George Santos lie-a-palooza proves need for local media

When I was a kid, there was nothing I liked better than reading tall tales.

Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack, and Babe, his Blue Ox, gave me hours of enjoyment.

The big guy must be bursting with joy upon knowing that his great-great-grandson, George Santos, has entered Congress.

Among the dozens of new people who took their oath last week, Santos stands alone in his audacity for blatantly lying about his background to such a degree that somewhere, P.T. Barnum is weeping with envy.

During his campaign, Santos lied about his schooling, his professional life, his ethnicity, even his dead mother.

More George Santos:He admits to lying about his education. How easy is it to lie on your resume?

He tried to spin his false claim of being Jewish like, well, a driedel, explaining that he didn't mean "Jewish," he meant "Jew-ish."

What a crock of ish. Either way, it's an insult.

He shamelessly, needlessly claimed he was a grandchild of Holocaust victims, and implied that his mom lost her life during the Sept. 11 attacks, when she actually died in 2016.

Someone wisecracked that Santos' family came over from Brazil on the Hindenburg.

Well, we all know better than that.

It was the Mayflower.

However, no one should question Santos' patriotism.

It's not everyone who would risk their lives to save Private Ryan.

George Washington, George Santos, tomato, tomahto.

There has never been a better example of the value local media brings to their communities, and what happens when it is devalued and discounted.

A Long Island local newspaper, the North Shore Leader, broke the story of Santos' lies weeks before anyone else got wind of it — but voters ignored it.

It's an indictment of the current state of media in 2023, in which entertainment, outrage, and demagoguery are now the coins of the realm.

Newsrooms are being slowly starved, which means fewer questions raised about campaign finance and in public meetings, enabling more unqualified grifters, extremists and flim-flam artists to slip through the turnstiles.

Santos' antics should disturb everyone, but his scandal has triggered an eruption of whataboutism.

Some quasi-defenders have pointed to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who claimed he had more combat experience in Vietnam than he actually did. One would think any measure of military service would be enough, but as we saw for ourselves in Ohio with 9th Congressional District candidate J.R. Majewski, and with Georgia's Herschel Walker claiming to be a sheriff's deputy, some folks have no compunction in stealing valor.

Both Blumenthal, who apologized, and Majewski, who didn't, were castigated for their lies — and rightfully so.

When Sen. Elizabeth Warren mentioned she was part Native American, accusations of ethnic appropriation erupted, prompting a former president to call her "Pocahontas."

Warren said her mother told her they had some Native American ancestry. Who's mom hasn't? Every Black person in America grows up hearing they're part Native American, so much so that "I have Indian in my family" has become a running joke.

In the 1980s, President Joe Biden had to abandon his first presidential campaign amid his false claims that he graduated at the top of his law-school class and charges of plagiarism when it was discovered he failed to properly cite an Irish politician while using his quotes during a campaign speech.

But Americans love a comeback story, which is why you can't write off Biden's predecessor, whose lies required a daily tracker.

Not even Santos lied about who's going to pay for the wall.

What makes Santos different is his lies may have serious legal ramifications. According to several reports, there's a fraud case in Brazil with his name on it and his campaign-finance math isn't adding up.

The thing is, Santos didn't have to lie. He likely would have won his conservative-leaning district anyway by simply staying "I'm George Santos, and I'm not a Democrat."

Here's the real kicker: Politicians don't have to lie; someone else will, from false claims that the late Sen. John McCain was a turncoat in captivity; that Sen. John Kerry faked his combat injuries, and Hillary Clinton uses baby blood as a moisturizer.

People will lie on you even when you're a dead, as in the case of JFK, who's reemerging to run in 2024, according to QAnon.

Wonder who will be his running mate?

Three guesses.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charita Goshay: George Santos scandal underscores need for local media