I could never get too excited about Weiner-gate once I saw that the tweetee was handling all the craziness just fine. That’s the only thing I care about in these ridiculous dust-ups — whether innocent, everyday people are hurt by the excesses of the freak show. I was upset by what happened to Shirley Sherrod, the Frost family, and ACORN, because they were all just regular people, trying to live their lives and do right, and they did nothing wrong to get themselves caught up in the mix of the right-wing hate machine.
Not so with Anthony Weiner. He’s a big boy who courts controversy. If his Twitter account had been hacked, he could have handled that. Turns out it wasn’t, well he can handle this too. I don’t care much about Anthony Weiner’s fee fees. I don’t think he should resign, the same way I didn’t think Chris Lee should have resigned.
People with money and power will be fine. Every now and then, one will run a company into the ground, defrauding investors and employees of billions, and feel so bad that he dies of a broken heart. Still, fuck ’em.
Most people deal with all kinds of humiliation each and every day and they don’t go whining to David Brooks and Peggy Noonan every time someone shits on them. Those are the people I care about, because they don’t have the money/power/media megaphone to shield themselves from the worst of it. When they can’t find a job because serious people think it’s important to try Hooverism again, they feel bad about themselves, not “Paul Krugman said something mean about me” bad, but “I’m a failure who can’t pay his bills” bad. Some may indulge in all kinds of crazy speculation about gold standards and what not, but they’re still mostly powerless people trying to get by, and they’ve mostly been betrayed by DC elites.
I humbly submit that everything about our politics should focus more on these harsh realities and less on the Wenis, the Clenis, and Lindsey Graham’s fee fees. Not because I feel bad for Anthony Weiner or dislike Lindsey Graham, but because I think they can take care of themselves.
Thought I’d give this post the jokiest title I could think of that was relevant, because I know the body of the post borders on sanctimony.
arguingwithsignposts
I think this is what you meant to type.
lamh34
@DougJ,
this:
Is exactly how I’ve been feeling since the Wenis pic came out. what pisses me off more than Weiner being the usual stupid straight male politician, but the idea that people like Sherrod, ACORN, and this tweetee becomes collateral damage for those like BriebARSE who’s sole goal is to piss on his “opponents” anyone who stands in his way can go to shit.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
He’s fine. It wasn’t a dumb move because it will cost him re-election – it won’t, not in his district. It’s dumb because he just handed Andrew Breitbart all the legitimacy he’s been looking for over the last 15 years on a platter, and that is going to come back and bite liberals and progressives in the ass big time for decades to come.
I’ll never forgive him for that.
Doug Harlan J
@arguingwithsignposts:
Thanks, sorry to get all Yglesias on you.
Jazz Superluminar
Best post about this I’ve seen, sadly I can’t see the MSM caring. People are hurting, worldwide, and no one in the media give a shit. I’m too depressed to be serious about any of this, I’ll just stick to trolling for a while.
lamh34
btw, in a weird way, doesn’t this work out well for the WH. It takes the MSM eye off the job numbers (which is what the MSM should rightly should be covering, good or bad for WH) and all week the story will be about the Wenis.
What’s the over/under on which reporter in the press pool will ask a Wenis question of the press secretary tomorrow.
shortstop
Okay, but have you considered that the “innocent, everyday” people who get hurt go much deeper than Cordova, ACORN, etc. to include the people who no longer get help from ACORN, who continue post-Spitzer to be screwed by Wall Street, who would have suffered deeply under the policies of a Republican administration if Edwards had been the nominee when his affair came out…and who really need the ACA, which an unrecused Thomas will certainly rule against?
The big, powerful people who do this are better able to protect themselves, yes, but they’re precisely the folks whose untimely passing from political power can do the most damage to the lives of the real everyday people. I’m not saying this because I expect them to exercise a sexual control that ordinary people don’t — in my comment a couple of threads down I talk about how expecting humans, especially people in power, never to fuck around is unrealistic as hell. But a thought, please, for the people who don’t have the same ability and resources as Weiner to take care of themselves and whose lives may be made measurably worse because of this.
Chat Noir
Exactly. Since being laid off at the end of 2009, it’s been a constant struggle not to feel like a loser because I was laid off in the first place and because I don’t have another job yet in the second place. It is one of the most humiliating experiences to be let go after working for the same company for 20 years.
lamh34
BTW, cnn reporting: nancy pelois asks for possible ethic probe investigation against Weiner!
FeFiFo
Why don’t we ever see female politicians involved in these types of idiotic lapses of sexual judgement? Is the need to indulge in powertrip risk taking a guy thing? Are they better at the art of discretion?
I know there must be at least one living-memory case of a female elected official indulging in this type of alpha-male nude tightrope walk, but I’m honestly drawing a blank.
ruemara
@lamh34:
face+palm. this is stupid of her.
middlewest
I’m worried what happens when Breitbart and Malkin get a list of the girls he chatted up. They’ll be stalked for the rest of their lives.
Doug Harlan J
@FeFiFo:
Women go into the job for different reasons than men do.
Doug Harlan J
@Chat Noir:
Hey, good luck, it’s not your fault. Keep your head as high as you can.
Chuck Butcher
Well, to be sure this was a Noonan piece that makes equivilent stealing a noble’s purse in 1700something and Enron in relation to scandles.
OzoneR
CNN anchor about an hour ago;
arguingwithsignposts
@FeFiFo:
There was a hint of this regarding SC’s Gov, (candidate at the time) Haley.
Josie
There is so much truth in this post. Thanks for saying all of it.
shortstop
@FeFiFo: Well, there was Helen Chenoweth, who was one of Bill Clinton’s penis’s biggest critics while having a certain ability to keep her own legs crossed outside of her marriage. But that exception is so weak as to strengthen the rule.
arguingwithsignposts
@OzoneR: Is that a quote from the Onion, if not, someone has a tin ear to show their hand like that.
shortstop
@Doug Harlan J: That’s right, Chat Noir. It really isn’t personal, as horribly personal as it feels. We’re pulling for you.
lamh34
@ruemara:
I respect Pelosi alot. Unlike Boehner, Pelosi seems to actually believe that politicians should have ethics and it very interesting how Dem leadership treats ethical lapses and how Boehner does.
This seems like exactly characteristic of the kind of leadership Nancy Pelois has always adhered to.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@FeFiFo: Nikki Haley, but so far the allegations of affairs haven’t gained a lot of traction. IOKIYAR.
jrg
Good lord. That Peggy Noonan article has to be the most contemptible pile of tripe I’ve seen in a while. Can you imagine someone writing “People need second chances, and thirds, and fourths.” in the WSJ in defense of a rapist? Or hell, someone caught with crack cocaine?
The fact that people like Noonan simply cannot comprehend the seriousness of Lay’s crimes really speaks to how the masters of the universe understand the world. I can only assume that since Noonan does not have to worry about money, she cannot comprehend how devastating white collar crime can be.
shortstop
@FeFiFo: Well, there was Helen Chenoweth, who was one of Bill Clinton’s pee-pee’s biggest critics while having a certain inability to keep her own legs crossed outside of her marriage. But that exception is so weak as to strengthen the rule.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
I don’t think we should assume she’s doing just fine based on a few quotes in a news story. I also don’t think we should be plotting her future in journalism for her, just as the Post and Politico and the rest of them should not be hassling her.
Jazz Superluminar
@OzoneR
there’s really nothing that needs to be added to that quote, is there?
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
Hope she can stay just fine with Breitbart, Malkin, and Douthat camping out in her living roon, taking turns waterboarding her for more info on top of her own granite countertops.
Her life is going to be wrecked. They’ll go after every single person that she has ever dated, every employer she’s ever worked for, every person she’s gone to school with.
Dirty laundry, guys. Don Henley wrote some truth about that shit a while back.
catpal
I think Steve Benen at Washington Monthly summed it up best
C.J.
@OzoneR:
. . .I wish I wasn’t young, so I wouldn’t have to see the slow degradation of the American consciousness.
Arundel
As Doug says, it’s not your fault, Chat Noir. And that’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the recession, our national employment situation. We’ve had 30 years of getting rid of jobs, weakening and demonizing unions, etc. It was systemic, it was on purpose. And so many people, millions, are struggling, and they all are made to feel as if it’s their own fault, some personal failing. It isn’t, but thinking of millions all feeling that way in their own indvividual lives is a sad thing to think of. Be strong, best to you.
Doug Harlan J
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
She’s handled it with unusual aplomb, I don’t apologize for respecting that. I work with a lot of younger people and, about one out of ten you meet, you say “this person kicks ass, I would hire this person”. I’d say that about her.
danimal
I loved this post, but I may never forgive DougJ for that Noonan link. Acckkkkk.
stevie lizard
You’re sweet but you’re just four feet and you still got your baby teeth…
Mike Kay (True Grit)
As Aesop would say, never text/twitter pics of your junk.
He says he did this with six women. I guess one of them got pissed and turned him in.
arguingwithsignposts
The missing thing about this, as someone just mentioned on MSNBC is that Breitbart says he has other, more compromising photos, of Weiner. What’s the odds on him dribbling those photos out over the next few weeks/months, or holding them over Weiner’s head to keep him quiet?
TooManyJens
@jrg:
Well, yes, if that rapist was famous enough and was generally the “right” sort of person.
Eric k
Three thoughts
1) this is really not a big deal
2) wiener really made it worse by dragging it out, when will politicians learn that they just need to get everything out right away so it is just one news cycle?
3) I really never got why Chris Lee resigned so quickly, seems like he could have fought through it, all I can guess is there must have been worse stuff he was afraid would come out.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory:
This.
Weiner just gave Breitbart the farm with this. Sherrod-gate is no more, all anyone will remember for the next year or so is that he successfully outed Weiner as a perv, and that means he’s the goddamned most Brilliant Truthteller and Journalist in forever.
And that means we get to look forward to unchallenged ratfucking up to the election.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Does this mean Weiner won’t be the keynote speaker at next week’s Netroot Nation conference?
I hope he doesn’t cancel. I want to ask him why he hates the Palestinians.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Eric k:
1. There’s a difference btwn flirting (even sexting) and going beyond that and soliciting sex.
2. It was later disclosed that he had been replying to ads specifically placed by trannies.
Villago Delenda Est
@danimal:
I think people need to be reminded, on a frequent basis, just what an amoral sack of shit Noonan is, and how she is so typical of the media “personalities” that producers have on their Rolodexes to provide depraved opinions on cable “news” shows.
jrg
@TooManyJens:
Good point.
Doug Harlan J
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
The second is why he resigned. Still…I’d rather he not have.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
That’s an easy one. Because he’s expected to given the district he represents.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FeFiFo: I’ve seen different rumors about Susan Collins, that she has a married lover who’s in an open marriage, and that she is living proof that it is in fact possible to fuck one’s brains out.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
I betting the NYC chapter of Critical-Mass set him up because Weiner wanted to eliminate the bike lanes in New York.
Citizen Alan
@FeFiFo:
Niki Haley, off the top of my head. IIRC, there was a Republican Congresswoman who got famously bitchy about Clinton-Lewinsky and then it came out she was having an affair herself, but I can’t remember her name. Rumors of infidelity by Sarah Palin have been swirling for years, but since the Queen can do no wrong, no one has really looked into them.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Citizen Alan: Helen Chenoweth
kay
@lamh34:
Obama should take the question (from Jake Tapper). He’d do well with that.
He’ll be all decent and restrained and mildly sorrowful.
They’ll hate that, so he should take it :)
Mike Kay (True Grit)
I hope this is a teachable moment bloggers.
The next time some Dem gets into trouble, don’t immediately run in to defend the person. Let it play out.
alwhite
sent just now:
Thanks a lot!
You arrogant son-of-a-bitch. We are currently engaged in a battle for the life of the United States. Are we going to continue down the path to a third world nation or are we finally going to turn this shit around. You are one of the few Democrats that actually was a reliable voice for improvement. And now you have pissed that away – AND FOR WHAT? Do you clowns in DC live in such a bubble of ass-kissers that you think young women are just dieing for a picture of your dick? Are you so self-involved that you can completely ignore your wife, your family and your country?
So what are you going to do now smart guy? Quit & allow some blew dog Democrat or a real Republican take your seat? I hope you stay but, of course, your voice will always be accompanied with “dick-picture-tweeter” and you know the right will use that to avoid having to defend the crap they have in store for us.
Thanks, thanks a whole hell of a lot.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
@Doug Harlan J:
Really, based on a few tweets? Two weeks ago I would have said that Anthony Weiner, based on his confident public persona, “kicks ass,” at least in certain ways. I’ve also met people who put on a good public face but were hurting underneath it all. I think we should be cautious about drawing conclusions about Ms. Cordova.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@alwhite:
you misspelled dying.
OzoneR
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
That should make winning the message war easier the next time someone is accused falsely of doing something.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
I still can’t understand how the blogosphere thought Weinerish was “a reliable voice for improvement”. He voted for the Iraq war. He accomplished nothing in his 12 years in Congress.
He improved nothing, and only helped to make Iraq a killing field that drained the US of blood and treasure.
arguingwithsignposts
I’m just glad that Weinergate moved this blog away from all the Bully Pulpit shouting that was going on earlier today. Although I’m sure it will be back soon enough.
kay
@alwhite:
Pelosi is going to force him out if his scandal threatens to harm her House members, so if there are more pics.
She’s not going to put up with days of drip drip drip.
And she should, actually, IMO, because that’s her role. But don’t get mad at her. You wanted a tough leader, and she is that.
She looks pissed. I’d be a little nervous if I were him.
harlana
If Weiner truly was technically faithful to his wife throughout all their marriage, then I think Weinergate has ushered into the spotlight a fascinating, technology-driven debate regarding the “new cheating”: cyber-infidelity. I predict a CNN special.
/s
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@OzoneR: how do you know the accusation is false?
Isn’t that the problem?
You only damage your credibility and ability to defend people actually innocent in the future by rushing in to defend the likes of Edwards and Weiner.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@arguingwithsignposts: If Weiner had only used the bully pulpit he would have beat the rap.
El Cid
@shortstop: It’s a strange thing that in discussions of the fake, racist, and surrendercrat takedown of ACORN, nobody ever talked about what they actually did for poor communities and what would happen in their absence with no remaining coordinated national advocacy.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@kay: well said. Too bad overly emotional bloggers don’t understand that. The ususal suspects are already screaming about how can she be going after a “progressive hero” when she took impeachment off the table.
Villago Delenda Est
@kay:
Luke: “I’m not afraid”
Yoda: “You will be.”
OzoneR
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
you don’t, you risk your credibility doing it, sure, but at least said person has a defense structure if they happen to be wrongly accused of something.
Imagine if Obama’s supporters had sit back when people were accusing him of being anti-American during the Rev. Wright saga. Would he be President today if there was no pushback from supporters? I don’t know.
And there was a risk that a tape would come out of him saying “America sucks because of white people” or something. It’s a risk you take, but the left fights for a much weaker position and needs all the backup it can get.
lacp
I WAS AT WEINERFEST 2011 AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS SHITTY TWEETED PIC
Doug Harlan J
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
Fair enough.
mattH
Too bad wenis has an anatomical definition. Now we’ll have to differentiate between “w”enis and “W”enis.
harlana
@Chat Noir: As someone who has been exactly where you are now, up until very recently, I sincerely hope your break comes soon.
We are all of us ordinary people, “losers” in the game these assholes are playing, at least, if they get their way. Not sure how much longer we can shove the unemployed and underemployed under the deficit panic rug.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i didn’t ride high and mighty to weiner’s defense. i was however extremely skeptical, because the name brietbart was attached to it. i will be next time. i don’t think there will be any long term damage, other than elevating brietbart from pond scum to brackish swamprat
Citizen Alan
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Ah yes! Thank you.
gnomedad
Can we start pointing out repeatedly that Breitbart saying something true once in while when it’s in his in his interest doesn’t make him less of a liar?
Judas Escargot
At long last– Our veiny, turgid pulsing National nightmare is finally over. May the healing begin.
(As always, xkcd has the appropriate response.)
Suffern ACE
@OzoneR: Yep. It will pretty much play out that the Dems will just resign at the allegation. Although my guess is that there is a caveat here…bloggers should only ignore rumors being spread about Dems Michael Kay doesn’t like. Progressive heros and whatnot.
OzoneR
@Suffern ACE:
Cory Booker, who had aggressively defended Weiner, said this evening “I’d rather be wrong than cynical”
I think it makes sense. Having no pushback from supporters is why Shirley Sherrod got canned. The Ag Dept. saw a firestorm in the works.
if we’re just sitting around with extinguishers waiting to see if the fire is arson or not, why wouldn’t Dems just abandon the building?
El Cid
@OzoneR:
That’s not in any way analogous to the Weiner-twit. It’s not even the same category of activity or locus of accusations.
That would be more like Breitbart / Swiftboaters showing some e-mail or fax or letter or whatever from Obama to someone (a younger follower he didn’t know well?) with Obama saying or doing something, um, inappropriately maybe un-American(?). A photo of him holding a lighter underneath a US flag but not actually lighting it, as a joke.
(I can’t off the top of my head make this any more parallel to the Weiner sort of sexually-related e-bothering.)
And defending Obama or not would have zero impact on whether or not the communication was real; though I guess you’d take all the steps to make it known how Swiftboater was a completely non-credible and repeatedly fraudulent source.
Instead you’d focus mostly on trying to get people to understand that it was an obvious joke. (Again, if you can make this more similar to someone sending uninvited and contextually more than inappropriate sexuallish photos, go ahead.)
Going all out to at first claim it wasn’t true rather than some demand of having it be proven makes you look like idiots and partisan hacks and not credible yourselves — if it turned out to be true complete with tearful apology by Obama.
Midnight Marauder
@gnomedad:
Because this message should be front and center so long as this fucking inane story is driving the news cycle.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Suffern ACE:
When did Palestinian-hating-Iraqi-invasion Weiner become a progressive, much less a hero?
dogwood
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Good point. Weiner as “progressive hero” is baffling to me. He’s a cable news liberal. If I lived in his district, I’d be more than happy to vote for a decent alternative Dem. in the primary. I’m all for second and third chances, but that applies to your private life. I hope for his sake his wife, family and friends forgive him. As far as his public life goes, he’s a fool who humiliated himself and he should go away. It’s not just the sexual nature of the photo(s), it’s the juvenile nature of it all. He’s embarrassed that he got caught, but obviously he wasn’t embarrassed about sending the goofy pictures in the first place. No dignity, and no class.
Ghanima Atreides
@lamh34:
Look. The tweetee SAID Weiner did not send HER the pic, she said it was retweeted to her by pusa76 who had previously harrarssed her.
it is just more boring obsessive conservative crotch-sniffing.
That is contemporary american conservatism in a nutshell. (heh)
Penises and Jesuses.
OzoneR
@dogwood:
Anthony Weiner hasn’t faced a primary since 1998, when he won the open seat beating two even more Palestinian-hating Democrats.
This is Jewish Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Electchester, Kew Gardens Hills, Oakland Gardens, Midwood, Brighton Beach. This is cop and firefighter-populated Rockaway, Howard Beach, Middle Village, Maspeth, Marine Park, Mill Basin. This is probably the most right wing Democratic district in the country. Obama performed eight points worse in this district than he did statewide in New York.
Ghanima Atreides
o ratz moderation.
/sadface
Richard Fox
I am waiting for Master Breitbart to start speaking about himself in the third person. This is always a sign of gentility and grace under pressure.
It is not about the Congressman, after all.
On a side note this evening I am watching a few Poirot Mysteries, and the news cycle can blather on till the balloon deflates. Good night, all.
dogwood
@OzoneR:
I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying he’s the only Dem. who can win in that district? If so then that’s fine. But if that’s the case, then it would seem a moderate Rep. could beat him, if there is any fallout from this scandal.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@OzoneR: you know on 2nd thought, I think more thought is needed on this issue.
lets be real, bloggers didn’t come to his defense because he’s a Democrat, or even because they loath Breitbart, but because they like Weiner for his rants (certainly not his voting record).
but what if Weiner was disliked or a low profile, unknown pol — the blogosphere’s response would have been mild if not non existent. I mean, the blogosphere didn’t run to defend Charlie Rangel over his financial issues. And unlike Weiner, Rangel voted against the Iraq invasion, and he doesn’t demoize Palestinians.
But we should think about this. Should the blogosphere mount a vigorous defense every time a Dem is under fire, even if the Dem isn’t well known or well liked?
It’s something to think about, because right now, there is no consistency, no strategy. It’s all ad hoc.
slag
I, for one, totally dig this particular brand of sanctimony. Because it’s true.
Observer
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned the “one fry short of a happy meal” comment he directed towards fellow Dem Alan Grayson back in 2009.
That’s all you need to know about Anthony Weiner.
Not worth fighting for.
dogwood
@Observer:
Yup. I believe he also claimed that President Obama “lacked values”, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Observer:
I wonder if Matt Stoller had a cow over that.
alwhite
@kay:
I certainly wouldn’t blame her if he is damaging the work that needs to be done. The only person to be mad at – the dipshit that made all of this trouble, the moron that allows Dimbart to crow like the tiny cock he is, the self-obsessed dick who put his ego ahead of everything else – is the little Wiener himself.
dogwood
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
For the true believers no matter the political persuasion, rhetoric is all that matters. This became obvious to me in ’08 when progressives went gaga over John Edwards who was talking a great game about poverty etc. but had a reliable Blue Dog voting record in the Senate. Hell, I still see Ron Paul sign from the last election around town. There’s a guy who has been in Congress forever and hasn’t accomplished a damn thing other than bring home some pork for his district. But he’s a “libertarian hero”. Go figure. Too many people who are political junkies don’t care enough about what gets done. They just want their anger validated by their leaders. Weiner is good at that.
Cerberus
@Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory:
I have to admit agreeing with that.
Breitbart up until this point had a 100% fail rate and was still getting 24/7 media hoover action on his dick.
But now?
The media has been looking for anything they can sell to make him “legitimate” and until now they’ve had to reference him in ways that make anyone but the low-information voters go “that lying jackass?”
Now, however he has one hit and if we’ve seen anything from the media with regards to conservatives who stumble on one genuine information break, this is bad bad news.
I mean, look at Drudge’s status after his one win and the media wasn’t so utterly desperately to make him their star as they have been for Breitbart.
It’s going to get ugly and if we thought he was shameless before?
Fuck, it’s just getting started.
DPirate
I agree with the OP, but this girl is a “big girl” too. She’s made her bed here, also. I say that as it seems she’s involved with a married man here, but whatever…
Yeah, american politics is just a sideshow in the carnival. If Weiner wants to tout his weiner, why not? If Craig wants to suck dick in the toilet, so what? The Stupid is overwhelming.
OzoneR
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Matt who?
AxelFoley
@dogwood:
Yup, that was, what, less than two months ago?
Karma, Weiner. Karma.
John Puma
Weiner is expendable.
The problem is that his idiocy has validated:
1) the radical reich’s chronic “false equivalency” self-defense, and
2) Breitbart
Thank for nothin’ Anthony!