On the heels of a Super PAC TV ad that has been changed to omit a cameo by former Homestead Mayor Steven Bateman, who 
was arrested last summer on charges of public corruption, Congressman Joe Garcia had another video faux pas this week.
He was basically caught eating a booger on live TV.
Well, not a booger, technically. But an ear booger, if you will. Ear wax or something he picked out of his ear. A bug, maybe? That would be slightly better, if a little animalistic.
Garcia was caught by a C-SPAN camera last week while the House Judiciary Committee discussed different programs of government surveillance on American citizens. You know, boring stuff like that.
It was released on YouTube and spread by Republican PAC America Rising and, quickly, it became fodder for political bloggers and the twittersphere. “A bad day for Garcia in the web world,” is what the Miami Herald’s Patricia Mazzei called it.
Read related story: Joe Garcia video ad features Steven Bateman cameo
Suddenly, Garcia, who had no immediate comment on the matter, is the gross national joke of the week.
“He was obviously very hungry, but we’d recommend eating an actual lunch rather than your own ear wax,” wrote Ashley Codianni on Mashable.
“NOT a Hispanic thing,” said sometimes Republican pundit Ana Navarro.
“Yes, he still represents us! Congressman Joe Garcia Digging in his Ear and Eating the Wax during a committee hearing,” tweeted he Miami Young Republicans.
Posted Rudy Mayor III, a young leader of the U.S. Cuba Democracy PAC: “Gross! Who’s dirtier, Joe Garcia or his politics?”
But wait a minute, here. Aren’t we missing the bigger picture? Because as gross as eating ear wax and as embarrassing as getting caught doing that on national television and then scolded like a third grader eating boogers in class, the real problem here is that Garcia looks utterly bored.
He looks so bored, in fact, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on national security issues that he resorts to self grooming. He is so bored by what Congresswoman Susan DilBene (D-Mt. Vernon, WA) had to say about government surveillance cameras — and about the “bulk collection of Americans’ phone records” — that he would rather stick his finger in his ear. He is so disinterested in why DilBene is not satisfied with a bill that does not “fully tackle transparency,” he would rather use his teeth to pick at whatever he got on his fingernail.
“Ew stands for ear wax,” wrote New Yorker Assif Mandvi on twitter.
Maybe it also stands for electoral wonder. Or electoral waste
New Joe Garcia ear wax footage: Great TV, bad PR added by Ladra on
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