The same eagle-eyed journalists who were gobsmacked — gobsmacked, I say! — to discover that Joe Biden’s brain was AWOL are now feigning disbelief over the Eric Swalwell sexual assault allegations. Who knew this young, promising, handsome politician, who was elected to Congress in his early 30s and was poised to become California’s next governor, had such a dark side?
Well, apparently everyone:
If true, it sets a peculiar timeline: Swalwell joined Congress in 2013. For over a dozen years, he was a powerful member of the political elite. A popular presence on cable TV shows, Swalwell always made time for the mainstream media. (Even after eating bean burritos. Yes, that actually happened.)
Normally, politicians who play ball with the media get better coverage than those who don’t. It’s one of the unspoken agreements between press and politicians: You scratch our back and we’ll scratch yours.
Most of the time, it’s a win-win arrangement: Each side gets something they want.
Swalwell’s lust for power wasn’t a secret. We’re talking about a guy who ran for president when he was just 38, so everyone knew he was using his congressional seat as a launching pad for something bigger.
Of course he ran for governor of California! Duh! It was there for the taking!
And truth be told, he was doing pretty well. According to most polls, he was one of the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates. Most insiders assumed the Dems would eventually consolidate around a candidate to prevent the GOP from claiming the top two spots in the “jungle primary,” and Swalwell was zooming along in pole position.
Had the scandal not broken, he’d probably be California’s next governor.
Then, seemingly overnight, a series of shocking — and horrifying — sexual assault allegations were reported in the press, one right after the other. Rep. Swalwell, who had long claimed to champion the plight of abused women, was unmasked as an (alleged) serial rapist and sexual predator.
Hellbound and Down 