Being vetted for VP ? Prepare to talk about sex
— -- Ever wonder what it's like to be vetted by a national campaign for the vice presidential slot?
To find out, GQ magazine's Jason Zengerle put himself through the process. He met with Ted Frank, a Washington D.C.-based attorney who contributed to John McCain's VP search.
As Zengerle quickly discovered, the process is, well, penetrating.
Here's a slice:
Less than an hour after I meet the vetter for the first time, he asks me if I've always been faithful to my wife. Next he wants to know if I've ever been accused of sexual harassment. And then whether I've ever paid for sex. Before long he's asking me about any past history I might have with sadomasochism. Internet-porn memberships? Sexting? We are on the top floor of an anonymous glass-and-steel office building in Washington, D.C.—the kind of place where, far more than the marble halls of Congress, the real business of America's capital gets done. The National Cathedral looms out the window over his shoulder. As he grills me about my sexual history, he does not dull the awkwardness by looking down at his desk and hiding in the papers in front of him. He stares me hard in the eye. So far, I've answered "yes" to the question about my fidelity and "no" to all of the other ones. I don't text much, and when I do, it's usually to my wife, checking on whose turn it is to pick up the kids at preschool. But he is far from done.
"Have you ever," he asks, "had a homosexual encounter?"
"No."
"Could a rogue IT guy have access to a sex tape or anything like that?"
"No."
He makes a check mark on his sheet of paper, and then there's a long pause. I start to think I'm finally out of the woods. But no, he has a follow-up, a loophole in his last question that needs closing. He looks right at me. "Is there a sex tape?"
