Aren’t they a cute couple?
And dumb as two bricks in a swamp!
Michigan state Rep. Todd Courser (left) had an email sent to his Republican supporters that falsely claimed he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute. That’s right: he sent out his own, self-smearing lie, apparently because he thought this would help him distract attention from another scandal, a heterosexual one. The married father of four is having an extramarital affair with fellow state Rep. Cindy Gamrat (right), a married mother of three.
The Detroit News obtained two recordings secretly made in May by Courser’s former aide. In the recordings, Courser asks the aide, Ben Graham, to email Republican activists and operatives from an anonymous account to create “a complete smear campaign” about him. Courser tells Graham that he and state Rep. Cindy Gamrat, with whom he took the unusual step of combining office operations, received identical text messages about their relationship that day from an unknown number. Courser wonders aloud whether someone had pictures, video or audio recordings of him and Gamrat. Courser, who is apparently so dumb that his ability to speak at all is a biological mystery, said the email he wanted Graham to send would “inoculate the herd,” a reference to his and Gamrat’s supporters. “It will make anything else that comes out after that — that isn’t a video — mundane, tame by comparison,” Courser told Graham.
This is a prospective #22 rationalization plot–Comparative Virtue! Courser was preparing to be able to say, “Well, I may be having an adulterous affair that compromises the integrity of the legislature, but it’s not the worst thing: at least I’m not having sex with a male prostitute!”
Rep. Gamrat should be rejected by her constituents on general principles: never mind the adultery, if she so foolish as to fall for this idiot, she is too untrustworthy to represent anyone but the Michigan Home For The Bewildered.
The surreptitious recorder Graham says that he wouldn’t send the fake e-mail, and now says he was stripped of some of his duties before Courser fired him in early July. The sexually explicit, fake attack email actually engineered by the target of the attack was received by Republicans on May 20 and 21, the two days following Courser’s recorded meeting with Graham.
Courser confirmed that it was his voice on the recording, disputed the legality of the recording. As should surprise no one, given this story, Courser doesn’t know the laws of his own state. Such a recording is legal in Michigan.
U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, (R-Michigan), called for Courser to resign, saying in a statement that Courser “has proven to be completely unfit to represent the hardworking residents of Lapeer County, using taxpayer dollars to abide and assist his gross misconduct.”
Ya think?
Ethics Alarms 
More of the scandal fatigue strategy that has made politics such a delightful art form. The Democrats traditionally do it better. You have to be completely shameless to make it work. Sadly, the Republicans are rapidly catching up in the sleezy categories. Several completely shameless Republicans can claim common cause with the Dems on this.
But even the Clintons and Obama, masters of scandal fatigue all, never went so far as to make up their own fake scandals!
I don’t recommend this technique.
No, but don’t they bomb the piss out of Libya to distract from scandals and engage in ill-thought out good will missions that end up getting 18 Rangers killed in Somalia to distract from scandals?
You’re giving Hillary too much credit. That’s Bill. Hillary’s not as clever, just ruthless. I really think that Obama doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. He’s in his own little world, where all of it makes sense.
I’ve been daydreaming lately about starting an organization; Vote All Incumbents Out! Imagine, firing everybody, good, bad, left, and right. One massive shot across the bow, to remind all of them that we’re awake and alert, and can fire them at will. Do our bidding, mind your manners, or walk. There is no royalty in America.
And yet, oddly, our political class appears to be just as genetically damaged as the cousin-marrying royals and artostocrats. Go figure.
I’ve been rethinking term limits very strongly.
I’ve usually defaulted to the the “if the voters want them they can keep them” mentality…
But upon further meditation: The Founding Fathers set up our system to forestall corruption and cronyism as long as possible and to create solid checks and balances (which entrenched political classes rapidly will learn end runs around). I think term limits would be a great check on corruption and power-accumulation.
At long last, et tu, Tex! Welcome to the side of truth and light.
Indeed. Though I’m not solidly in the camp just yet.
I think term limits, as time has passed, have become more vital. Even if we don’t have term limits, I think we should have a “consecutive limit”. (Can only serve 2 back to back terms, then you have to take a break.)
With the amount of power and money it takes 1) to run for political office and 2) to entice capable talent – I think some kind of arbitrary limit makes sense. Elected officials get too comfortable and the compensation outweighs the burden of public service. They make it a career and they sit in a position that would benefit from a rotating door of ideas and perspectives.
It’s more than compensation…the benefits of legislators are ridiculous. With reasonable term limits, that may get fixed.
The aristocrats too. FDR & ER were 5th cousins I think.
5th cousins, once removed. Not very close. I wouldn’t know my fifth cousins, would you know yours?
No sir. But apparently John Adams married his third cousin .
That’s right, although that was, as you might imagine, rather common given the relatively small population and limited mobility. Also John, who admittedly wrote about how intellect and virtue were the root of American aristocracy, was no artistocrat, and his line was famously ill-fortuned.
Now, the Virginia artistocracy was a lot closer to the British model. Those Lee, Carters, and the rest were a pretty constrained gene pool.
And showed his smarts in doing so. Abigail Adams was an amazing person, male or female, especially considering the status of women in the 18th century.
I daresay, had the times been different, she might have made the sort of President Democrats can only wish Hilary would be.
She would be my first choice for a woman to place on a bill, by several laps. She had more impact than any, at the time when it counted most.
Nonsense. Margaret Sanger is exponentially more qualified to represent American values and the American Dream than she is. Put her on a bill.
I predict that Sanger is going to get a lot more publicity in the next year or so, and it won’t be pretty.
Of course, simple reading of Leftist Progressive Socialist Sanger’s views on ethnically cleansing America of black people (a vision by the way being realized in some places) don’t require any spin all to “not be pretty”.
Oh but don’t you know, that was all taken out of context and heavily edited.
They actually say that about her quotes. I’m not just referring to what they say about the videos.
Abigail Adams on a bill — I like that idea. She ‘walked the walk’ before women were really recognized as citizens.
After getting married, my parents found out that they were fifth cousins. They can both trace their ancestry (my dad’s maternal line, my mom’s paternal line) back to the same guy, an early convert to Mormonism who came to Utah in the 1850s.
It’s genetically almost meaningless (a lot of water under the bridge since then), but it’s a fun historical coincidence.
You probably have 10,000 if not 100,000 5th cousins…
Wouldn’t the LGBT authorities been hard pressed to slam this guy, a Republican of all things, for an affair with a male prostitute? Can’t you see the consternation in a Salon or Huffington Post editorial board meeting over how to “report” this story? Pretty humorous. But yes, the guy’s an incredible dope. Better than any Senator Snort cartoon I can recall though.
Jack, Representative Miller is right: The intercourser resign! Couldn’t resist.
All I can do is shake my head in wonder. I’m starting (actually STARTED years ago) to believe that using the word ‘ethical’ in the same sentence as ‘politician’ is an oxymoron.
Jack, just curious: Why do you have Todd Courser’s name in your tags, but not Cindy Gamrat’s? War-on-women fatigue? (kidding – that is one war that will NEVER end! – kidding again) So, father of four cheats with mother of three. But, it’s ONLY SEX! (smh) Seems like the two, Courser and Gamrat, aim to assemble a twisted 21st century version of the Brady Bunch.
I hope Courser gets prosecuted into the poor house for a hate crime, for fabricating a story about a prostitute who doesn’t exist. And that his kids all get taken away from him, so his ex-wife and the woman she loves can be together and raise them right.
An oversight.
I regret and apologize for my presumptuousness about the woman who I hope will be Courser’s ex-wife soon. I have no ill will toward her, and (along with wishing for Courser to be dumped by her) wish her and her children the best possible life after adultery (along with wishing the same for Gamrat’s husband and the children of their poisoned marriage).
Unbelievable. I knew the Michigan GOP was in sad shape. But this? Two married legislators carrying on with each other… and fantasizing further that they wouldn’t get caught? And anyone who refers to his constituents as “the herd” is a damned elitist who’s unfit to serve in any capacity for that reason alone. If they were Democrats, I wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. The Michigan Republican Party’s state committee needs to immediately convene and review their guidelines for choosing candidates worthy of public support. Pathetic!