Dear lord, make it stop.
Reader Interactions
91Comments
Comments are closed.
by John Cole| 91 Comments
This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment, Our Failed Political Establishment, Serenity Now!, Seriously
Dear lord, make it stop.
Comments are closed.
cleek
blech.
sigh
it’s like picking a scab.
biff diggerence
Laura Kipnis needs a job.
Violet
I see we’ve now reached the point in the drama where it’s time for the scholarly lesson. I think that means, barring any new titillating photos, that the story is winding down.
C.J.
Oh yeah, that’s why I hate Slate.
Amy
Why, oh, why, are a bunch of Democrats going after Weiner?
Do they want to raise Breitbart’s stature and clout, by helping him drive a tough Democrat out of office?
Or have they been secretly jealous of Joe Lieberman for having dissed President Clinton years ago?
Dave
Glad to see our media is covering the important stories and ignoring the fluff like the Republicans threatening to crash the economy. Well done, Laura.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
PeakVT
I stopped after “What we can learn from…” because experience has taught me that I’ll actually end up dumber after reading a piece with that phrase in the title.
Mattminus
@Amy:
I think you’re misreading this. It has nothing to do with the village or teh republicans. My take is that this is about old school party discipline. Weiner apparently didn’t make a lot of friends on his way up, and certainly didn’t do his party any favors with the way he handled the pr crisis. Paybacks a bitch.
Fred
Just a matter of time before another shiny object comes along and the media moves on.
atlliberal
If we don’t click on these stories they will stop writing them.(eventually) The more page views they get, the longer the story will last. I have stopped going there. (except just now when I clicked on John’s link )
Cat Lady
I thank the everloving grace and majesty of the FSM for being born a Bruins fan these past few days. Along with having a mother in the midst of a health crisis, I’ll I know is something something weiner something something, and that our media sucks weiner.
sukabi
the “media” is busy flogging their Weiner, in public… soooooo, what does that say about them?
Dave
@Mattminus: Yeah…as much as his on-air slagging of the GOP made him a favorite with us, he has a rep in the House as being a careerist, looking out for himself first and foremost. How that makes him different than any other politician…?
OzoneR
@Amy:
Weiner already did that.
Fred
@PeakVT: Same here. Saw the fuzzy still of video of a blackberry screen yesterday and vowed to not partake in that drug today.
What exactly is brietbart doing walking around with boner videos on his cell phone? Seems to me he is a little too excited about that video if you know what I mean.
Culture of Truth
No thanks
Josie
Did you really have to include the link? Did you really think I wanted to read that dreck? You could have just summed it up with a pithy statement, such as “A wet bird never flies at night,” or something.
kc
Dude, it’s Slate – what did you expect?
Fred
@Mattminus: Yup, I think you are right. I didn’t realize he was this unpopular until now. It’s times like this when you find out who their real friends are.
danimal
One good thing about this nontroversy is that it has stolen the oxygen from the Republicans hostage strategy. That strategy only works if Dems are in a panic over the debt ceiling not getting passed. Instead, the Dems are in a panic over a Democratic congressional member. Panicky Dems make bad deals.
We have a few weeks until the financial markets start to panic over the debt crisis. And once Wall Street puts the screws on, the GOP leverage is gone, daddy, gone. The dangerous time for progressives is right now, while the Dems are acting like solid adults and the GOP can still get away with their Dr. Evil schtick.
At least for a few days, Weiner has cast a big shadow over the really important issues, and that may be a good thing.
Amir_Khalid
I looked over Kipnis’ story. (Sigh…) All those words used, and so little said. I’d have spiked the damned thing, if I were her editor, and told her: “Don’t write about this unless you’ve got something to say.”
daveNYC
@PeakVT:
The only answer to that is ‘Don’t send pictures of your junk over your twitter account.’ Laura has some mad skillz since she was able to write two pages of psychobable bullshit instead.
TooManyJens
@Mattminus: That’s my take on it as well. He made a lot of people look like fools for standing by him, plus his idiot pen|s pics and his lies about them drove the Republicans’ plan to end Medicare right out of the headlines. He deserves all the party discipline he gets.
jwb
@atlliberal: That was my thought too: I fucking gave Slate another click which they will interpret as interest in this stupid story. Sigh.
A Humble Lurker
#Smacks head against desk repeatedly# Our newscorpse is so sexually repressed it’s not even funny. I say we chip in to get them all hookers so they can see for themselves why and stop writing stupid shit like this.
MattR
@OzoneR: No. Weiner started it. But Amy’s point is still spot on about others also ehlping elevate Breitbart.
Violet
@Fred:
Breitbart is creepy. I had the TV on this morning and the sound muted. He popped up on the screen so I watched him for a few moments. He looks like he’s three days short of a bath — stubble, greasy hair. His demeanor is that of a high school kid’s when they’ve stumbled across some good dirt on someone, especially if it involves naked photos. His body language is both aggressive and defensive. It’s a creepy combination for an adult in his 40’s. I sure wouldn’t let him near, say, a 16 year old girl.
I’m sure he’s got skeletons in his closet. Anyone have any idea what they might be?
justawriter
“every erection tells a story”
The problem is that it’s usually just the same old story … “I kept running back and forth in this hot, dark, wet cave until I threw up.”
WereBear
What have we learned?
Not to do it again!
Culture of Truth
An actual skeleton
Ash Can
@biff diggerence:
She appears to have one too many as it is. Maybe what she needs is a hobby.
OzoneR
@MattR:
He’s already been elevated, whether Weiner resigns or not is irrelevant, he’s already ruined.
different church-lady
I hope everyone remembers this set of comments the next time we get one of the boilerplate “we’ll be better off when newspapers are dead and new media takes over” posts.
Admiral_Komack
@cleek:
At least they didn’t mention “head cheese”.
Culture of Truth
And yet ‘erection story time’ at the kids library was a flop
Admiral_Komack
@justawriter:
Oh, come now.
MattR
@OzoneR: Making this story bigger and more newsworthy continues to elevate (and validate) Breitbart even further.
OzoneR
@MattR:
this story can’t get any bigger, if it can, it’ll only get better if he DOESN’T resign.
Admiral_Komack
@Mattminus:
THIS.
Tim, Interrupted
@Amy:
Seriously: THIS. Nacncy Pelosi can bite the big one. What a tool. Of course, this self-destruction and turning on one’s own members when they should be lashing out at Republican and media hypocrisy is par for the course.
Steve
I appreciate the commentary-free link to something John didn’t want to read and none of us want to read either. I am in awe of John’s mastery of the blogging game.
different church-lady
@OzoneR:
Didn’t Barny Frank have a gay affair with a male prostitute? In the mid 80s, with levels of homophobia far higher than today? That got investigated by the house ethics committee?
How ruined was he?
MattR
@OzoneR:
Whether this pun was intentional or not, well done.
However I disagree with your assessment. IMO, forcing a Congressman to resign clearly elevates things.
@different church-lady: A good example that I think helps illustrate the point I was trying to make.
Violet
@different church-lady:
That scandal was nothing without photos.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
@Violet: Culture of Truth has perhaps the best answer.
I know nothing about the guy, but he comes off as a trust fund baby with a longtime family history of substance abuse and sexual violence.
I agree with you that I wouldn’t let him near a sixteen year old girl, but would add on and say I wouldn’t leave him along with any child of any gender or age. He strikes me as the kind of guy who is prone to toddler-killing fits of rage (and some of what he’s published about his own behavior definitely supports that contention).
kd bart
Show me, on the doll, where Anthony Weiner’s penis touched you.
cleek
@Amy:
because that’s what politicians do – they run like hell from morally-tainted people lest some of that taint rub off on themselves.
(yes yes, the morals in question are selective and do not include, for example, bombing innocents)
Ash Can
@Violet: I wouldn’t want him around any kids, of any gender or age.
ETA: Whiskey Screams got there first. I still second the sentiment, though.
Mattminus
@Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory:
This is as dumb as the things the right is saying about Weiner. The fact that you don’t like someone’s politics or method does not make them a dangerous sexual predator.
Or do you have frist-like powers of telediagnosis?
jinxtigr
A wet bird has a PENIS in the hand at night.
…a splendid time is guaranteed for all!
Jay in Oregon
@Violet:
“Afterwards, authorities would find the skins of young children hanging in his attic, and we’d see his wife on CNN, saying, ‘I always wondered about Jesse’s collection of little shoes.’ ”
–Bill Hicks on Jesse Helms
Brachiator
@A Humble Lurker:
No, it’s more that the media is composed of professional hypocrites. Reporters and politicians in the Village and elsewhere use the same escort services, visit the same brothels and sometimes even have the same groupies. But the media has learned to pretend to be shocked, shocked that bad behavior is going on.
@MattR:
We’re way beyond that now. As I noted in another post, yesterday Breitbart was doing his media victory lap. He flew into Los Angeles and appeared on the John and Ken afternoon drive time talk radio show. John and Ken are huge in this market. Huge.
I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the segment, but before and after the segment, the hosts were clearly gleeful to be on board for the Weiner Roast.
But here is the double sad thing. One person I commute with was talking about slurs and innuendo directed at Weiner’s wife. He loves this kind of stuff and claims that he got it from some cable news show, but was unclear about which one (and I didn’t really care to get into the details on this crap).
So, in a way, it doesn’t matter anymore whether the media drops the story and moves on to something else. The aura of taint will still remain and worse, people will easily elaborate even more sordid details and spread the lies via email and blogs from now and for years to come. And yeah, there might even be a page on Snopes with the facts, but this will be far outweighed by the heaps of crap.
Pooh
“we’re joined by the author of ‘Hostage/Terrorist, Terrorist/Hostage: A Study in Duality’…”
Just Some Fuckhead
The only thing that can save us now is a scandal involving Congressman Butts.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
This is the schlong that never ends …
Cheer up Cole, at least Camille Paglia hasn’t inflicted her opinions upon this weary old world. (Please note, if she has I don’t want to hear about it. Shut up. Piss off. Shoo.)
Poopyman
Since the MSM seems to be blindly (again) taking Breitbart at his word about a pic he has on his own cellphone, is there any confirmation that it is truly Weiner’s weiner? Has anyone even raised the question?
Joel
That’s what you get for reading Slate.
Ash Can
@Mattminus: He may not be a sexual predator, but it’s not crazy to not want a professional liar and character assassin to have any influential contact with impressionable minds. And if he’s prone to fits of rage, that’s an additional issue, whether or not it leads to physical violence.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
Remember the Clinton years? Same old schlong and dance.
JPL
@Poopyman: I saw a few minutes of the View and Joy Behar raised that question.
WereBear
@different church-lady: Yeah, right! Like FAUX and CNN are better.
Point is, on television, there is NOTHING ELSE until Current TV gets more of a toehold. And that’s what I regard as new media; not new places, but new voices.
PeakVT
Win.
WereBear
@Just Some Fuckhead: Indeed. The schlong remains the same.
Suffern ACE
A few years ago wasn’t there a moral panic about kids sexting, or did I miss that. Turns out that to the surprise of Slate and almost no one else, that adults do that too, and probably for the same reasons. I wonder why Slate just didn’t take one of its old sexting stories and just replace instances of “teenager” with “powerful men” and save themselves the dime of hiring someone to right an a new piece.
Suffern ACE
A few years ago wasn’t there a moral panic about kids sexting, or did I miss that. Turns out that to the surprise of Slate and almost no one else, that adults do that too, and probably for the same reasons. I wonder why Slate just didn’t take one of its old sexting stories and just replace instances of “teenager” with “powerful men” and save themselves the dime of hiring someone to write a new piece.
Mark D
What. The. Fuck?
So this twit had no idea prior to this incident that people might — just maybe, possibly, perhaps — do things in private involving their (GASP!) naughty bits? And that this is some sort of research opportunity for her to find out what, exactly, people do when alone or with someone else (or multiples someones)?
What fucking universe has she been inhabiting? People have been doing stuff like this FORFUCKINGEVER. The only thing that has changed is the delivery/distribution method.
I simply cannot believe that there people really this goddamn clueless, and desperate for a column. Just … holy shit. That piece is a truly a special kind of stupid.
http://clarkstooksbury.blogspot.com/
Slate is worthless, but at least Kaus is gone.
Just Some Fuckhead
Tweet a Schlong by the Carpenters
Tweet, tweet a schlong
Tweet it proud, in a thong.
Tweet your hard thing not shy
Tweet yer happy little guy
Tweet, tweet a schlong
Make it sexy to last a news cycle long
Don’t worry that it’s not big enough
For the village to respect
Just tweet, tweet your schlong
La la la la la
La la la la la la…
Tweet, tweet a schlong
Let the world tweet along
Tweet of lust there could be
Tweet for you and for me
Tweet, tweet a schlong
Make it sexy to last a news cycle long
Don’t worry that it’s not big enough
For the village to respect
Just tweet, tweet your schlong
Just tweet, tweet your schlong
Just tweet, tweet your schlong
La la la la la
La la la la la la…
Thoughtcrime
@Just Some Fuckhead:
“All around the world the same schlong”
(Genital Underground, “Same Schlong”, from the album “Rep’s Erection”)
Thoughtcrime
@Thoughtcrime:
Oh, and knock yourself out with those lyrics.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Breitbart is a racist piece of shit, period full stop.
I wouldn’t let him anywhere near my (grown) daughters.
I, however, would LOVE to spend a few minutes alone with him , if you catch my drift…
Tonybrown74
@Mattminus:
I believe this conversation is about Breitbart, Not Anthony Weiner
Mattminus
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
Wow, a lot of you guys are no different than the posters at Free Republic. You just wear a different color jersey.
Poopyman
@JPL: Oh great. So it’s me, Joy Behar and no one else?
Great.
sukabi
@Poopyman: I know everyone is after their 15 minutes in the spotlight… but I find it interesting that Breitbart’s ended up with a “treasure trove” of what were supposedly private tweets / fb postings of Weiner’s wacktivities… and no one is asking how or where he got them…
John Cole
@Amy:
And to think you all continued to laugh at me when I said Weiner was done, after being wrong for days that he had done this.
They are going after him because they are not thinking about tribal loyalty like Republicans, they are going after him because each of them thinks of themselves first. He’s in a seat that will be redistricted out, they are sick and tired of being asked questions about him, he apparently did not pay his dues, he was apparently not well liked within the caucus, there are those who think they can gain in their own way by distancing themselves from him, it is easier for all of them if he just goes away, and because, most of all, politicians, when they smell blood, have the same fight or flight response everyone else has. They’ll either run from him or go in for the kill.
As soon as Weiner admitted to the pics and the lying, it was obvious he was done. Period. The fact that his wide is pregnant while he was doing this, the fact that there will be a steady drip-drip-drip of more women coming forward, and the fact that every day presents the opportunity for more pics to be released and dominate the news only assures this.
Again, I’m not saying this because I hate the man and want him gone. I’m not saying I agree with the way we treat sex and stuff like this in this country. I’m simply saying this is the current state of affairs, and after decades of living in Republican fantasy land, I’m embracing reality and recognize that Weiner is a dead man walking.
It’s not hard to see this, really.
JPL
@John Cole: There is no way of knowing what tweets were before or after his marriage. Weiner stated that his wife had knowledge of tweets before his marriage. We know the underwear tweet was recent but that is all.
I’m just tired of hearing about the tweets.
sukabi
@JPL: what people should be focusing on is why is the media letting Breitbart, the panty sniffer, run the show… he’s a known liar.
A Humble Lurker
@Brachiator:
Oh come now. Is there a reason it can’t be both?
jimbob
@Tonybrown74: Some people above are splitting the difference and are talking about taint.
JPL
@sukabi: As if that will happen..hahahahahahahahahahaha
sukabi
@JPL: I know… it’s depressing as hell…. so we get endless talk / speculation about what one guy was doing – ALONE IN A ROOM BY HIMSELF…
It’s beyond ridiculous.
And before any of you get on your high horses and spout off about “he lied to ME!!!” or “his judgment is questionable” a little reminder… HE’S NOT YOUR HUSBAND.
Far bigger lies are told EVERY FUCKING DAY by every one of our elected officials that are having DIRE CONSEQUENCES for the entire country, but by all means focus on the one guy jerking off.
grandpajohn
@Amy:
Its part of the oath you have to take to be a dem politician
Pooh
@Thoughtcrime:
Hey, Tupac debuted on that track, how dare you?
grandpajohn
@PeakVT: @PeakVT:
What I learned from it was that people in positions of governing sometimes do some stupid things. Of course since I am 74 years old, I learned this during one of Eisenhower’s terms of office.
I wish someone had written one of these articles during the Vitter scandal so I could have found out what I was supposed to have learned from grown men wearing diapers, but since he wasn’t a Democrat, I guess I wasn’t supposed to learn anything about the foibles of republican politicians
WyldPirate
@Mattminus:
You must be new here. There are a lot of asswipes that do this on this blog; usually in an unjustified defense of some Obama fuck-up or a fuck-up by someone else in the Democratic hierarchy.
trouble is most of them can’t feel the log in their own eye for bitching about the speck in someone else’s eye–specifically extreme partisans on the right who they are the mirror image of.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@WereBear: You & JSF both win the internets. You’ll just have to share.
grandpajohn
@Brachiator:
Only when the politician has a (D)after his name. Did the MSM spend 2 weeks of 24 hour coverage on the Ensign affair? The governator? Diaperman Vitter? any of the other recent Republican scandals? I think not.
Jennifer
Not to toot my own horn or anything…
…well, OK, to do EXACTLY that…
…but I posted what I thought was a pretty good comment over there in response to that claptrap.
eemom
actually — not to beat a dead horse or anything — he’s more of a limp dick dangling.
Brachiator
@grandpajohn: RE: But the media has learned to pretend to be shocked, shocked that bad behavior is going on.
Just not true. Especially here in California, various media sites took a special glee in causing pain not only to the Governator, but also to his wife and family. The Arnold story was also international. Nobody outside the US gives a rat’s ass about any Congressman or Senator.
And the tabloids paid big money for the first photos of Arnold’s love child. And note here that I don’t have any special love for Schwarzenegger, but I am deeply disgusted by the media hounds who clearly did not give a shit about any pain or embarrassment that they might cause to Arnie’s son, and they took a special glee in remarking on the plainness of the woman that Schwarzenegger had the affair with.
The viciousness of the media is not just measured by the amount of time that they devote to a scandal. And there are things that concern me more than the political tit for tat.