Current Belgian Minister of Defense Pieter De Crem apparently stumbled into a Belgian bar in New York City on Monday evening with his entourage. Following his visit, bartender Nathalie Lubbe Bakker blogged about their visit (in Dutch), talking about how disgusted she was of how drunk De Crem was and how embarrased she was about his behavior. Worst part, she wrote, was the fact that one of the politician’s advisors admitted to her that the meetings they were there for on taxpayer’s money were in fact cancelled because the UN was meeting in Geneva (which is about 330 miles from Brussels). He reportedly told her they had decided to come to NY anyway despite being aware of the cancellation because the policital situation here was ‘calm’ and that he’d ‘never visited the city anyway’.

Quelle: When Everyone Is A Blogger, Nothing You Say Is Off The Record

Die von der Sonntagspresse als Bla-Bla-Blogger beschimpften „Netzaktivisten“ mögen zwar noch nicht jeden Politiker zum Rücktritt zu zwingen – unangenehme, aber durchaus berechtigte Fragen werden aber immer öfters gestellt. Und manchmal nimmt ein klassischer Zeitungsjournalist solche Gerüchte auf und verleiht diesen eine enorme Breitenwirkung. Alle profitieren, ausgenommen der Person, die sich den Faux Pas geleistet hat. Als Politiker muss man sich einfach bewusst sein, dass höhere Massstäbe an das Handeln gelegt werden.