The big news of the day was President Obama’s address to Congress. But we cannot forget the schadenfreudelicious scandal that got the day off to a roaring start. As you’ll remember, California state Rep. Michael Duvall (R-Yorba Linda), a married champion of family values and traditional marriage, was picked up on a live mic at a committee hearing graphically boasting of his sexual encounters with not one but two mistresses (one of whom is a lobbyist with business before his committee).
After first insisting that he thought he was having a “private conversation“, which one imagines is true, Duvall resigned his office shortly after noon California time.
Now there are a few more details. First, a California group has called on the state legislature to investigate Duvall, until today the vice chair of the Committee and Utilities and Commerce, for possibly selling votes for sex. Next, the energy lobbyist Duvall bragged about sleeping with, Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, has categorically denied to her employer that she ever had a sexual relationship of any kind with Duvall. And her employer, Sempra Energy, has released a statement to that effect.
A special compendium of House Republicans doing themselves proud at tonight’s presidential address.
Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst wasn’t just wrong on the protocol, but was also wrong on the substance.
Rep. Joe Wilson’s 2010 opponent has received more than $100,000 in contributions overnight.
Erick Erickson, the key guy at RedState.com declares hecker Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) “a great American hero.”
Meanwhile, as Versha Sharma notes, Wilson was not only wrong on the offensive behavior but simply wrong on the facts. Revealing that he might be one of those fellows who’s so far gone that he actually believes the bamboozlement.
Not sure there’s been a prouder day for South Carolina since those of John Calhoun and Preston Brooks.
Meanwhile, I’m not sure I’d realized that Wilson is actually not all that secure even in his very conservative South Carolina district. From a reader …
In 2008, Wilson was able to outspend Miller by a 2-1 margin, but still only eked out a narrow 53.7% victory in his conservative district. Until last night, the 2010 race was shaping up the same way. Wilson had raised $211k by the end of June, against Miller’s $49k.
During his response to the President’s speech last night, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) directed viewers to healthcare.gop.gov where you find a congressional Republican website with what purports to be a health reform plan. Not a great site and and rudimentary plan at best, but, hey, at least they’re in the ballpark.
But if you mistakenly go to healthcare.gop.com instead, as one of our readers did, you go to a RNC website on health care reform circa maybe 2004 (click on the image for the full experience):
