Because they live their lives in the public eye, politicians and elected officials inevitably have more exposure to cameras than your average citizen.
Usually, this leads to stump speeches, sound bites, and your standard partisan attacks.
From time-to-time, though, cameras are rolling during a moment our elected leaders would really rather forget.
This is politicians behaving badly: the 2014 edition.
Japanese politician weeps hysterically during press conference (see above)
A Japanese politician burst into tears and incomprehensible blabber during a press conference this past July.
Ryutaro Nonomura banged his fists on the desk and sobbed uncontrollably in front of reporters as he defended himself against accusations he misused public money.
The footage of the politician’s meltdown has since gone viral with over 500,000 views on YouTube.
NDP leader Thomas Mulcair wanted to talk about Iraq. Parliamentary secretary Paul Calandra wanted to talk about Israel.
And so the two men engaged in a bizarre and frustrating exchange that ended with Mulcair questioning the Speaker of the House’s neutrality.
The accusation came when the NDP leader’s repeated questions about Canada’s Iraq mission failed to be answered by the government.
“Well Mr. Speaker, that does not speak very favourably about your neutrality in this House,” Mulcair said to both gasps and applause from the House.
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq was harshly criticized after she chose to read a newspaper instead of answer questions on the food crisis in Canada’s north earlier this December.
During question period NDP MP Romeo Saganash questioned Aglukkaq about high food costs in her northern riding.
Aglukkaq didn’t answer Saganash’s question, which was directed to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, as she continued to read the paper. Liberal and NDP MPs responded loudly to the scene, forcing House speaker Andrew Scheer to call for order.
A TV camera caught an exchange between Rep. Michael Grimm and reporter Michael Scotto this past January after Grimm apparently believed the camera was turned off.
Scotto had asked Grimm about a campaign finance scandal at the end of an interview about the State of the Union address.
“Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this f–ing balcony,” Grimm said.
Scotto defended his line of questioning, and Grimm threatened him again:
“If you ever do that to me again … You’re not man enough. You’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half like a boy.”
The mayor of a South Korean town was pelted with eggs during a council meeting this past September in protest of his proposal to relocate a baseball stadium.
According to sporting news website Deadspin, the egging happened because fellow councillor Kim Sung-il was upset with Changwon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo because he suggested building a new state-of-the-art ball field in nearby town and not in the town where the egg-thrower is from.
Cameras recorded a particularly testy exchange between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and an angry heckler this past October during a speech.
Christie, who was speaking about the two-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, got sidetracked by a determined heckler during his speech on the Jersey Shore.
Eventually, a frustrated Christie tells the heckler to “sit down and shut up”.
The Vice President of the United States was hosting a Q&A at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics this past October.
And while VP’s tend to wear out as they near the end of their second term in office, Biden’s propensity for off the cuff remarks was still in fine form.
While taking a question from Sietse Goffard, Harvard’s student council Vice President, Biden couldn’t resist a moment to crack a joke at his own expense.
“Isn’t it a b*****, that Vice President thing?” the VP cracked amidst laughter and a few shocked gasps.
An argument between two lawmakers turned into a scuffle at the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv this past August.
Oleh Lyashko and Oleksandr Shevchenko got into an argument, when Shevchenko alleged that Lyashko, contrary to his own account, has never been within the area where Ukrainian forces are fighting separatist rebels.
After several minutes of arguing, Shevchenko began to leave before turning back and punching Lyashko on the cheek.
A fight erupted between ruling and opposition lawmakers in the Georgian parliament a day after Christmas.
The brawl broke out when an argument over the composition of Georgian delegations in international institutions turned violent.
The Georgian parliament is located in Kutaisi, the country’s second-largest city and 221 kilometres west of the capital Tbilisi.
This past January, Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino met with veterans concerned about the closure of several Veteran Affairs offices across Canada.
The meeting was supposed to assuage their concerns. Instead, it led to a whole new round of controversy.
A group of veterans voiced their displeasure following the meeting with Fantino, calling his actions appalling, disrespectful and disgraceful.
2014 was a roller-coaster ride for Toronto’s former mayor like few politicians have ever seen.
And while 2014 was also punctuated by intense personal tragedy in his life, we would be remiss not to include at least one instance of Rob Ford’s proclivity for on-camera embarrassment.
It’s hard to make out what he is saying in the video, shot at a Rexdale restaurant this past January. But he can be heard referring to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and five months of surveillance – “do you know how much money that cost?” – as well as his own visits to “Jane and Finch” and “Jamestown” and Malvern.
At one point, a person in a white jacket can be heard comparing the mayor to Stephen Harper, to which the mayor replies, “No, no, but I’m a straight up guy, you know?”
-With files from the Associated Press
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