Save us, Brad Avakian!

What's the difference between "nonconsesual sex" and rape? Let's call a spade a spade...

"A top staffer" should be ashamed of his/herself for not quitting Wu's staff by now. And Wu should go...now.

Wu should have been gone months ago. Now this.

The representative should resign and the guv should appoint Steve Novick, Chris Harker or someone more compelling than the current candidates and able to withstand a very expensive Repub. campaign in 2012. Maybe Jefferson Smith should move to the Westside?

Ethics investigation? How about pressing charges? Fuck this guy.

I love it when people make judgments about other people without knowing all the facts or even seeing the evidence. It's Strauss-Kahn all over again; guilty until proven innocent (or, guilty until proven politically-agreeable).

Maybe he did rape her. Maybe he did absolutely nothing wrong and she's out to destroy him. Maybe somewhere inbetween. We don't know. We shouldn't assume.

Tru Stu BUTT dude has been acting pretty damn weird for the last few years. Mental stability issues abound.

I'd like to see an ethics investigation into every Congressman and Representative in the whole USA.

The Oregonian has had a raging hate boner for Wu for a while now but still, seriously, fuck this guy.

@ Stu, DSK wasn't proven innocent - the gov't merely will probably decide not to prosecute a high profile case of he-said/she-said where "she" has a bunch of credibility problems. If anything, the allegations basically match other behavior he's been periodically accused of, and it doesn't really seem like this was all a set-up by the maid or people she may be linked to (they certainly don't seem that sophisticated).

Also, I believe Wu has basically already admitted at least making a pass at this 18 or 19-year-old. In itself, that's not illegal of course, but all the other bizarre shit he's done should make it abundantly clear that he needs a "mental health break" from representing Oregon citizens. Politically, he's obviously hurting Democrats by continuing to stick around as an ongoing embarrassment festival.

At any rate, I'm really hoping to see an article recounting the timeline of all those embarrassments under the headline, "Wu Farted?"

@Stu - Wu has a long history of charges like this being cast against him. Am I the only one that remembers the story from Wu's college days that surfaced around 6 years ago? It was another he said/ she said tale of either sex gone bad or rape. Wu admitted that there was an issue when he was in college but it was a misunderstanding and nothing like that could or would ever happen again.

Wu has a history of not treating women well. I don't care what his mental health issues are - if they cause him to hurt other people then he should not serve in Congress. They should never be a pass for him to do whatever he wants to other human beings.

Creepo, either way, sleeping with his longtime friend's daughter. But I guess we already knew this about him.

@ pdxmom "I don't care what his mental health issues are - if they cause him to hurt other people then he should not serve in Congress."

I completely agree, my point was simply that even if there was nothing more to it than making an unwanted pass at a 18-19 daughter of a donor/friend (Wu has basically admitted as much at this point), it still should count as the last nail in the resignation coffin.

CC: I can't agree with you on that one. I think politicians should resign (or be forced out) if and only if they are in one of three circumstances:
1. They did something illegal.
2. They took a bribe.
3. They are incapable of performing their duties adequately.

If Wu raped her or anyone else, he's out (and hopefully going straight to jail); hopefully we'll find out soon but in the meantime he's innocent until proven guilty. If his "mental issues" make him incapable of doing his job, he's out; no evidence of that so far but it's not implausible. But "being creepy" isn't enough reason to kick someone out of office.

@ Stu - even if it was rape, Wu will not be going to jail. These cases are very hard to prosecute even with physical evidence and I think it is safe to assume that there is none at this point.

Given Wu's long history and more recent "episodes", he cannot perform his duties adequately. He is at best a joke inside the Capitol. More likely the other members of Congress will avoid working with him. Without collaboration, he can get nothing done.

He should step down.

Being pressured to resign is not the same thing as being kicked out of office, just like an election isn't a suicide pact that can only be undone by a criminal conviction.

If you can't function effectively as a Rep and/or you've become an embarrassing distraction to your party, you should resign. I don't mean one should have to jump ship at the first sign of a storm, but that's not the case here. Wu's had enough storms.

@DeepCerulean—I was uncertain of the language myself. Rape is a legally specific term that applies to certain nonconsensual acts, but not necessarily others. Since I'm in the dark on exactly what the woman is saying happened between her and Wu, I'm sticking with the language other media have used to report the incident.

Thanks for asking, it's a question I have in mind, too.

How long has this doosh been a Congressman? Doesn't Wu read the papers? Ever heard of Gary Condit?