George Santos’ short, honest life
OPINION:
KEY WEST, Florida — At this week’s State of the Union address, President Biden sat on a throne of lies. Congressman George Santos, meanwhile, took an aisle seat.
Washington is, after all, a town where telling lies is among the milder crimes they commit against the innocent citizen.
Sen. Mitt Romney, for example, claims to be from Utah because it was his only hope for getting into the world’s most exclusive country club. He previously failed to gain entry to the club from Massachusetts — claiming to be more pro-abortion than Ted Kennedy. He also failed to win the White House, claiming to be more “severely conservative” than Ronald Reagan.
In the desperate quest to be accepted in Washington, principles can be confusing for these people.
What’s not confusing is the rage that Mr. Romney — the severely conservative abortion enthusiast — has for a man like Mr. Santos. For sitting in the wrong seat. Specifically, Mr. Santos chose a prominent seat along the center aisle in the House of Representatives so that he could be closer to the action and TV cameras when Mr. Biden entered the chamber Tuesday night to mount his throne of lies.
Mr. Romney reacted like pledge chairman of the Prevarication Fraternity, publicly ripping into Mr. Santos.
“Sick puppy,” Mr. Romney called Mr. Santos.
Now, in order to fully appreciate what a vicious insult this was from Mr. Romney, you have to remember how much Mr. Romney hates dogs and enjoys torturing them. One of the many reasons voters have rejected Mr. Romney over the years was the time he thought it was funny to boast about how he strapped the family dog to the roof of his car to go on vacation.
The experience was so terrifying for the Romney family dog that the dog threw up all over the roof of the car. Again, Mr. Romney thought this was just hilarious.
Truly a sick puppy.
“You don’t belong here,” Mr. Romney spat at Mr. Santos.
“He shouldn’t be in Congress, and they are going to go through the process and hopefully get him out,” Mr. Romney later told reporters. “But he shouldn’t be there, and if he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there.”
Said the born-wealthy, dog-torturing abortion enthusiast who claims to be more severely conservative than Ronald Reagan while also more liberal than Ted Kennedy.
It is true that Mr. Santos lied his way into the House of Representatives. But, to be fair, that is the coin of the realm. Just ask Mr. Biden. And Mr. Romney.
Not that Mr. Santos is incapable of telling the truth under pressure. In response to Mr. Romney’s threat to tie Mr. Santos to the roof of his car and drive to the beach, Mr. Santos took to Twitter.
“Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”
In that one, brief, shining moment, Mr. Santos was the most honest man in all of Washington.
The funny thing is that Mr. Santos was duly elected by voters in his New York congressional district, and however much Mitt Romney hates and abuses sick puppies, Mr. Santos still represents those voters.
If his voters want to dump him, they can. And probably will.
Then maybe Mr. Santos can move to Utah and try running again.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
