All politics are local. And in this case, all news is local, too.
The North Shore Leader, a small local paper on New York’s Long Island, was the only news organization to report on the questionable claims of then republican candidate for the United States Congress, George Santos: the self-described gay, Jewish-Latino, high-achieving, real estate mogul whose alleged philanthropy saved 2,500 dogs and cats, including that of a disabled veteran. In fact, according to a PBS News Report, other news outlets didn't question The Leader’s reports on Santos' fabrications until after he was elected, despite The Leader’s sharing of their investigation with the mainstream press. In fact, it took the all-mighty New York Times until December 2022 to report its findings (The Leader's first claims were published in September.) Talk about David kicking Goliath's journalistic ass!
There was, however, endless coverage about Santos being a gay candidate, one of two running for the state’s congressional seat (NBC News, “In a political first, two gay candidates face off in congressional election” and CBS News, September 29, 2022, “Openly gay candidates Robert Zimmerman and George Santos face off in historic Congressional race”; you get the point).
Allow me to digress for just a moment:
Dear Mainstream Media,
Stop making race and sex the focus of your stories when determining what is newsworthy, I mean except if the subject is race and sex!
Signed,
Your readers!
Where was I? Oh yeah, hooray for the two gay candidates! But I wonder if just one reporter – outside of The Leader, of course - took a moment to confirm some easily verifiable details, perhaps we would have never heard the phrase ‘Santos for Congress.’
For instance, where did George Santos go to school? According to the liar, liar, pants on fire Congressman himself, he attended the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York, before having to drop out due to his parents falling “on hard times.” When in fact, he not only never attended the school, but is a high school dropout who obtained a G.E.D. (high-school equivalency diploma.) He also never attended Baruch College – where he claimed to have graduated in the top 1% of his class - or New York University – where he “earned” an M.B.A.
Okay, how about his employment record? His mother dying on 9/11? Tales of his grandparents surviving the Holocaust? And exactly what character did he play in Disney’s Hannah Montana?
Sure, confirming these details would take a day or two, but as a journalist – it's your job! Or are newsrooms so frightened about questioning certain groups of people (Black, Gay, Muslim) that we turn a blind eye to what they claim – no matter how outrageous it may sound? Or – even worse, our mainstream press is still obsessed with defiling our previous commander in chief that we let Santos the Snake slip his way right into the United States Capitol. We do more reference checks at my church for Sunday School teachers than any mainstream reporter did on ‘tall-tale Santos’.
Seriously?
Instead, the mainstream, liberal media turned a blind eye on the seemingly perfect congressional candidate. The Leader’s publisher Grant Lally said the paper receive no follow-up inquries, emails or phone calls from any of New York’s media powerhouses after endorsing Santos’ opponent Robert Zimmerman for Congress, in which the paper all but outed Santos the fraud.
Was it not having enough reporters on staff? Did the press forget to pay its Wi-Fi bill? Sure, having one out of the four hundred and thirty-five individuals elected under falsehoods isn’t the worst thing that could happen, but when you’re thinking of the political body responsible for bills being turned into law, you must wonder who else embellished or hid details about their credentials – former commander in chief Trump notwithstanding.
Nevertheless, Representative Santos is a member of Congress, but for how long? The citizens of the 3rd district of New York, who Santos vowed to represent with integrity, are fuming and want Santos kicked out on his lying butt. Investigations left and right are looking into what state or federal laws were broken during Santos’ dance to D.C. And Representative Kevin McCarthy, who wore Congress down so long, they FINALLY voted him in as House Speaker, is purposely avoiding any discussions about his crooked colleague, stating, “everyone should be granted due process.” But why? If Santos is kicked out, McCarthy may lose a much-needed vote and his chance to lead. So, it’s the ‘keep your enemies close’ edition of the Republican Party. Meanwhile, everyone else is laughing their asses off at the clown-show which has become our electoral process.
If only we paid attention to what David had to say.
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