If you preach "family values," live them —> "Family Man" Republican Missouri governor #EricGreitens accused of threatening to blackmail mistress with revenge porn. https://t.co/Kln95X21tF… #MeToo #WeSaidEnough https://t.co/7l5zYDQ5Mf
— (((sfpelosi))) (@sfpelosi) January 11, 2018
Since our Misery contigent frequently shows up for the Early Morning Open Thread, figured I’d give y’all a place to vent…
Creepiest quote from the Greitens’ story: When Gov Greitens tells this blindfolded, tied up woman that she’ll stay quiet, or else. “He said, 'you're never going to mention my name, otherwise there will be pictures of [you] everywhere.'”
Seems unlikely this was his first outing. https://t.co/tmYVKYnsRn
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) January 11, 2018
Eric Greitens has always been a terrible, vicious, fork-tongued sociopath. His gov campaign was pure post-Ferguson white revanchism. He cut millions from MO nursing homes. He’s had his eyes on the WH for years while posing as a maverick outsider. Fire him into the fucking sun
— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) January 11, 2018
My governor has demonstrated repeatedly over the past year that he doesn't believe rules & ethical guidelines apply to him.
The blackmail allegation is piling on an existing stack of problems: https://t.co/PjnbA2y4X8— Motivated Voter (@MotivatedVoter) January 11, 2018
Gov. Eric Greitens vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have prevented cuts to
services for Missourians with disabilities and the elderly.— Senate Democrats (@MoSenDems) January 11, 2018
Gov. Eric Greitens cut the minimum wage for thousands of Missouri workers.
— Senate Democrats (@MoSenDems) January 11, 2018
Gov. Eric Greitens is currently under investigation by the Missouri Attorney
General’s office for potentially destroying public records— Senate Democrats (@MoSenDems) January 11, 2018
This is the bizarre campaign ad where "conservative warrior" @EricGreitens just fires a minigun into a lake while the narrator talks about "Obama's Democrat machine" https://t.co/clUyNTtpiu
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) January 11, 2018
Eric Greitens is a pal and seeming protégé of Mike Pence. Curious what Pence thinks of Greitens' extramarital affair and blackmail and threats…
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) January 11, 2018
Of course he did. pic.twitter.com/rgrKWeGhiy
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 11, 2018
?BillinGlendaleCA
This guy sounds like the perfect successor for Trump, just with a bit of added Kink.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Who cares what Pence thinks, what does Mother think?
ThresherK
I read this at Atrios and could not recall anything about him, even his party. The Atrios mention of Fambly Values tipped me off. (i am a coastal out of touch elite.)
Looking at 2000-2001 classic Jeep Cherokees with my Dad, a good horse sense car guy. Anyone recommend or warn on anything?
hellslittlestangel
Has he been arrested yet? j/k
Mary G
God. It’s like they think they’re in an Olympic competition for who can be the sleeziest politician in America.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: Well, there was our Governator that was fucking the maid.
TS
His next marriage will be his 3rd – seems to be the number of marriages required for these family values politicians. Ever since they had a democrat in the White House who practiced the family values that the republicans preached – those values got lost in the mist of time to said republicans.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Jerzy Russian
Christ, what an asshole!
By the way, the word “asshole” now appears on the iPhone’s list of suggested word completions. Progress!
Also, too, if anyone sees insomnia walking down the street, please kick him in the nuts for me. Thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
Where does one begin? He is the perfect Republican, an empty vessel. Pour in enough money and Voila! You have your champion! Ethically, he is a black hole of narcissism, fuck anyone who gets in his way. A true sociopath in the Ted Bundy way (and I am not at all sure I am being hyperbolic in saying that)(just because they bodies haven’t been found doesn’t mean they aren’t out there) Have I mentioned lately what a coward he is? He literally ran from a reporter who approached him on a balcony while the state lege was in session. It is almost like he isn’t up to the task of answering impromptu questions. In fact, not answering questions is the Modus Operandi of his entire administration.
This woman must have proof, like video of the entire shit show
kd bart
Of course, the Evangelicals will rally around him.
Mustang Bobby
For all his butch campaign ads, he goes for “light bondage”? What a wuss.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jerzy Russian: After 4 nights in a row, I finally kicked him in the nuts 2 nights ago. He said something about finding an easier mark. I guess you were it.
Sherparick
Well, he will have a press conference with his (current) wife, say he has made mistakes, but prayed to Jesus & God has forgiven him. Personally, I would ask for this in writing & signed by God as for some reason I find it hard to take this man’s word.
JPL
@Sherparick: They already have god’s mercy.
I saw the story earlier over at Josh’s place, and he mentioned the guy was into light bondage. I don’t even want to know more.
JGabriel
Kansas City Star (via Anne Laurie @ Top):
I’ll be more than happy to give Republicans a penumbra of privacy regarding their extramarital affairs and sexual peccadilloes … once they stop bringing up Monica Lewinsky; stop trying to prosecute Hillary Clinton (who hasn’t held office in over 5 years) for bullshit the GOP made up; and stop the projection and moral hypocrisy of accusing Democrats of everything Republicans do.
Soprano2
He campaigned on transparency and cleaning up government and proceeded to hide who paid for his inaugural (most other governors make that public, although it’s not required), he blocks citizens from his FB account (he uses his personal one and says he can do that because it’s not an official government account), and he and his officials use an app that erases messages for communication, thus destroying official government records. You know, a typical Republican. I always thought he seemed too “perfect”. I’m not at all surprised by this. If anything, I’m betting there are more incidents our there.
Lapassionara
@JGabriel: Wish we had known this before voting this malefactor into office. I am new to Misery, as Ozark calls it, but so far, he has been an awful governor.
ThresherK
@Jerzy Russian: Did it not before, or had you not typed it enough to teach it? Genuinely asking.
I’m on an Android and it was amazing how many “duckings” I unknowingly sent. That really breaks up a precision F-strike.
SFAW
I blame Ozark, who personally voted for this “guy” — “light bondage”? WTF? — FIVE TIMES in one election!
I think, to burnish his cred, Poco needs to run against Greitens before (officially) joining the Baud!2020 ticket.
Evil motherfuckers, every one of these Rethug assholes.
Brachiator
@Sherparick:
Funny how “pray to Jesus” is the safe word for these GOP hypocrites.
randy khan
@Sherparick:
Jesus can forgive him for everything (and I don’t care about the bondage), but blackmail is still a crime.
JPL
CBS This Morning covered the creep including the tape of the female involved. I hope she is in hiding.
BC in Illinois
Yes. Absolutely.
He should return to private live.
ETA: And I want to emphasize that “BC in Illinois” has been in Missouri long enough to vote against this guy. His goal as governor is to follow the lead of Kansas. And worse.
Jerzy Russian
@ThresherK: I had not noticed it before, although I did not do a rigorous test. The latest version suggests emojis, and I did see how many variations of “poop” would bring up the familiar pile of poop. There are quite a bit actually.
Vor
I saw an article a couple days ago where Fodors, the travel guide company, listed Missouri as one of the top 10’places not to go. The NAACP has had a travel advisory for Missouri for a couple years citing the inconsistent application of the Law across white and non-white people.
Soprano2
We already aren’t taking in enough money in Missouri to meet our budget requirements, but Gteitens is going to announce a tax cut plan next week. He gamed the state school board appointments to get enough toadies on it to fire the state education commissioner so he can get them to hire his personal friend, the charter school advocate. He’s been terrible. I think he sees the governorship as a stepping stone to president, nothing more.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
He wants privacy…maybe he should have not broken the law if he wanted that courtesy. Blackmail is ILLEGAL. LOCK HIM UP. He’s into bondage anyway.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Eh, you people at to vanilla sometimes. Tying willing women up is lest of his sins next to the other stuff he is accused of.
Hard to believe Greitens has the body of the twenty year old, but the state police would like to talk to him about it.
It ought to be fun seeing the Evangelicals justifying this.
MattF
I guess there are people who haven’t figured out the link between voting Republican and then having a psychopath in public office. It’s really not all that subtle.
Certified Mutant Enemy
FWIW, the St. Louis NPR affiliate is not mentioning the blackmail allegations in their local news reports…
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Sherparick:
Did Greitens really say he prayed to Jesus? He’s supposed to be Jewish…
MattF
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Wikipedia agrees. Also notes that he was a Democrat before 2015.
Boatboy_srq
@Mustang Bobby: Makes you wonder what safe word(s) he uses.
VOR
@Vor: Article from the Kansas City Star about Missouri being placed on Fodor’s “No List” for 2018. And here is the link directly to fodors.com.
Fodors said: ” Unfortunately, Missouri is also the place where SB 43 was passed making it more difficult to sue employers for discrimination, a state representative argued that homosexuals weren’t human beings, a tourist who got lost and ran out of gas was later found murdered in his jail cell without ever being put under arrest, and two men were hunted down and shot on suspicion of being Muslim on the outskirts of Kansas City. And that’s just in 2017.”
low-tech cyclist
I have no problem with consensual kinky stuff.
But this wasn’t exactly consensual. You don’t tie someone up practically before they know what’s going on, and if the description is correct, that’s what happened here.
It’s cool if two people realize they have fantasies that run in the same direction, and agree to try them out IRL. This wasn’t like that. This may not satisfy any legal standard of nonconsensuality, but this guy sure didn’t wait to find out if the woman might have any reservations about being tied up.
And that’s without the photo and the blackmail threat, which are WAY over any reasonable line.
Kayla Rudbek
@ThresherK: IIRC, my brother lost a tire off one of those in a Chicago winter. He was darn lucky that he walked away from the accident.
RobertDSC-iPhone 6
Another former SEAL who dishonors his Trident every day. Gross.
SFAW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
You and I may have different definitions for the word “fun.”
I sometimes wish there really were a Hell, where sinners suffer Eternal Damnation. Because that’s where a lot of these Talibangelical motherfuckers would end up. Were the Jesus of the “Left Behind” series to return, to paraphrase Dylan, “they better run.”
Boatboy_srq
It strikes me that one of the key disconnects between the US left and right is that for the US Left BDSM is largely consensual and recreational, where for the US Right it is frequently dominance- and control- specific and has professional overtones – and the Right consistently fails to grasp the consensual part of the metric and assumes the Left plays by the same rules they do. The Right doesn’t understand the creep factor since they don’t think their sexual partners / rape/harassment victims have the capacity to exercise choice and thus “no” and “stop” &c have no meaning for them.
FlyingToaster
@MattF: Trust me, Missouri [D] so-called “professional” politicians can be just as kinky as their [R] counterparts.
In 1976, Jerry Litton won the primary to run for US Senate, but his plane crashed on the way home. The guy the [D] machine chose to replace him in the Missouri 6th election was Morgan Maxfield, who was well-known for his penchant for teenage girls. So we ended up with that evangelical moron Tom Coleman and John Danforth (that fucking asshole) as Senator.
I was too young to vote, but my mom knew Tom Coleman from the NKC school board, because he wanted to put prayer “back” in schools.
And I hope to hell that Greitens resigns, but since IOKIYAR, I suspect another couple of women will have to come forward to make that happen.
John PM
At the very least, I hope this means that Bruce Rauner stops running that add with Greitens, Scott Walker and Indiana’s governor “thanking” Mike Madigan for blocking Rauner’s agenda.
SFAW
@FlyingToaster:
At which point, he will channel Roy Moore, and flip the bird to everyone.
Uncle Cosmo
@Brachiator: Yeah, funny. Funny how easy it is for Thugs to go completely off the rails once they have that GET OUT OF (electoral & personal) HELL FREE card squeezed in their clammy little hands.
He wants privacy, I’d give it to him. Solitary confinement for the rest of his unnatural life. An hour a day for exercise in the prison yard, alone, with guards instructed to say nothing to him.
Procopius
Waiting to find out why law enforcement was interested in this. Normally blackmail is a crime they only investigate when the victim complains. Was there other stuff and they were looking into the blackmail as a related issue? The guy seems so sleazy (ex-SEAL, paying self high six-figures from a charity for wounded veterans) I expect there’s lots more that will start coming to light now the pebble has started rolling downhill.
karen marie
@MattF: Pence was also a Democrat until the party made him feel unwelcome by pushing the FEC to establish a rule prohibiting candidates’ use of campaign funds to pay their home mortgage, as he did. It’s odd though that the fact that he was running for office as a Democrat seems to be whitewashed out of all the more recent articles about this little piece of history.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-pence-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-mortgage–and-it-cost-him-an-election/2016/07/15/90858964-49ed-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html?utm_term=.fd993e421ed4