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AlonzoMourning23
08-29-2006, 04:57 PM
AS the leader of the Republican party in the US Senate and a possible presidential candidate, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee has a reputation for sober rectitude. The same cannot be said of his son Jonathan, a Vanderbilt University student who recently appeared on the internet wearing six cans of beer strapped to his belt.

Here's Jonathan Frist's pic:

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4108/beerfacebookfristvy0.jpg

Notice the confederate pants, this will make sense in a moment.

Nor has Jonathan’s brother Bryan done much to help his father’s attempts to strike a reasonable note about US involvement in Iraq. “I was born an American by God’s amazing grace,” wrote Bryan Frist in an online profile. “Let’s bomb some people.”

While the Bible warns that the sins of the father may be visited upon their sons, the injunction may need to be revised in the age of the teenage blogger and online social networks. The sins of the sons — not to mention the daughters — are making the titans of Washington and Wall Street nervous as the internet opens public doors to what would once have been private family business.

Frist is one of at least half a dozen US politicians — and at least one US Supreme Court judge — whose public images have been dented in recent months by the internet antics of their offspring. Pictures of scantily clad daughters whooping it up have become a staple of internet gossip.

The popularity of teenage networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook is proving a goldmine for political bloggers keen to compare the pious proclamations of candidates running for office with the blogs and picture-sharing websites maintained by their children.

No sooner had Congressman Louie Gohmert, a conservative Republican from Texas, unleashed a tirade against the moral inadequacies of Democrats opposed to the war in Iraq, than someone found internet pictures of his daughter Caroline dancing on a bartop and posing with a man in his underpants.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2145/carolineridesjz5.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5469/gohmert2pe8.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9921/gohmertxl5.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1402/gohmertandsomedudedj4.jpg


There was also embarrassment for Justice Samuel Alito, the conservative Supreme Court judge appointed by President George W Bush earlier this year. Alito is opposed to gay marriage, but a Facebook entry by his Georgetown University student daughter Laura declared, apparently tongue in cheek, that her relationship status was “Married to Kate Tice”.

While much of the internet sleuthing has produced largely harmless evidence that teenagers like to party even if their parents are famous, more awkward incidents have been picked up by mainstream media.

Roll Call, the Washington insiders’ newspaper published on Capitol Hill, recently reported that Jonathan Frist’s Facebook entry declared him a member of the “Jonathan Frist appreciation for ‘Waking Up White People’ Group”. It also mentioned a group where there were “No Jews allowed. Just kidding. No seriously”.

The Washington Post discovered last week that the son of a prominent Wall Street executive had been posting awkward criticisms of his father’s company, the telephone conglomerate AT&T, in a personal blog.

Jared Watts, 21, an employee of an AT&T subsidiary, complained in his blog about policies that were “abusive to the customer”. His father, Wayne Watts, is a senior vice-president who is currently attempting to defend AT&T’s service record to industry regulators examining a takeover bid.

Errant children have long been a fact of Washington political life, but have rarely caused any lasting scandal. Bush was untroubled by the underage drinking exploits of his twin daughters Jenna and Barbara. The president’s brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, was not seriously damaged when his daughter Noelle was arrested on drug charges. His son John was arrested for having sex in a car in a shopping centre car park.

The US media has in the past treated adolescent follies as largely a private matter, but the mushrooming trend towards public self-exposure on the internet is beginning to make life a misery for celebrities with children who blog.

Even Marie Osmond, a devout Mormon and squeaky-clean American family singer, was caught up in MySpace turmoil when her teenage daughter Jessica, writing under the pseudonym “F off”, declared she was bisexual and that Adolf Hitler was one of her heroes.

Perhaps the unluckiest victim of blogger sleuthing was Mike Huckabee, the Republican governor of Arkansas who is believed to be considering a presidential run in 2008. Earlier this year there were unconfirmed reports that his daughter Sarah was quitting her job in Washington to return to Little Rock to begin fundraising.

Huckabee has not confirmed that he is interested in running but someone went to Sarah’s Facebook entry and found entries from her Arkansas friends. One read: “Hey girl, I heard you were back down.” Another said: “Yay for moving home!”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2330177,00.html

dsanthony
08-29-2006, 07:06 PM
Your fictional pres, on the West Wing, called people like you, who attack politicians through their children, vultures. He was generous.

sbannon
08-29-2006, 07:20 PM
Waghhh waaghh... don't point at us, don't point at us.... waghh.

Seriously though, everbody knows it's MTV and Hollywood which infected these children and turned them to such behavior. It couldn't possibly be the parents, they only make honor roll children. It says so on their Bumper Stickers. Who's ever seen the "Proud parent of a daughter working her way through school lap-dancing" sticker?

AlonzoMourning23
08-29-2006, 08:57 PM
Your fictional pres, on the West Wing, called people like you, who attack politicians through their children, vultures.**He was generous.


Hey, if the main proponents of family values aren't getting results, what does that mean for the rest of us? You should also notice which category I put it in.

Though, when are you going to keep your word and ignore me?

dsanthony
08-29-2006, 09:21 PM
This latest post was so disgusting, even for you, that I had to respond. At long last, zo, have you no shame?

AlonzoMourning23
08-29-2006, 09:29 PM
If I was the one releasing the photo's you'd have a point, but they're out there for everyone to see. Though Jonathan Frist wouldn't get my concern.

And if they're such proponents of supposed "family values", shouldn't they be working on their own family? If it doesn't work for them, why should the rest of us expect results? And, again, this is the humor section, not a serious critique.

Labrocca
08-29-2006, 09:35 PM
These personal attacks will only backfire on the Dems. Pointing fingers at peoples family is just plain messed up. I don't see a problem with ANY of the pics. They are common as day. If anything it might help them get the younger vote.