DEMOCRAT? YOU CAN HAVE HIM

Jim Treacher, Stacy McCain, and other folks in the right-wing peanut gallery are having great fun with this story (which comes from the U.K.'s less-than-reliable Daily Mail, but is being seconded by more reliable news outlets):

A state representative in Massachussetts is being investigated after allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to a government computer.

The investigation is ongoing and the committee has not formally reprimanded the individual in charge, but it is being widely reported that Democratic State Representative John Fresolo is the one behind the scandal.

... This is not his first scandal, as he has a history of violence towards his family members that has put him in trouble with social services.

In 2005 he reportedly physically abused his then-13-year-old daughter, and that came nearly a decade after he was arrested for beating his then-wife in 1996. She later dropped the charges.

Blogger Michele McPhee reports that he is now on paid administrative leave....

Treacher, McCain, et al. have made certain to include the word "Democrat" in their coverage of this story as often as humanly possible. McCain's headline is "The Other War on Women, or: It's Not Harassment When Democrats Do It."

Bullshit. Harassment is unacceptable. If the charges are accurate, I'll be delighted to watch this guy resign.

I'm disgusted that the guy is a Democrat in any case, but in what's mostly a one-party state, I guess that was the course of least resistance. I'm sorry he was unopposed in 2012 and 2010, and coasted to victory in 2008 -- but in 2004 and 2006, an ex-aide, Melissa Murgo, cleared 40% in unsuccessful runs against him. Murgo got a favorable 2006 write-up from Blue Mass Group, which also noted the charges of violence against his daughter and wife. From that Blue Mass Group story:

Recently, Fresolo got into hot water again, this time for claiming he had been endorsed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and saying he had graduated from Central New England College, which he had attended but did not complete.

And his positions? A few highlights:

Vote-Smart lists Fresolo's positions as...

* Anti-choice – he got a 0 from both NARAL and Planned Parenthood in 2005....

* Poor on women's issues, with NOW ratings of 40, 43, and 33....

* Rated 0% by Mass Voters for Clean Elections and 0% by Common Cause

* Opposed to gun control, with consistent A's from the NRA...

According to the Mass Scorecard, Fresolo's record includes votes for instituting the death penalty, against allowing parents on welfare to go back to school, against bilingual education, for extending the corporate tax credit for 5 years, against funding stem cell research, and for the amendment banning gay marriage (twice)....

More recently, he got an 83% rating and an A- from the NRA, and a 0 from NARAL.

Democrat? The hell with him -- you can have him, Republicans.