The last Democrat to win this district was Phil Gramm... who resigned to run (and win) as a Republican.

It's an uphill battle, but now that the GOP has re-branded itself as the Grand Old Pedophiles, maybe we will have a shot here, too.

.

Adultery isn't a crime in most jurisdictions (including Texas). And whether post-separation, pre-final decree sexual relationships impact the outcome of a divorce decree (such as the amount of alimony) varies from state to state. But post-separation adultery can't be grounds for divorce since it can't be said to have caused the breakdown of the marriage. Finally, anyone with half a brain who separates from a spouse should enter into a separation agreement that contains provisions allowing either party to associate with whomever they please, bars either party from inquiring into the nature of the other party's relationships, and disclaims any right to raise post-separation relationships as a "fault" grounds for divorce.

And at the same time, let's be thankful that most (but apparently not all) DUers are quite so prudish.

n/t

If a republican runs against him in the primary and wins they'll win the general too. I wouldn't bet on a democrat to take the district.

Whether this is enough of a scandal to make the seat competitive remains to be seen.

right into tRumps swamp for sure

Why does he think anyone wants to see him nude?

Ditto this:

but I do NOT want to see a close up of an old man's junk.

republicans do not do sincerity, honesty, or responsibility. Sad.

Or is this different because she’s not a minor???

Weiner entered a guilty plea to sending obscene material to a minor.

Still a lot different than Barton.

Barton's a disgusting pig, but his sexting women with whom he had an intimate relationship really isn't anyone's business imo.

He claims he was separated, but not yet officially divorced, when he started having these relationships with mature adult women.

Just awful.

So I had to point out that so was Barton.

Especially considering this guy is known for being super conservative.

I'm a bit surprised to see prudes here on DU.

And neither of us know the terms of their separation. But I've seen a few separation agreements over the years, and its pretty common for them to contain provisions that essentially allow each party to maintain whatever relationships they want during the separation and waive any right to raise those relationships in a divorce proceeding.

Thanks!

in this world, at least in the deep red states, democrats are vilified as being worse than child molesters. all this guy did was send some nude pictures. a saint compared to Roy Moore!!!!!!!!!!

But they were democrats. So I guess you are right.

Then yes. Absolutely.

If he sent them to a consenting adult, then no.

Do I really need to explain this to you?

that is the price Dems pay for being intelligent individual thinkers and not brainwashed stupid lemmings like the GOP cult members are...........

You do realize that women ask for nudes in relationships, which is what these two were in at the time? I haven't seen reporting saying that they were sent unsolicited to just someone random or unwanted by the person.

There's such a weird prudishness to DU at times and conflation with other things. Traded nudes between two adults in a consensual relationship is nothing like what Weiner did or what Moore did.

Fucking hell making me defend Barton of all people!

And by the way, Weiner resigned for sexting with adults.

Holy christ on a cracker, YES!

Or is it only the pretty people that do this?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

criminy! Such judgment by people around here, it's fuckin' disturbing.

"I find him ugly so there's no way in hell anyone else would want to see that."

"Nobody wants to see conservatives naked"

WTF

And Weiner had to resign over adult sexting.

in a consensual relationship.

Weiner's troubles are wide and varied and he dug himself a whole lot of holes because of it. Each of these things should be judged separately, but frankly, Democrats go on regularly about not judging people in their bedrooms like conservatives do. That's exactly what people are doing here.

With this very likely being a full on consensual relationship, and the photos being released as they are, it should send up the ire of Democrats everywhere instead of this kind of revulsion and "who'd want to see that?" which is akin to "who'd want to fuck that?".

The anger over which so many women had their phones hacked and pictures taken is a lot more similar to this than the Weiner scandal.

I do walk around naked a lot though, so I’m not sure I should be pointing fingers either.

I've had women send them to me and I've had requests for them. I get the way it weirds out some people but I also know how common it is among a whole lot of other people.

At first I was WTF—then I realized she had the wrong number. I texted her telling her I was the wrong person and we ended up having a nice conversation. I was able to ameliorate her embarrassment—actually ended up giving her relationship advice. It worked out well.

Last edited Wed Nov 22, 2017, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

This appears to be an image he sent to a romantic partner. I'd love to see him go, but not over this legal activity between what appears to be consenting adults. I mean, this is even less than what Al Franken allegedly did, and I hope Franken doesn't end up resigning over his scandal.

And DU can knock it off with the body shaming, too.

(Of course, if it turns out that he didn't send this to someone he was involved with, that changes everything.)

Edited to add: I just saw that there are two more women accusing Senator Franken. Ugh, so disappointed in him.

I really hope this woman (or women, since he says he had relationships with women) come forward and say if they ever asked for any of this.

Especially if it's the other side. But it happens regularly around these parts and if you voice a criticism of it you get told that it's just a joke. Which is even more amusing now considering the criticism of comedians and their acts going back decades.

and stated that one of the reasons he was resigning was to work on healing his marriage.

Also, his relationship with the adult women he sexted was, in some cases, merely that they followed him on twitter.

He was separated but not actually divorced.

What do you think the results would be of a poll on DU that asked the question of whether it is appropriate for an individual who is formally separated from his/her spouse to date prior to the issuance of a final divorce decree?

It's really sadly shallow that half the responses are effectively "oh he's 'ugly' so nobody would want to see that". If he's confident enough in himself to be sending naked pictures to consenting adults, good for him.

...he did nothing wrong. If that isn't the case, then he did something wrong.

I don't care about consensual sexual activities between adults.

But god damn the picture and the text that goes along with it are HILARIOUS.

We had the same attitude, largely, when it came to the celebs whose phones were hacked and pictures shared across the Internet.

But the default here is to shame him for his appearance, believe that it was unsolicited, and just giggle like school kids.

I would expect people to laugh at me if it got out. Thats a risk you take when you engage in that type of thing. That does not excuse people releasing it. But if you send a picture like that to someone, you shouldn't be surprised if they show the world.

Now of course the hacking thing is different. None of the parties involved in the exchange gave permission to release that.

Even if this photo was sent to someone who wanted to see it (regardless of the aesthetic aspects of it), people gotta understand that digital photography is easily and instantly reproducible; the Internet is forever; and that if your account is hacked - OR if a relationship goes south - you, clad in only your birthday suit with all its ornamentation, might appear anywhere and everywhere. If you are a politician or a celebrity this can be an especially unfortunate development, necessitating all sorts of awkward apologies. In light of this reality, just the fact of this sort of photography is evidence of a sort of poor judgment. Best to just flash your girlfriend in person.

I personally don't care who sends neeked photos, but if you are a conservative from Texas and word gets around, it's a problem.

nice guys.

Slam the freaking hammer down, people. You know they would, and that's not changing anytime soon no matter how many good examples we set.

Gotcha.

they trash unmarried pregnant gals, gay folk, anyone who doesn't fit into their stereotyped world....then we find out they participate in activities that don't fall under their "family values" charade? FUCK THEM.....they deserve all the ridicule heaped on them.

seriously, they trash liberals, then want liberal understanding and empathy when they need it

FUCK THESE HYPOCRITES

Heck, my wife once took pics of me skinny dipping and I inadvertently had the film developed at Costco. The middle aged women at the Costco photo counter were looking at me kinda funny, smirking maybe, when I picked up the prints. I didn't know why until I saw the pictures.



I was usually developing my own film then but one day I thought, hell, I'll just take my backlog of undeveloped film to Costco.

There was a glorious time in my youth when I was a hunk. I was making good money too, loading and unloading trucks whenever I wasn't doing geology or biology field work. My sort-of-girlfriend at the time took a picture of me in the desert wearing nothing but a hat and a big smile. I could probably still find that photo on the internet with the right search, but I'm not going to.

This Barton photo is none of my business.

The amount of age and fat shaming going on is what I used to think was beneath many liberals. They're not even playing at it being about hypocrisy.

My own 40-50 year old sun abused skin, scars, sags, and farmer's tan ain't all that sexy.

It's called life.

Putting themselves in a position to be blackmailed. That said, I simply have no issue with this outside of that one point. If you take the photo it might become public one day. Happens to women all the time.

It would never occur to me to take a picture like that, let alone send it to somebody else. Seems kind of crazy to me.

dick pics and boob pics, as did several previous short-term dalliances. The world keeps on changin'.

this republican pervert needs to resign. now.

Now I got that fucking picture in my head.you have to put a warning on shit like that

Hell, I'm no prize and I'm quite overweight but I've had requests from people I've dated over the years for just that.

Just because YOU wouldn't want any picture from a significant other like that doesn't mean that others aren't into that.

This kind of pattern has been around here for a long time. We've seen it when it comes to various fetishes that come up, spanking, BDSM, and so forth. If it's not something someone is into then it's just disturbing to them.

for dick pics. The world is not as Victorian as you seem to wish.

Joe Wiener.

It speaks for itself.

Ugh. A 70 year old version of the Pillsbury Doughboy.

all these self righteous scumbags are going to be exposed.

Lock him up too!

For emotional distress? I might need some therapy.

Eewwwww....

Old folks want sex, too. The question is: did the recipient want this photo sent to her?

If it was consensual, and then their affair fell apart and this is revenge porn, then we should let it go and let the man deal in private with his shame.

But if he was harassing someone, then it's his time in the barrel.

Although the jackasses are.