Posted on 03/19/2020 6:01:50 PM PDT by Steely Tom
s tragic as the story of Andrew Gillum‘s involvement in a situation that included the unfortunate collision of drugs, a male escort and a hotel room in Miami Beach may be, history has shown that it doesn’t necessarily spell a political downfall from which he can’t return.
While all the details surrounding the suspected crystal meth incident on early Friday morning had yet to be fully sorted out, Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, announced he would be retreating from public life and entering a rehab facility for help for the “alcohol abuse” and “depression” that he has suffered from since his unsuccessful Florida gubernatorial candidacy in 2018, he said in a brief statement on Sunday. The CNN analyst who was also rumored to be on a shortlist of potential Democratic vice presidential running mates added that he “will be stepping down from all public facing roles for the foreseeable future.”
Gillum, who also at one point even met with former President Barack Obama amid speculation about a possible 2020 presidential campaign, followed a similar public relations strategy used by other politicians who have been found in similarly compromising positions over the years before they ultimately mounted successful comebacks to rebound from scandals that at the time seemed to doom their careers. But a closer look at those politicians who, like Gillum, were thrust into news cycle for all the wrong reasons, showed that it took a careful, deliberate and team effort to rebrand themselves as people who have learned their lessons and were eager to regain the trust of a leery but ultimately forgiving public.
“We’re seeing more and more people attempt these comebacks, and it’s a well-planned operation,” David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision, a public relations and political consulting firm in Suwanee, Georgia, told NPR back in 2013. “We’ve become over and over again more used to scandals in our public figures, and more accepting.” Johnson added at the time that “It’s no longer a big deal,” an assertion that is also likely to hold up in 2020 with Gillum and his situation.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.
Anthony Weiner, a former congressman who resigned in 2011 over a sexting scandal found himself leading a 2013 poll of candidates running for New York City mayor. After losing in the Democratic primary, Weiner in 2017 pleaded guilty to sexting with a minor and served two years in prison before his release last year. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is another example of a politician unable to recover from his scandal. After a remarkable tenure as the state’s attorney general, Spitzer was elected as governor in 2006 only for it to all come crumbling down after he was exposed in a major prostitution ring. The once-popular governor has never recovered from that scandal and even lost the race for New York City Comptroller in 2013.
Still, whether its drugs or extramarital affairs or some other kind of indiscretion labeled as taboo by American society, history shows that there is a smoothly paved road to redemption for many politicians looking to regain the trust of the public and successfully mount a political comeback. After all, no matter what was happening in Gillum’s personal life, he was still doing good and important work professionally as the chairman of Forward Florida Action, a political group “registering and reengaging voters who are often unseen and unheard, electing more leaders that share our values to local office, and making the state legislature more diverse,” according it its website.
Scroll down to find five examples that suggest the political career of Gillum, who is just 40 years old, is far from over — but only if that’s what he chooses.
1. Ted Kennedy
The late Sen. Ted Kennedy was able to overcome his role in the death of a young woman in Martha’s Vineyard in 1969 and go on to not only run for president but also become one the most respected politicians and Democrats in the country. That was in spite of persistent rumors that he was a drunk and may have been under the influence when he drove his car off a bridge and killed his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Pictured: Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy leaves the Dukes County Courthouse in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on July 25, 1969, after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal auto accident. Late on July 18, Kennedy’s car plunged into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island. He was able to escape but Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, his passenger, drowned. (Photo by Joe Dennehy/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
2. Gavin Newsom
Campaign Manager Resigns Over Wife's Affair With San Francisco Mayor Source:Getty
Gavin Newsom was elected the governor of California in January 2019 despite admitting while he was San Francisco mayor in 2007 to having a drinking problem and an extramarital affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his re-election campaign manager, Alex Tourk, who resigned after learning of the affair.
Pictured: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom looks on during a swearing-in ceremony for San Francisco City assessor Phil Ting February 1, 2007, in San Francisco. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
3. Mark Sanford
As the governor of South Carolina, Sanford went into hiding for nearly a week after being outed for his extramarital affair with an Argentinian journalist in 2009. After resigning from the senate, he would eventually go on to win a congressional race in 2013.
Pictured: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford explains his six-day absence and extramarital affair to members of the news media in Columbia, South Carolina on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. Staffers said the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail but The State Media Co. reported he spent time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Tim Dominick/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
4. Barney Frank
Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank in 1989 admitted to hiring a male prostitute to be his personal aide two years after he came out as being gay. Frank even admitted to paying the male prostitute for sex. Despite being reprimanded by the House, Frank was re-elected and servide his 16th term in Congress before retiring in 2012.
In what should be evidence that no scandal is too big to prevent a politician from making an electoral comeback, District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was busted in an FBI sting for smoking crack cocaine with a prostitute in a hotel room in 1990. Barry was forced to resign from City Hall as well as the City Council and was sentenced to six months in prison. But two years later he was re-elected to the city council and two years after that he was re-elected as mayor before returning to serve the city council from 2000-2014.
As a democrat he has enhanced his resume.
Demonrats are degenerates right off the bat, and their constituents and media enable them.
It’s a misnomer to say Mark Sanford “rebounded.” He never really did and never recovered his reputation. He managed to win 3 more House races against subpar opposition, but by unimpressive margins and was a shadow of the leader he once was before becoming Governor. He became embittered against the President and became a vicious NeverTrumper, and that caused his loss for renomination in 2018. His sour grapes post-primary also helped the Dems to capture the seat for the first time in 40 years.
This would be quite a scandal to come back from! :)
in fact, it involved multiple crimes
Gollum is done. Being caught naked in a hotel room with a White Man Whore while claiming to be a family man does not sell with either Blacks or Latinos and they were his base of support. He’s just an object of ridicule now.
Biden’s Vice-President
The difference between him and slime like Marion Berry, Bwarney Fwank, etc. is they stayed in power by holding office in super safe RAT regions of the country that would elect Satan himself if he had a "D" next to his name on the ballot.
Gillem was a statewide candidate in the hotly contested swing state of Florida. I think there is zero chance of him ever being a viable candidate statewide again, or being tapped as a RAT veep candidate, or anything else substantial like that. Same reason Ted Kennedy may have been elected as a U.S. Senator from Taxachuttes indefinitely, but was a non-starter as a Presidential candidate in the post-Chappaquidick era.
After this all dies down and he lays low for a few years, I could see him making a "comeback" the same way impeached, convicted, and disgraced former federal judge Alcee Hastings of Florida did... by running for Congress or something in a super safe RAT district, where being a gay methhead will be a resume enhancer in the primary.
But that would be a "comeback" the same way Mark Sanford had a "comeback". Personally I think the only one who felt Sanford was now "redeemed" in the eyes of the public was Sanford himself. As you noted, people only held their noses for him because they didn't want the RAT to win a strongly GOP district, his congressional career was short lived, and his Presidential campaign was likewise a non-starter even though he was the ONLY Trump primary opponent actually running a "serious" campaign and talking about the issues.
If I had to bet money, my gut feeling is Gillem won't even be able to pull off an Alcee Hastings type "comeback"... in a decade he will probably be where Jim McGreevey is now.
YGTBSM! This is nothing but a powerful resume enhancer among Progtard DildoCrats. One could almost believe it was planned.
Has his wife filed yet?
[[What’s Next For Andrew Gillum?]]
Surgery to repair prolapsed colon?
I'm sure Sanford is only there to put one Republican in with the four Democrats, and that in order to keep the author cocktail-party eligible with his lefty Democrat friend group.
Gillum was never really elevated to the level of a Protected One. Those guys cited in that article were much better established than Gillum. I think the party will abandon him. There are other blacks in Florida that they can tokenize.
You’d think she will file soon. I don’t know how anybody could tolerate their spouse making a fool of them publicly like that - not to mention whatever diseases he could bring home.
Wait, rebounded from “worse” scandals? I know that’s just the stupid headline that the article author probably didn’t choose but let’s look at that, first I’ll note it’s hilarious we are now at the point where we anticipate a possible comeback mere DAYS after the scandal breaks.
Kennedy, killed someone, ok that’s worse, but I agree with Billy, staying Senator for life of MA wasn’t any kinda “rebound”
Newsom, screwed some ‘married’ skank? I didn’t even know that, no one cares.
Sanford? Him cheating on his wife doesn’t even compare to Gillum doing meth and having sex with male prostitutes, possibly bringing AIDS home to his wife. Give me a break. But I would indeed say he rebounded in that he won a competitive election to return to Congress.
Barney Fag, again like Kennedy there was no “rebound” he merely survived at his current level in a safe seat. He wasn’t married or doing meth so his scandal isn’t as bad as Gillum’s.
Marion Barry, ok. Let’s just call that a push, worse drug habit but no rent boys. Now did he “rebound”? I’d say sure, it’s not like he didn’t have competition running for Mayor, it’s the not the same thing as Kennedy and Frank staying in Congress.
So that’s one scandal around the same level where someone “rebounded”.
Could Gillum become Mayor again? Or win a Black Congressional or legislative seat? I think not, the drugs are one thing but Blacks don’t respect homos, apparently an openly gay Black man was elected to state House in PA from Philly, but I’d bet plenty of voters didn’t know, and he’s not a meth head too, nor is he having sex with prostitdudes while pretending to be a family man.
Maybe he could still get hired by CNN 5 years from now if anyone still gives a damn about him which probably isn’t likely, but he won’t hold office again unless he moves to Provincetown MA or something, they might think a Methhead Fag with dark skin is cute and adopt him. Super liberal Whites are the only people that would elect him again.
I’m sure he could make a lot of money writing or speaking about being “on the down low” but that’s only if he comes out of the closet.
He’s a homosexual black meth-head, so the obvious career choice is co-hosting a show with Jussee Smollett. Kathy Griffin could do the voiceover announcing.
Didn’t an Illinois congressional candidate (dem) win election WHILE IN PRISON?
How do you pay a dead boy for sex? Just morbidly curious.
Plus, LGB is yesterday’s news.
He needs to get ahead of the curve and get elected as a transgender.
The ultimate master was ted Kennedy, he killed a young women and became a life long mega rat senator so the possibilities are promising for a##chaps, thankfully it wasn’t heterosexual or he would not have a chance in hell for a comback
4 out of the 5 are dim-0s. Sounds about right. The only Republican was Mark Sanford, and all he did was whore around. With WOMEN! The way nature intended.
I was going to start reading “War and Peace” but found this ping instead.
:)
I think the James Woods Twitter post said it well.
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