate today, saying its coverage of old allegations he took his wife to sex clubs has made it impossible to wage "a vigorous debate on the issues."
"What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign -- the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play," the Wilmette Republican said in a written statement. "Accordingly, I am today withdrawing from the race."
Yeah, that's right. Blame it all on the media. It's all their fault. Ryan, of course, bears absolutely no responsibility for lying to the media, misrepresenting the content of his divorce papers to the media, the public, and most importantly for his political future, the Illinois Republican Party hierarchy. It's all the media's fault that the GOP leadership were so upset about being, as they see it, lied to that they hung him out to dry. Right.
Whatta yutz.
(By the way Mr Not-Going-To-Be-Senator Ryan, just a small hint for the future: Should you find yourself marrying or even just very seriously dating again -- and assuming for the sake of argument that your former wife's allegations are true, as she's refused to retract them -- you might want to make sure that the person with whom you are, shall we say, knockin' da boots is on the same page with your inner freak. That she is, at the very least, well informed as to the existence of said inner freak and the ways in which it likes to get freaky. That way, if you go to the sex club and she decides that she really doesn't want to do this, and you later separate, she's somewhat less likely to use it against you in a divorce proceeding or palimony suit. More importantly, if after being fully informed, she says "No, I don't want to do that," then perhaps it would be to your advantage not to trick her into going to clubs without her knowledge. Just a thought. And next time you decide to run for public office, or some future Republican governor wants to consider you and your fortune --- er, that is, wants to consider appointing you to some position, make sure that they and everyone else directly concerned know about anything your inner freak has been getting up to in the mean time. At least, if it's going to appear in public documents, anyway. And finally, please don't try to lock away public documents any more, if you still harbor political ambitions. It gives a very bad impression of someone who wants to be a future public servant that they start by hiding information from the public to which they are legally entitled.)
Putz. (Or possibly "schmuck" might be more appropriate; I forget which is more derogatory. I think there's a species thing involved.)
Posted by iain at June 26, 2004 12:44 AM
