Barton to retire after nude selfie fallout

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




He had announced plans to run for reelection less than a month ago.

By KYLE CHENEY 11/30/2017 12:56 PM EST

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he won’t run for reelection in 2018, following a string of stories about him sending lewd texts and nude photos and videos to women.

Barton, the ninth most-senior member of the House, told the Dallas Morning news in an interview, “There are enough people who lost faith in me that it’s time to step aside.” Local GOP leaders had begun calling for Barton to step down in recent days.

Barton decision to retire comes after fallout in Texas over an anonymous Twitter user’s move to post a nude selfie Barton sent to a former paramour. His announcement also came a day after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted racy text messages Barton sent to an Arlington GOP activist while he was still married.

He had announced plans to run for reelection less than a month ago.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/30/joe-barton-to-retire-after-nude-selfie-fallout-271366

[alp227]

1. Look how gerrymandered his district is!

It stretches all the way from Arlington to Corsicana. What's so hard about drawing districts that are more simply shaped?

[marble falls]

3. Ours is worse.....

[marble falls]

6. And Austin's 35th is the worst anywhere in the US:

[BumRushDaShow]

7. You haven't seen PA-7 eh?

(I have a sister living in there )

[marble falls]

13. Austin's stretches over 100 miles of which an 80 mile stretch down I-35 is 1/4 mile wide.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. PA-7

stretches at least 70 miles, goes through 5 counties, and parts are no wider than 800 feet. It is on all sorts of lists including this as one of the worst.



The GOP here manufactured GOP districts by concentrating large parts of urban areas into their own seats and then taking the rest of the urban areas and merging them with blue rim areas and red rural areas to eek out a bare minimum GOP advantage. You see it in PA 6, 7, 9, 10,11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, & 18 It's a fucking disgrace!!!!

[VMA131Marine]

28. OMG! That's crazy!

My parents live just off Rte 183 north of Reading Airport so they are not quite in this district. But htere is just a huge difference between Oley and those western 'burbs of Philly.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. And that's just it -

- they drew it so that it went AROUND places like Reading (59% Hispanic), Coatesville (47% black), and Chester, PA (75% black) - all having large minority populations, and took those municipalities and diluted their votes in other districts with more gerrymandering.

[Lochloosa]

19. I raise you all with my Distict

[wolfie001]

24. Egads!!!

[unblock]

4. texas is not even close to being the worst gerrymandered state.

that district is a bit odd, but most of the state looks pretty reasonable just by eyeballing it.

i'll bet that changes after the 2020 census and texas becomes more in play.

republicans will step up the self-preservation anti-democratic tactics.

[marble falls]

8. See above. Austin's 35th is the worst. Austin got cut into three parts.

[unblock]

15. well... it has to be just because of its size.

i'm not saying there's no gerrymandering in texas, of course there is.

and austin is an obvious target, liberal city in (still) republican state.

just saying that there are states like maryland, north carolina, and pennsylvania that are more obvious and worse.

[IronLionZion]

5. Not gerrymandered

Districts should be as close to a normal shape as possible (rectangle, circle, etc.) and less like a salamander snaking it's way around certain neighborhoods.

[Thor_MN]

14. If there are concave shapes not due to coastal boundaries, gerrymandering is likely.

Barton's district isn't as bad as some, but to say it isn't gerrymandered is ridiculous.

It's not a contest - any amount of gerrymandering is wrong.

[efhmc]

26. At one time, I could vote in two different locations

which are separated by about 100 miles. I think the idea was to include as many white folks as they could to dilute or negate the Hispanic vote. Tx US District 25. It contains parts of 10 different counties and goes from almost Ft. Worth to Austin. They redistricted the area three times and finally got enough repug votes to take out a Dem. Horrible Roger Williams is in office now. He was up before the ethics committee last year and of course walked. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/roger-williams-house-ethics-conflict-226924
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_25th_congressional_district
I so wish I had someone to represent me.

[Yavin4]

25. Looks like an ejaculating penis. n/t

[unblock]

2. so now we know what it takes to actually bring a republican down.

video of him masturbating.

assault conviction, no.
child molestation, no.
p*ssy grabbing, no.
overt bigotry, no.
treason, no.
legislating to kill cancer patients, no.
embezzlement, no.

but masturbation video, yes.

ok, it's a start....

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. It's kind of ridiculous, isn't it?

Granted, he was stupid to do it and hypocritical given his party's whole Christian family values platform. But it was between consenting adults.

[RussBLib]

36. I think video of him sucking a dick would do it too

Unless the rep was a woman, and they had video of her licking pussy.

Who knows these days?

[magicarpet]

9. What's his next job ?

He would make a marvelous belly and/or striptease dancer in Las Vegas, since he likes to show off so much skin.

[Paladin]

22. My guess: a cheap whoring position for the oil and gas industry.

He might as well stick with something with which he's experienced.

[Midnight Writer]

23. I'm sure his masters will take care of him. He has served them well.

[NCDem47]

10. and THAT will be it

No wall-to-wall coverage in media

No apology tour.

No "introspection"

No "learning moment" or calls by Republicans to underscore how this is inappropriate

Republican mindset: JUST MAKE IT GO AWAY AND NEVER DISCUSS IT AGAIN!

[Gothmog]

11. Bye bye

[onetexan]

12. About time the scumbag resigns

there are 4 Democratic candidates running for his seat, 2 of them are good ones to support: Ruby Faye Woolridge (a former educator) & John Duncan (a healthcare advocate with law school training).

[lagomorph777]

17. Screwing a crazy woman isn't a crime and shouldn't be his reason to resign.

Screwing the American public, as he has, IS a reason to resign.

[IronLionZion]

20. Adultery and lying sure, but it was consensual

oh well, good riddance to bad rubbish. By Joe, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you

[Dopers_Greed]

21. This clown has no business being in Congress

But not because of this nude picture thing

[MontanaMama]

27. Agreed.

And, it is good policy to avoid taking pics and texting pictures of your junk. It never ends well.

[Sneederbunk]

29. Wanted to spend more time dropping his pants on camera.

[Ninga]

30. Where pray tell, did the nude selfie, fall out? inquiring minds want to see. nt

[procon]

32. Why does a pudgy 68 year old man think that ANY woman wants to look at his junk? nt

[Mendocino]

33. He's the guy

that claimed windpower could slow the wind down.

[tammywammy]

34. He apologized to BP for Congress being so mean after the Deep Water Horizon debacle.

[dembotoz]

35. Is he planning to work as a nude model?

He seems to have the ego for it.