Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is being mocked for an op-ed touting himself within the Salt Lake Tribune that reads like a generic website biography — which it’s.
Lee’s independent challenger Evan McMullin wrote a passionate pitch to voters for the paper, because it seemed the project was purported to be.
But Lee’s third-person appeal referred to himself by name and had the tone of “a middle schooler’s book report,” Mediaite wrote. Much of it appears to have been lifted from Lee’s Senate website.
The newspaper initially posted Lee’s byline atop the op-ed, a screen grab showed.
But perhaps seeing the absurdity of Mike Lee writing about “Mike Lee,” the newspaper later dropped the writer’s name.
“Mike Lee serves as a United States senator representing the state of Utah. Since taking office, Senator Lee has earned a popularity as a principled conservative,” the essay began. “He believes elected officials are accountable for keeping the federal government inside its constitutionally limited role.
His respect for the Structure was instilled early in life by watching his father, Rex E. Lee, argue before the Supreme Court as President Reagan’s Solicitor General. Attending those arguments gave him an up-close understanding of the federal government’s proper role.”
Here’s the op-ed without Lee’s byline, looking just like the newspaper wrote it.
It finishes with this critical information: “Lee and his wife Sharon have three children (James, John, and Eliza) and live in Provo.”
Neither Lee nor the Salt Lake Tribune responded to requests for comment.
People on Twitter couldn’t help but riff. “Mike Lee has quite a high opinion of himself, if he does say so himself,” one user wrote.
I ponder what form of back room deal Mike Lee needed to make to get Mike Lee’s endorsement?!? Drain the swamp!
— Michael (@MichaelBGood704) October 17, 2022
No less than Trump used weird fake aliases for his autoeroticisms.
— VOTE 🇺🇸 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 (@CommittoVote) October 17, 2022
What’s bizarre is that Lee’s campaign and his Senate office have communications staff — presumably with relevant skills. Did they draft this for him? Did nobody say, “This reads really weird”?
— Bruce Mirken (@BruceMirken) October 17, 2022
Mike Lee has quite a high opinion of himself, if he does say so himself.
— Ornery1951 (@Ornery1951) October 17, 2022
Mr. Lee, you overlooked the part about all of the ways you enabled and committed sedition.
— Metrowest Neuropsych (@MWNeuropsych) October 17, 2022
My boss at all times asks me to put in writing my very own review, so I write it in third person so it would be easier for him to chop and paste without having to alter it. And he makes fun of me for doing that each single time.
— Ken Scott (@foomper) October 17, 2022
He did it for the quotes… “principled conservative“-The Salt Lake Tribune. It should fools some folks into pondering the paper said that.
— Dee (@sapphosboots) October 17, 2022
