Now it's politicians doing stupid things - to themselves and, ultimately, to the public.
The first is Congressman Anthony Weiner who finds himself in an Alice-in-Wonderland situation - at least that's how many of his supporters must feel.
The news is that somehow a lewd photo was sent from his Twitter account to a 21-year-old woman, a college student in Seattle whom Weiner "follows," to use Twitterspeak.
Weiner for the past three days has been saying that his Twitter account was somehow hacked. But that's a federal crime, and you'd think a U.S. Congressman would say something to some law enforcement type that a crime had been committed. Mr. Weiner said nothing. Nada.
He also refused to say that he did not send the picture - reportedly some sort of below-the-waist shot of a guy in underwear.
All he had to do - as he was facing a barrage of questions - was that he didn't send the picture. And that it wasn't him in the picture. And that he had asked for an investigation into this supposed hacking.
Again - nothing. Nada.
Then came this afternoon, and Representative Weiner, who has reportedly had his eyes set on a run for New York Mayor, went on a national media interview blitz, trying to calm this media storm – brought on in no small part by Mr. Weiner's combative stance.
And now the twine is coming unwound.
He told one interviewer that he "can't say with certitude" that the picture of the bulging underpants isn't him.
Oh oh.
But he still insisted he didn't send it. And then he tried to be funny. "I'm not sure I want to put national, federal resources into trying to figure out who posted a picture on Weiner's website, uh, whatever," he said. "I'm not really sure it rises, no pun intended, to that level."
Oy.
We'll have the latest on "Weinergate" - as some pundits are now calling it - tonight at 11.
And then there's New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has made cutting services and education spending cornerstones of his 17 months in office. The teacher cutbacks Governor showed up yesterday afternoon at his son's high school baseball game in the New Jersey State Police helicopter. And then, rather than walk the 100 yards to the ball field, he got into a black car with blacked-out windows and was driven the final few seconds.
Nothing illegal. But nothing smart either. Especially for a guy who touts his fiscal frugalness, at least when it comes to others. Oh, and then there's his return trip. He left the game after the fifth inning, also by police helicopter, to Princeton, to meet for dinner at the Governor's mansion with a group of campaign donors from Iowa who were trying to talk him into running for the Republican nomination for President.
Not exactly New Jersey taxpayer business.
But again, nothing illegal - just not very smart.
Turns out, the Governor has used this $12.5 million chopper 35 times since taking office in January of 2010, including, according to the heat of the State Police, "aerial surveys of flood and storm damage."
All good and important work of course. But no mention of whether he's used the chopper before to make sure he gets in a few innings for his son's ball game before racing in the helicopter to a meeting with Republican donors.
I'm just sayin'.
And there are plenty of others who are just sayin' as well - at least judging from the response to all this on our website. If you'd like to weigh in, please CLICK HERE.
We'll have the latest on Choppergate, at 11.
And we're also watching severe weather rolling through our area - so bad that there's a tornado watch for the Tri-State till 8 p.m. Meteorologist Lee Goldberg is tracking the storms.
And our investigative reporter Sarah Wallace has a frightening story - about an elderly woman who claims she was held against her will for nearly a month in a psychiatric hospital. Why did this happen? And what got her released? It's an amazing and disturbing story - and the worst of it is it could happen to any one of us.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Rob Powers with the night's sports - including the retirement of Shaquille O'Neal. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
