Texas Rep. Joe Barton is having a nightmarish Thanksgiving.

Late Tuesday, nude photos were circulated of the Texas Republican, prompting a wave of gleeful mockery on social media.

Barton, a divorcee, had sent the compromising photos to a woman he had a consensual relationship with. It appears she leaked them after they had a bad break-up.

In a court of law, this would likely constitute as revenge porn — a crime in most states — which explains why Barton would have threatened to report the woman to police.

But The Washington Post framed that threat as some sinister show of power in its report on the matter Wednesday night and treated the jilted lover as some heroic whistleblower of Barton’s “secret sex life.”

That “secret sex life” was that Barton, a single man at the time, was flirty with other women.

Truly one of the great criminal conspiracies of our time.

However, the Post’s article makes it seem like this is the real wrongdoing here instead of the revenge porn, which the paper fleetingly describes before getting to the reporters’ main purpose of shaming Barton.

According to the Post, Barton’s leaker — who is granted anonymity by the sympathetic reporters in spite of her possible crime — didn’t have any intention to use the embarrassing photos against the congressman.

Instead, she explained her motive this way. “It’s not normal for a member of Congress who runs on a GOP platform of family values and conservatism to be scouring the Internet looking for a new sexual liaison.”

WaPo made sure to give credence to this incredulous claim by detailing Barton’s voting record and political positions in the piece.

It would be easy to come away from the article thinking the woman did a noble service but did not commit a real crime. As the Post points out, “so-called ‘revenge porn'” isn’t a federal crime, and the woman said she had no intention of retaliating.

She just didn’t like how he two-timed her, and she wanted to point out the hypocrisy of his politics.

It’s not likely this argument will help her in court, but it certainly helped her out in the court of liberal Twitter. The Washington Post reversed its long-standing concern with revenge porn to dismiss the issue as only something Texans care about.

Last year, the Post’s editorial board even demanded national legislation to combat the distribution of such material, saying “there is nothing entertaining about it.”

Little did we know how entertained Jeff Bezos’ paper would be when this practice harmed a Republican.

There were more than a few prominent folks on Wednesday who defended using revenge porn against conservative congressmen.

Liberal journalist Adam Weinstein offered this hot take: “Stop saying the sitting biblical conservative congressman whose extramarital infidelities were exposed is a victim. Revenge porn statutes do not exist to protect powerful men from exposure for gross hypocrisy. Statutes are not and ought not to be power-neutral.”

Oddly enough, consensual relationships aren’t crimes, and being a “sitting biblical conservative congressman” doesn’t make you exempt from appealing to revenge porn laws. But, in a progressive utopia, those facts would no longer stand true.

CNN’s phony Republican Ana Navarro weighed in with a slightly more measured take. “I don’t really care what consenting adults do. I do care when those consenting adults are U.S. Congresspeople who are stupid enough to make themselves vulnerable to blackmail,” Navarro tweeted.

There is no question that if this had happened to a female Democrat, it would be treated as a grave offense worthy of the full fury of the law.

The Washington Post would not be treating the revenge pornographer as a whistleblower who just wanted to expose the hypocrisy of a progressive flirting with other men. The paper would not be treating revenge porn as a minor crime that only Texas enforces. And no liberal journalist would be claiming laws don’t protect powerful hypocrites.

Not to mention the fact that anyone laughing over the matter would face the wrath of enraged Twitter mobs.

The response to Barton’s revenge porn proves that leftists and many journalists believe their political opponents don’t qualify for protection by the law.

The best example of this is the celebration of Antifa violence by the Left and the media. Rather than a bunch of thugs who will assault anyone they disagree with, Antifa is compared to World War II veterans by prominent journalists and media outlets.

Antifa’s tactics are justified as “seeking peace through violence,” and their defenders will insist only legitimate Nazis are targeted in attacks. The radical left-wing movement’s depictions make them out to be protectors of the innocent, and only bad guys who aren’t worthy of legal protection get hurt. (RELATED: It’s Not Trump Supporters Who Are Beating Journalists)

The only way to justify Antifa violence, legally, is to will yourself into believing there is a Nazi exception to assault laws. If these guys in black masks say you’re a Nazi, then you don’t deserve to have the law on your side.

It’s about as good of a legal opinion as thinking Republican congressmen are excluded from revenge porn statutes.

Along with Antifa’s contempt for laws governing physical assault, the radical leftists and their liberal apologists also think conservatives don’t enjoy the right to free speech.

Propagating the notion there’s a non-existent hate speech clause to the First Amendment, many on the Left believe right-wingers should be excluded from speaking in public and possibly face legal penalties for expressing certain ideas. (RELATED: ‘Hate Speech’ Hysteria Wins Again In Berkeley)

Free speech is essential, but it can only be allowed if leftists agree with it.

Even when the Left accepts that a serious crime was committed against their political opponents, they seek to minimize it or blame it on the victims. When a crazed Bernie Sanders supporter shot up a Republican congressional baseball practice this summer, the GOP and President Trump were blamed by liberals for causing the violence.

The severely wounded Rep. Steve Scalise was also attacked for his voting record while he fought for his life after the shooting. (RELATED: Republicans Get Duped Into Believing Civility Can Be Restored)

The recent physical assault on Sen. Rand Paul by an avowed leftist that left the Kentucky Republican with several broken ribs was at first treated by the media as a minor disagreement over shrubbery. (RELATED: Rand Paul’s Assault Is One Of MSNBC Host’s ‘Favorite’ Stories)

When it became clear that Paul was probably not attacked over landscaping issues, The New Yorker blamed the incident on Trump and Republicans.

If you suffer a politically-motivated assault or shooting as a Republican, it’s still ultimately your own fault.

The Barton revenge porn scandal may seem like a minor affair that should only concern the congressman. But how the opposing side is treating it should give everyone pause.

Why do liberals believe their political enemies don’t deserve protection from the law?

RELATED: ANDY RICHTER SAYS REPUBLICANS RESPONSIBLE FOR NAZI CORRELATION



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