Sexy Politician Sells Sex — And He's A Dude

Representative Aaron Schock is famous for being the young congressman, declining to vote for the stimulus after hitching a ride on Air Force One. He’s also famous for being HOTT. To wit: The Times‘s headline, “A Congressman’s Abs Garner Yeas.”

Perhaps we have reached a new frontier in the open exercise of male vanity, a journey Schock shares with Senator Scott Brown and his pink leather shorts. Or perhaps the fact that the willing participation of Schock, a conservative, in his image-selling seems to have brought no career consequences is evidence of a double standard. (He serves on three congressional committees and was named the deputy whip.)

It’s hard to know, because few sitting elected officials, male or female have ever submitted to what Schock has — a GQ shoot (those abs cruelly covered up with a three piece suit), discussing his outfits at length with a reporter, telling the “funny” stories behind how he came to be photographed with a bikini-clad girl hovering above his shirtless torso. (And, though it didn’t require his participation, being named the “hottest freshman” in the Huffington Post.)

Unless, of course, you count Sarah Palin and her Runner’s World shoot, which earned her no end of opprobrium. And Representative Loretta Sanchez’s annual Christmas card:

Totally the same thing.

A Congressman’s Abs Garner Yeas [NYT]

Related: Loretta Sanchez’s Christmas Card [Wonkette]

Earlier: Is Scott Brown’s Vanity The Cure For The Political Double Standard?