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This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
Pelosi, Steve Israel, and DWS have now joined the list of people calling on Weiner to resign, and the revelation that authorities talked to a 17 year old that he had texted all about seals the deal for Weiner. He’s a dead man walking, and will be out by Tuesday.
*** Update ***
And now he is off to rehab. This is just sad.
Comments are closed.
[…] Congressman Weiner was stupid. If he were an run-of-the-mill employee in private industry or civil service, he likely would have been disciplined, possibly fired, by now. Indeed, by the time this posts, he may well be gone. […]
McGeorge Bundy
That’s about right.
4tehlulz
Obligatory David Vitter comment.
JPL
Yup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BGinCHI
Tune in tomorrow for another edition of MSNBC’s “Spitzer and Weiner Report.”
The tag for the show could be: Investigative Reporting by those in the know.
Takes one to know one.
Jade Jordan
The 17 year old twitted him about how she liked the graduation speech he did at her school. He responded knowing she was in high school or had just graduated. According to the girl and her mom no explicit or unprofessional messages. They do not want 15 minutes of fame.
As a good friend to Bill Clinton I think he stays.
Violet
Weren’t the communications with the 17 year old girl DMs in Twitter, not texts? What I read last night was that the police interviewed her, her family, and looked at her computer and phone and determined that the communications were innocuous.
With everyone ganging up on him, I’m kind of rooting for him to tough it out. He’s a creep, but has he broken any laws? Should probably go to take the attention off his story, I guess.
WereBear
My Twitter feed features my face, but sending out a picture of any other body part would flatly not occur to me. Ever.
Xboxershorts
John Cole Cartoons (no relation other than a disdain for bullshit)
http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/johncole/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/060911coletoon.jpg
“Stick a fork in him”
lamh34
ya know what this Weiner shit is just starting to get ridiculous. I’m not gonna link to it, but this has officially jumped the shark. Now some writer on the Daily Beast is comparing Rep Weiner to Martin Luther King Jr.
First of all, let put aside the cheating aspect of this and compare the accomplishments of MLK to Weiner!!!! Seriously, this supposed defense of Weiner is just a insult to the work that MLK did to advance Civil Rights. What the hell has Weiner done of late other than send a picture of his dick to some women on twitter.
Ughh.
Valdivia
I cannot for the life of me understand why in hell did he DM a 17 year old? Even if it was all innocent talk, why do it? Has he not heard about jail-bait? Seen L&O SVU?
lamh34
I know Rachel Maddow on her show last night went out of her way to say that Weiner’s contact with that 17 year old on paper was not a story.
I bet Pelois, DWS and Israel all are thinking what I was thinking, and what you could kinda see in Maddow’s eyes. This “contact” with the 17 year old while maybe completely “innocent and not illicit” as Weiner spox said last night, but the optics of this is not good.
JonF
Weiner should replace Schultz, but thats just me.
And for the record, the cops didn’t find anything inappropriate in his msgs with the 17 year old(neither did her folks).
Davis X. Machina
Don’t tell DU. They’ll all have to go on suicide watch. Their preferred progressive primary challenger self-immolates?
It’ll be Comet Hale-Bopp all over again.
nancydarling
For the sake of Huma and the baby which may or not be on the way, I hope he rides it out, especially if that is what his constituency wants.
jwb
@lamh34: Bad optics, yes, and Cole’s write up here was worthy of Drudge.
Valdivia
@JonF:
not to belabor the point but no matter how innocent it was how reckless do you have to be sending private messages on twitter to an underage girl. why even do it?
I can tell you from experience, as a professor, a female one at that, I never ever once closed the door when meeting students, specially freshmen. Just have some common sense, specially if you are a public official.
Violet
A politician shouldn’t be DMing with anyone he or she doesn’t know personally, even if they are innocent tweets.
If he’d DM’d with a local 17 year old neighbor girl about arrangements for her to come over to take care of their cat or dog while he and his wife were out of town, would anyone think anything of it? Probably not really. It’s the communications with someone he doesn’t know, and who is 17, that is kind of creepy.
jwb
@Valdivia: Sending private messages is the equivalent of closing the door? Um, there’s a paper trail with private messages so it’s not at all like a closed door.
Nina
Mr Weiner’s spokeswoman sounds 100% confident that Mr Weiner is telling the absolute truth this time too!
stuckinred
He should issue a statement that he’ll step down one minute after Vitter does.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Valdivia: Sometimes paranoia is just good sense.
Valdivia
@Violet:
exactly. and look once you’ve read his other dm’s and texts with the rest of the women you can see how this guy just likes to take things to that other level very quickly. he seems not to be able to control it so why even do it? why go there? makes no sense to me.
Xboxershorts
@Valdivia:
No kidding, as a recent divorcee at University of Buffalo computer services, I often found myself in the dorms trying to solve student computer or network problems. I swore to myself, do not ever let that dorm room door close with you in the room, dude….
2 years celibate, post divorce, with some really hot coeds in the dorms, do you realize how hard it was?
(To not shut that dorm room door)
Raenelle
I hope you’re wrong. They are ganging up on a man for private legal behavior, and I’m not really sure why no one wants to wait for proof of anything more grievous than the swoons and shamings of panty-sniffers.
Valdivia
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
I read Oleanna! I remember one of my Professors in grad school, a man who really really likes women. But precisely because he did and liked to have his fun he was extra careful with his students. If you are a player and enjoy it, part of it is being very careful. Go ahead and be a cad, just know how the game is played and what the consequences are.
@Xboxershorts: I commend you for your self discipline. Not many have it. But it is a must if one wants to operate in that kind of environment.
Citizen Alan
Interesting. Our local high school band director has a twitter account. He tweets changes in rehearsal schedules and departure times for school trips and other innocuous things. Never would have guessed that made him some sort of sexual deviant unfit to be around children.
For what it’s worth, right now I have no opinion either way on whether Weiner should stay or go. He’s a fairly reliable progressive. He’s also a self-righteous ass who has the potential to age into Joe Lieberman, and his district has a good chance of replacing him with someone as good or better. Part of me is offended that he should have to quit over this while whore-mongering diaper fetishist David Vitter gets to stay. Another part of me relishes the idea of him quitting so that Democrats can say “See! Unlike all the whore-mongering diaper fetishists in the GOP, we don’t put up with crap like that over here!”
Six to one. Half a dozen to the other.
John Cole
@lamh34: I doesn’t matter if the im’s were innocuous. What matters is that Dems will panic when they hear “17” and that has already happened.
@jwb: WTF is wrong with you people? I linked to memeorandum where there were multiple stories you could read.
Violet
@Citizen Alan:
Yeah, that’s pretty much where I am. I can see reasons for him to stay and go.
If your band director is tweeting changes and things in a publicly viewable Twitter feed, or even a followers-only feed, that’s no big deal. If he’s DMing them to the kids, that’s kind of strange, but still not a big deal. Unless he crosses a line and starts DMing certain students a lot more than the others, and about topics unrelated to band.
Joel
Good riddance to bad rubbish?
Special Ed
I hope he is not out by Tuesday if for no other reason that it pisses off all the right people.
Valdivia
@jwb:
I am not saying they are equivalent I am saying both fall under having common sense about what you do and don’t given your job and your personality.
As Violet said upthread–you don’t text or DM someone you DO NOT KNOW
Valdivia
@jwb:
I am not saying they are equivalent I am saying both fall under having common sense about what you do and don’t given your job and your personality.
As Violet said upthread–you don’t text or DM someone you DO NOT KNOW and is underage. Why do it? It’s decidedly not like the example given by Alan, of someone whose job requires him to text or contact the students.
Steve
If the messages with the 17-year-old were inappropriate then he’s done of course, although the investigators seem to be suggesting otherwise. If they weren’t inappropriate then I fail to see how this adds anything to the scandal whatsoever. If he were inclined to resign over “bad optics” he would have been gone long ago.
Violet
So is there any reason he would have to resign? Can Congress or the Dems have a “no confidence” vote or something? Or if something really bad came up in the ethics investigation?
At this point, isn’t it his choice as to whether he stays or goes?
Yutsano
@Valdivia: I almost thought you did the dreaded double comment backflip there. Well played good lady.
@Violet: I think the House can expel him but only after an ethics investigation. I think it’s much more likely he gets districted out of a job at this point.
lamh34
@John Cole:
I agree. like I said the optics aren’t good.
I just find it interesting that Pelosi went from being non-commital to Weiner resigning and now actually calling for it now.
My bet the 17 year old and optics!
cat48
@lamh34:
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
total accident. hhis. have no idea how that happened. hmmm.
ETA I totally agree he is going to lose the district in the census redrawing of the map.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The IOKIYARism is frustrating, but has anyone not on MSNBC even mentioned David Vitter? Weiner filled a very specific niche, he was great at treating Megan Kelly and the other FoxBots with the dismissive contempt they deserve, to their faces. Fun and satisfying to watch, but not exactly a game changer.
Violet
@Valdivia:
I think the “underage” part is irrelevant because if you don’t know them personally, you really have no idea how old they are. They could say they’re 20 and they’re really 15. How can you know? That’s why DMing people you don’t know, or texting them or whatever, is a bad idea if you’re a politician. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get into trouble.
lamh34
@cat48: Oh, I’ve read that article. Just pisses me off more!
Violet
@Yutsano:
When would the redistricting take effect?
jimbob
He was tweeting to a high school girl all about seals? What a weird-o. Or did I misread that?
jwb
@John Cole: Thin skin today, I see. Go back and read your post and see how you frame the incident. Nowhere do you even try to make clear that by all reports these messages contained nothing inappropriate. You can talk about it still being bad optics, which it certainly is, and that would be fine, but you leave the implication that where there is smoke there is fire. That’s underhanded.
jeffreyw
I killed a weiner today.
jheartney
I’m sure they will panic. This doesn’t really excuse everyone collectively turning their brains off and power diving into the fainting couches on the basis of provably false charges.
I think equating a DM with going into a student’s dorm room and closing the door is beyond silly. If you can inspect the actual contents of the DM’s and see there’s nothing there, it’s asinine to give in to hysteria.
Valdivia
@Violet:
Agreed. but he knew, that’t the thing. because he spoke at her graduation from high school and that is why she wrote to him. Which just makes me want to hit him in the head for being an idiot.
askew
Weiner is just becoming bad PR for the Democratic party. I’d understand fighting for him, if he actually accomplished progressive goals. However, as pointed out in this blog post, Weiner has pretty much been a do-nothing in Congress.
I am personally getting sick of the netroots worshiping Progressive Champions whose only accomplishments are giving fiery speeches that no one in the real world cares about; stabbing fellow Democrats in the back; voting for the Iraq War and lying about their sexual misdeeds. Seriously, this is like Edwards 2.0 here.
Yutsano
@Violet: Good question: the immediate answer is I’m not sure. I know there’s a timeline for when it has to be done.
Justin
There is absolutely no reason for him to resign. If David Vitter can stay in the Senate, then Weiner can stay in the House.
That being said, the guy is a Grade A moron. If I lived in that district, I’m not sure I would vote for him.
Linda Featheringill
I looked up the Weiner page on Wiki, looking for previous marriages or children. I found none.
Sometimes men go crazy with their first pregnancy. They become very interested in young girls. Lots and lots have affairs or do other juvenile things. They act like rebellious 13-year-olds. Maybe they are afraid of becoming fathers. I don’t know.
Most of them settle down and become decent human beings. Hopefully, Weiner will do that.
I will admit, though, that this explanation is not as salacious as what I’ve seen and probably not as much fun.
If Weiner resigns in response to pressure from other Democrats, it would be okay. He can do something else and the Dems can put someone else in that seat. And we all go forward.
[John: Tuesday, you said? 06/14/2011? Let me mark my calendar. :-)]
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The fuck you say? Seriously? For not-sex addiction?
Tim, Interrupted
I hope he stays 4-EVAH.
The fact that to do so would piss of all the right people, including Nancy Pelosi at this point, indicates it is the right thing to do.
What a bunch of self righteous assholes with NO sense of proportion?
When will Clarence Thomas resign? When will Dick Cheney be arrested?
Joel
Speaking of bad rubbish: Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Dead.
Ramalamadingdong
There is a rehab for sexting?
Violet
@Valdivia:
Yeah, but if he spoke at her graduation, then she’s very likely 18, right? Most kids who graduate high school on schedule turn 18 during their senior year or the summer after, I think. Still not a safe bet and he’s stupid for DMing her, but I can see that he might think she was a high school graduate and an 18 year old.
Also, if she’d DM’d him saying she liked his speech and he DM’d back only once and said something like, “Thanks. I was honored to speak.” or something like that, again it would be pretty much nothing.
I don’t think that DMing the occasional “thanks” or whatever, even to people they don’t know, should be completely off limits for politicians. But obviously Weiner doesn’t know what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Therefore, he shouldn’t DM anyone he doesn’t know personally.
Valdivia
I’m just amazed how some people think it doesn’t look horrible that he did this. Not illegal, not unethical, and not a cause for him to go but man totally stupid. Can we at least agree on stupid?
On a lighter note how come no one has made the most obvious musical link yet?
lamh34
Wait, hold up, now Weiner is going to Rehab?????
WTF. Is this Hollywood?
Comrade Luke
@Xboxershorts: Yea, but did these coeds ever come on to you, or lead you on in any way?
No disrespect to you at all, but people in positions of power probably have more occasions to do this kind of thing than IT guys :)
MikeJ
My name is mikej and I’m a textaholic.
I’m addicted to textahol!
Violet
Rehab? WTF?
James E. Powell
@Valdivia:
I can’t understand this or any of the other truly ridiculous things that people in power do. I suppose my failure to understand is produced by an irrational expectation that people who depend upon public perception for their position in society would be more paranoid.
JPL
@Ramalamadingdong: When you have good health insurance, there’s a rehab for everything.
JonF
@Valdivia: Thats a fair point, but if he wasn’t suggestive, sexual or creepy, this is a non-story. Her folks(who invited Fox news to camp in their living room) didn’t think that there was anything wrong in the msgs. That speaks volumes imo.
jwb
@Valdivia: He’s a politician. I wouldn’t think it strange at all to learn that politicians regularly engage their followers the way he engaged this girl all the time. It’s a cheap way of making the recipient feel like there is an individual connection, and such connections translate into votes and support. It’s only creepy because we know that he used these channels for sexting as well.
lamh34
@MikeJ:
So Weiner will have weekly TA meetings then?
Comrade Luke
The only reason I want him to not resign is because Republicans do this and never have to, which, when you think about it, is a pretty shitty reason to support him.
I wish every politician that did this would resign. We would never need to debate term limits.
ETA: To be clear, I’m not even sure whether I think he deserves to resign based on what he’s done. I’m just saying let’s get rid of the double standard. Either that, or stop pretending our politicians are any different from the rest of us and live with it.
jheartney
@Valdivia:
I completely agree that he looks stupid. I just object to the notion that teen girls ought to be completely isolated from any contact with other adults under all circumstances. It’s as if we’re telling them all to put on a virtual chador.
MikeJ
@Comrade Luke:
Excuse me miss, I’m just here to pull some cable.
(bow chick a wow wow…)
Dear Penthouse, I showed up to install some cat-5, but instead 5 coeds showed me their …
JPL
hahahahahaha
hahahahahaha
I just find this statement hilarious.
kth
This TPM writeup says that Fox News met the police at the girl’s house. So it’s pretty safe to assume that, whatever Weiner did, there’s ratfucking afoot (again).
Which is fine. Weiner is a dumbass, and pretty much anything goes in politics. The ratfuckers have had plenty of help from Weiner himself. But you have to wonder why they are willing to expend so much effort on a seat they have almost no chance of picking up. Do Weiner’s MSNBC appearances, and his beatdown of Megyn Kelly on Fox, really stick in their craw that much?
Valdivia
@JonF:
@jwb:
I guess I really do expect politicians in this environment (Breitbart etc) to be much more paranoid than this guy. To me it’s just common sense. All of this would not be an issue if he had not dm’ed her. Why not say thanks for your words in the public feed? To me this is the equivalent of leaving the door open so people can see what is going on. But again, I am just super alert because I work with young people and know how very innocent things can get turned into MAJOR trouble and expected someone like him to be more careful.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kth:
The fact that Weiner has been a media presence is just gravy for them. If this was Congressbot Shmoe Blow from BFE whose parents barely knew s/he was in Congress, Fox would be there as long as there was a D after the name.
kth
@Valdivia: also, I’ll see your 17 and raise you the greatest “Seventeen” ever recorded.
Violet
@kth:
No, there wasn’t. The police were there to interview her. Read further in the TPM article:
lamh34
I’m shocked no one has posted this yet.
So I will dedicate this tune to embattled Congressman Weiner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTPRJqt2z4
jheartney
It’s a way to stick it to their enemies. For Fox, it’ll grab some eyeballs. Plus it keeps them from having to discuss anything serious, since doing that always leaves them looking like the jerkwads they are.
Xboxershorts
@Comrade Luke:
I kept my distance out of fear. I really needed the job….
jwb
@Valdivia: It’s only stupid in the context of the sexting and that stupid trumps this stupid by bounds. That is, if a politician regularly engaged twitter followers in the ways he engaged this girl and there was no sexting, there would be nothing remarkable about it.
Comrade Luke
@Xboxershorts:
Totally fair. Same goes for the teachers that always keep the doors open.
cat48
He’s taking temporary leave now for counseling to become a better husband! Thank the Lord. I recommended this 2 wks ago!
Breaking CNN
MikeJ
@Comrade Luke:
Do you want him to resign because you think he did something wrong or because you don’t like the way it looks, even if he did do nothing wrong?
If he did something improper, he should step down. If he sent an innocent letter, or its electronic counterpart, to a supporter who happened to be under 18 he should wait until the next election and let the voters decide.
Xboxershorts
@MikeJ:
I lol’d…
James E. Powell
@kth:
Are you kidding? It doesn’t matter who they get. This buys Breitbart & Company a decade worth of TV appearances with no questions concerning their credibility. He was proved fucking right!
lamh34
@cat48: Ughhh. I hate men who wait til after they get caught cheating to become better husbands
kth
@Violet: Didn’t mean to imply that the girl or the family was setting him up, but who tipped off Fox News? Probably someone from the hellburb PD.
MazeDancer
@Violet:
Violet and Valdivia are spot on. No direct messaging to children by adults they do not know. EVER.
If you use Twitter regularly, you cannot understand why a Congressional Representative would DM a 17-year-old girl several times. Especially after Weiner’s enemies tweeted him and the girl the minute Weiner started following her.
That’s from the NY Times today. That came from wingnuts looking for ways to take Weiner down. They tweeted him and he even ignored that.
Further, on the web, The NY Times headline this morning was like a “click here for the guillotine” suggestion: “Weiner direct messages 17 year old girl”.
Like the girl’s parents said, they thought it was public tweets. If he had public tweeted fun things to her, fine and dandy. Encouraging a kid interested in public service. But DM was his insane error. Why DM? It’s opening the door to a private relationship that no one else will see. And even his enemies were warning him.
Valdivia
@jwb:
I still think it’s stupid to text nubile females you don’t know. I mean I love Lolita and all but if you’re a politician you don’t want shades of Humbert Humbert as part of your political profile non?
@MazeDancer: you said it so much better than I did. This is exactly my point.
Comrade Luke
@MikeJ:
If he’s innocent, he shouldn’t resign. I’m assuming he will, though, which is why I’m just speaking off the cuff. I’m frustrated, and posting stuff without thinking it all the way through.
You know, like the Dem leadership :)
Dave
Again…did David Vitter resign yet? Because until someone can show me that Weiner did something like calling a hooker from the Senate floor, then he should stay.
Weiner may have poor judgement (an understatement to say the least) but he hasn’t done anything illegal. At all.
jwb
@Valdivia: Because there is a paper trail—again it’s what distinguishes it from the office—there is no need to be paranoid about exchanging private messages if the messages are appropriate. What makes the office situation fraught is not the privacy but that there is nothing recording the meeting.
Comrade Luke
@MazeDancer:
If he got it as a DM, he probably just hit Reply, which replies as a DM.
Comrade Luke
@Dave:
Did that actually happen?
Valdivia
@jwb:
sorry but it just really really stupid to go private with someone who is clearly very young. Just looks bad. Period. And the point is not that it is out of context not wrong, but that you really should be that paranoid if you want to stay in office.
JPL
The problem Anthony has is the continual drip, drip, drip.
Alex S.
I don’t even think that there is much of a double standard between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats simply don’t defend themselves as well.
Dave
@Comrade Luke: Yeah. From what I remember, the media timed his call with a vote he made and determined he was on the floor when he made it. When confronted, he never denied it.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@kth:
with all due respect to the sex pistols, when they sang about 17 year olds most of their audience is looking back on 17.
i humbly submit this song was intended to speak more directly to a bubble gum audience, and leave them thinking so , you’re saying there is a chance?
Mike Kay (True Grit)
If anyone should resign it should be Pelosi!
We should have primaried her when we had the chance.
Anthony Weiner is the only true progressive in Congress.
Genghis
His own actions doomed him. If he had made different choices, none of it would have happened. His refusal to leave is appearing more and more selfish by the minute. His judgement is beyond questionable, from sexting in the first place to lying once he was outed. Get it over with man! Best…H
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
So, now just having a simple conversation with someone who is not “of age”, not a damn thing sexual about it, is somehow tainted?
This is the utter fucking silliness of this entire thing.
Cripes, I’m in a world of hurt. I’ve had private conversations in WoW with 13 year olds looking for some advice on playing the game.
Suffern ACE
Rehab. And what beyond being a bit of a perv is the diagnosis?
Linda Featheringill
@JPL:
Excellent. May this lead to a stable marriage and a happy family.
I know you jackals are hell-bent on laughing at it all but he is a human being, his wife is human, and any children they have will be human. They all deserve to have happy lives.
This just might work itself out to the benefit of all those who are directly affected by it.
And you guys will still be jackals.
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
are you a politician? because otherwise I have no problem, though I do think interacting with minors you *do not know* online can get dicey.
Suffern ACE
@JPL: 46 year old men some times start to develop those problems, although his onset is a little earlier than I would like to ponder.
Nina
South Park has just the place for sexual healing. Maybe Weiner’s ‘healing’ will be more genuine…
jeffreyw
Good morning li’l school girl
Suffern ACE
Now if only we can get one of them to seek treatment for selling their votes we will be making some progress.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Valdivia:
When you have already established a pattern of sexting and undie-tweeting
jwb
@Valdivia: I guess the difference is that I really don’t see DMing as being fundamentally different than other modes of personal communication and the whole reason politicians use twitter is because they believe it allows voters and supporters to feel better connected to them and that occasionally DMing followers is a great and easy way to strengthen that connection. Anyone who followed your prescription for paranoia would never get elected in the first place because successful politicians have to put themselves on the line in a way that someone attentive to paranoia never would be able to tolerate. Of course, politicians should try to be smart about it; and Weiner was particularly dumb about it. But politicians are always going to tolerate some risk in order to make that personal connection.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
I don’t know why everyone is getting upset that he contacted an underage girl.
Big deal.
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” is critically acclaimed.
nancydarling
@Linda Featheringill: Agreed, and thank you, Linda. I believe there is such a thing as internet addiction (once in a while I worry about myself). There is certainly a component of OCD in his behavior. And we all need to remember: People. Do. Stuff. That doesn’t make it okay or anything less than stupid. His failing is a human one, and as I wrote above for the sake of Huma and any baby on the way, I hope he rides it out if his constituency still wants him.
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
Interacting with ANYONE you “do not know” IRL online can get dicey.
For example, you can create a mailing list of a bunch of online friends and accidentally send them all something you only intended for one of them.
I’m not a politician, but if I were, I’d still offer help to those asking for it online, in figuring out what gear they should go for in WoW, or how to play their class, or where some resource they’re seeking might be. Being helpful and kind is a big plus in the context of an MMO, where so many people are cruel and assholish simply because they’re protected by the shield of anonymity.
The observer who objects to that is telling us more about themselves than those they observe.
Valdivia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
specially so. but also–I know my friends with 13-16 year old offspring would go insane if some random 40+ started chatting them up online. however innocent. these things online you NEVER know, so I am sure parents would see it as suspicious. but that’s just me. Look I got dm’ed once on skipe by some young kid, why in the world would I answer?
Tsulagi
He’s definitely been toasted, but I give it only 50/50 he’ll resign anytime soon. He doesn’t have personal or family money to fall back on. Unlike a large number in Congress, not even a license to practice law. And no lobbying firm will touch him offering a job given his dick pic sexting notoriety. He needs this job.
But Brietbart and the citizen journo brigades smell blood. No doubt they’re now frantically trolling the internet trailer parks trying to find just the right pic, message, or underage text/pic recipient to deliver the final tap.
Definitely don’t have any sympathy for the dumbass. Anyone getting burned for something this stupid and lame doesn’t deserve it.
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
yep. I am suspicious by nature and I think more people should be. I would definitely not want my prospective children talking to strangers online. But that is MY line.
ETA I want to add that my point is simply about what seems appropriate and/or not given context. The guy is a politician on twitter not playing some communal game where there is a sense of engagement. And by all lights he was an idiot for doing this.
OzoneR
@cat48:
One of my liberaler-than-thou coworkers who sees this whole thing as a conspiracy by corporatism Democratic leaders trying to get rid of a good progressives read that and said “this is why I like him, because he takes no nonsense and he has principles”
I thought to myself “Because he played the race card to win, you like him because he’s principled…enough to play the race card to win?!?!?”
Lojasmo
I wonder if Weiner pissed in John’s cereal at some point.
Please, John….drop it.
UncertaintyVicePrincipal
@Alex S.: You mean that if he had just toughed it out and refused to resign (or take a “leave”), then Harry Reid and the others would be giving him standing ovations in Democratic meetings he attended soon?
Yeah, sorry that’s just not likely.
I think Weiner and Vitter are both idiots who should resign, but I think Vitter is actually the slightly less idiotic in this case because the chances of him being shunned by the Republican party were far less, well he got standing ovations, for Pete’s sake. Several different times.
The difference is in how the parties treat their own.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
For all of you waggin your finger at Weiner, answer me this: who among you hasn’t contacted a voluptuous high school girl? It’s common place these days. I’m sure Alan Grayson has a dozen online relationships with high school seniors.
Nina
Congresswoman Giffords is leaving inpatient rehab for outpatient rehab, just for some perspective, Congressman Weiner.
Valdivia
@jwb:
umm. some risk for making a personal connection? I guess Wiener was the king of the personal connection. I think a lot of politicians can make that connection without being stupid, reckless. He was both.
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
Well, your suspicion MIGHT very well have saved Weiner from a lot of grief.
Once you send something to another online, you’ve lost control of it. You can’t know what they’re going to do with whatever it is you sent them.
That’s the sort of defensive suspicion that would have served Weiner better than what he actually did.
Mind you, the context I was talking about was one where the other party became friendly with me (we killed a virtual monster together or something) and found my advice helpful. I didn’t find out until much later on in our online friendship that I was talking to a 13 year old. Naturally, I approached the situation a bit differently then…knowing that I was dealing with a tween type, not another adult. Simply because communication has to be different because the context of very different life experiences changes things.
JGabriel
Rehab for what? Alcohol? Inappropriate Twitterers Anonymous?
Is he saying his sexting is due to a substance abuse problem? Or that twitter itself can become a substance of abuse (which I suspect may well be true)?
I am: puzzled.
.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Lojasmo:
yeah, Cole, STOP driving this story! This story would be gone by now, if it wasn’t for you.
It’s not like Weiner was sending pics of his junk to your hot sister.
Leave him alone, he’s the only true progressive we have.
JPL
@Linda Featheringill: It’s the standard excuse. All you have to do is change a word here and there and it could be used by anyone. I don’t know whether or not he needs rehab but he’s not doing it for his family, imo.
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Yesterday someone linked to Juan Cole’s site and it was eyeopening for me. I think you can be pro Israel and pro Palestine but Weiner doesn’t seem to think so.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Valdivia:
True, but she’s eighteen or close to it, a HS diploma seems to me a quasi-official recognition of adulthood. And he’s not a random 40-odd year old, presumably her interest in him was based on his political position, she’s (I’m guessing) interested in politics and/or public service. If it weren’t for the dick-pic, no one would see anything untoward about him DM-ing (is that like IM-ing? I’m old) this girl.
Underneath it all, this comes down to the eternal question of do we/Weiner/the Dems want to deal with the world as it is or as it should be. In this instance I’m torn, because while I don’ like giving in, I don’t think Weiner is, for several reasons, worth fighting for. You/We/Dems will have to explain that Weiner sexted some women, but there was nothing smutty about his texts to the 17/18 year old. If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
OzoneR
@Tim, Interrupted:
I hope he does too, Israel needs all the friends it can get.
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
No finding fault or disagreement with that, at all. Weiner was incredibly reckless. Like I said, once you hit “send”, whatever it is you sent is out of your control. Well, in the case of BJ comments, for the next five minutes, you do have some control…but after that…well, if John and the front pagers with the power want your idiocy to remain on display, tough luck, kiddo.
MazeDancer
@Comrade Luke:
A “not thinking much about it reply” that happened once, sure, it can happen. But this wasn’t once. And, since he followed her allowing her to DM, he should have been extra sensitive to keeping everything in public. Especially after the enemy tweeted him warnings.
But he DM’d her several times, initiating the contact.
And nothing he DM’d had any reason to be private. At all. Except that he wanted it that way. Reasons unknown. But one may be that way his staff couldn’t see them. The possible creepy reason is he wanted a private relationship, in cape and tights as a superhero as he tweeted her, with a little girl. And even if that never crossed his mind, that is how it looks. This gives me no pleasure to say. I am angry at the voice that has been lost to fight the good fight.
stuckinred
I went in the fucking Army on my 17th birthday. Wonder what the statute of limitations is on the Korean hookers, maybe we could bust em for contributing to the delinquency of a minor?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Actually, that wouldn’t surprise me a bit. DK strikes me as the type who would want to engage young people on issues, encourage them to register to vote, to talk to their friends about it, etc. And maybe it’s just me, but does any human being give off less of a sex-predator vibe than Dennis Kucinich?
Villago Delenda Est
One of the attraction from the kid’s point of view, I’m sure, is that they’re not treated like a kid if they don’t identify themselves as one.
Any of the commenters here, unless they’ve stated otherwise, could very well be under 18, and the attraction is that they’re taken seriously by the other commenters, if they present themselves in a credible fashion.
That can be a powerful incentive for a kid to seek out adults to talk to online…because they’re not treated like kids.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Right now, the best way to show your support for Anthony Weiner is through a contribution.
Here’s his ActBlue page https://secure.actblue.com/page/njdcpacweiner
C’mon. Show Weiner you care, send him some love.
pookapooka
We know him — outspoken NYC wiseguy persona. If he must resign, he should play this role to the hilt — let him go out riding this moment in the general public’s eye for all its worth. Let him state he’ll happily resign as soon as VItter does. An excellent, possibly redemptive idea.
While he’s at it, and to be even more redemptive, perhaps he can direct some public light on the hijinks of Clarence Thomas and the all-but-forgotten mysterious Jeff Gannon creature. What say, Tony???
Amaliada
Weiner himself may not be worth fighting for, but at least he was fighting to bring attention to Clarence Thomas’ corruption and pushing for him to recuse himself when the Supreme Court hears the Health Care Reform case.
Is any member of the Troika (DNC, DCCC, House Democratic Leadership) stepping into this role? Have they encouraged any other Democratic member of Congress to lead this effort?
Not that I can tell.
So, once again, Democrats are cutting off their noses to spite their face to appear to be more moral and ethical than Republicans. Give me a break – take that stance if you must, but don’t stop fighting for us.
As to the 17 year old, from the news reports I’ve read – she contacted him and he replied. End of story.
Yeah, Weiner was stupid (may still even be stupid), but that doesn’t mean he should resign. Otherwise, the entire freshman class of Republicans should never have taken the oath of office.
Enough. Calling for accountability for the Supreme Court is what is at stake here. Let’s not be distracted from what’s important, even if the Democratic Party leadership seems to want to go (and stay) there.
Linda Featheringill
@stuckinred:
Were you voluptuous?
FlipYrWhig
@Valdivia: I’m sorry, I don’t get this at all. Let’s say I wrote a book, and had a Twitter account, and some kid read the book and sent me a message about how much she liked it. I’m not supposed to send her a note back saying, “Thanks so much”? That’s not just old-fashioned fan interaction, the social-media version of sending an autograph?
I think you’re setting the bar too high.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: exactly. In fact here’s a photo of Dennis encouraging a high school girl at her senior prom.
Villago Delenda Est
@stuckinred:
Naturally, they just waylaid you off the streets of Uijeongbu while you were going for some icecream and dragged you into their den of sin and had their way with both you and your wallet.
I hope you paid attention in the hygiene briefing the week before…
stuckinred
@Linda Featheringill:122 lbs of burnin love!
WaterGirl
I had no opinion about Weiner going into this, I had never head of him, in fact. My issue with him is that he showed very poor judgment, and I kind of like my congresscritters to show good judgment.
The other reason for him to consider resigning is that this is a distraction that is tarnishing democrats.
Until or unless we know he did something sexually inappropriate with someone who was not a consenting adult, the rest is between him and his wife.
UncertaintyVicePrincipal
John could you program your bot commenter to go back to spamming “It’s Raahhmm’s fault!!” up and down every unrelated thread, instead of this new “He’s the only progressive in Congress!” thing?
It’s funny the things that you sort of hate at the time but realize you kind of miss when they change.
Thanks!
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
yep. and the fact that you changed your approach means you had that inkling that it is not the same as communicating with an adult.
As for Wiener–my whole thing with this is that I do know a couple of high powered politicos (not American) who have these proclivities (love them some female variety even though they are married) but they are VERY paranoid about who they deal with because they know it would be the end of their careers. My only point is that if you’re going to play this game you have to be aware of the dangers and calculate how to protect yourself.
jwb
@Valdivia: The stupidity lies almost wholly in thinking as a public figure he would not be called on sexting semi-random women, not in DMing a few innocuous messages to one 17-year old girl. The only reason you described her as nubile is because of the context of the sexting.
Anya
Just to be clear, I have never liked Weiner. I viewed him as a showboating, attention seeking asshole, who played the role of the Great Progressive Hope, while supporting the oppression and occupation of Palestinians (he did not even view the West Bank, as an occupied territory). And let’s not forget his disgraceful silence during the shameful debate about whether Park 51 had a right to build near ground Zero. Check out Juan Cole’s “Top Ten Things Anthony Weiner has Said that are Worse than Sexting”, for more evidence that Mr. Weiner was never a true progressive.
Having said that, I think insinuating that he has done something improper with a 17-year old girl is despicable and worthy of Fox News.
stuckinred
@Villago Delenda Est: The Turkey Farm in Yangicol was my haunt! Kundingee knock a knock a jota! (sp) We did have to go to TDC for ammo.
FlipYrWhig
@Amaliada:
Considering that Republican Congresspeople were some of the earliest adopters of Twitter, I guaran-damn-tee you that Congressional Republicans have DM’ed teenage boys and girls. Not in a creepy or flirty way, necessarily, but in a fan-interaction way.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@stuckinred:
Awwwwww, the good ole days
http://youtu.be/12tce-THLUE
jwb
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: No, if DK said anything to any of these nubile young things he was just being incredibly reckless. Hasn’t this thread taught you anything?
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Yea but I was 18 by the time I got there!
$15, maybe 15 pi!
jwb
@FlipYrWhig: You need more paranoia.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Lemme make this perfectly clear, I don’t care if Weiner was strangling Nuns in St Patrick’s Cathedral. As long as Vitter stays, Weiner gets a free pass.
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Or choking chickens at the Wailing Wall!
Valdivia
gotta go be social with people IRL
see you all later
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Like this!
PaulW
In other political scandal news today, nobody seems to give a crap about the 17-20 million unemployed Americans struggling to find work after two plus years on the job market.
MikeJ
@Mike Kay (True Grit): I wouldn’t go that far. If Weiner did anything criminal he should go. I haven’t heard about anything approaching criminal. He did something that probably pisses off his wife and in an unrelated incident he answered fan mail.
I’m no fan of his, but that’s all because of policy. I would prefer it if the voters of NY told him that Israel has their own congress and got a representative for the US, but I doubt that will happen.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@stuckinred: nothing more smokin hot than a Amerasian chick.
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Very nice looking young lady.
rikyrah
17 year old never sounds good if you’re over 19.
the whole rehab thing is ludicrous
Cacti
Well, if Weiner’s spokesman says it’s 100% innocent and above the board…
It’s probably REALLY f**king bad.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
be kinda cool if he ended up in rehab with Lindsey Lohan. they’d make a hellva couple.
jwb
@PaulW: Nobody can take their eyes off the Weiner. Even Palin’s emails are having trouble competing with the Weiner. Unemployment doesn’t stand a chance against the Weiner. All Weiner, all the time, unfortunately.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
I may be dating myself, but I fail to see the charm in Twitter. The character limitation on the public feed crushes the conveyance of complex, adult ideas. Plus, it doesn’t have an intuitive flow.
PS
@PaulW: Bravo! I admit I skimmed through the thread, but I was kinda hoping someone would mention the real issues that this whole kerfuffle is intended to distract us from.
Fox, Breitbart — they’re throwing dust in our faces, and we’re effectively helping them. Yeah, Weiner’s a dick. Forget him. Let’s talk jobs. Let’s talk about how much money the rich are stealing from us. Let’s talk about how they are trying to pretend they have our interests in mind. Let’s talk about the country we want to live in, and how we get there. Let’s do some politics fer chrissake.
Cacti
@jwb:
1. Sex sells.
2. A sex scandal with photos is golden
3. A sex scandal with photos and guy whose name is Weiner is diamond-crusted platinum.
AAA Bonds
Rehab, lol.
stuckinred
@PS: Is it too hot to cook red beans and rice?
BethanyAnne
The analogy with closing the office door is wrong. Even DM’s leave a trail. The only reason to be paranoid is if you’re hiding being a horndog. Otherwise, DM’s are harmless. Given that you don’t know anyone’s real offline identity until you meet them offline, the only alternative is to never use DMs, and that’s just wrong. You aren’t having an inappropriate conversation. There is a record. Anyone who says that you can’t have appropriate recorded conversations with people who like you is wrong.
jwb
@Cacti: It’s definitely a headline writer’s dream.
PS
@stuckinred: Black beans if you’ve got ’em
BethanyAnne
@Mike Kay (True Grit): A-fucking-men.
stuckinred
@PS: Camilla Reds!
PanAmerican
Hey, who wants to see my….
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
COCK?
grandpajohn
Wow reading here is like being at a concern troll conference.
As a male who spent 30 years as a teacher being in contact with underage females including driving them to after school events unchaperoned( I was their coach,)and sometimes having them come to me after school to discuss personal problems things that in some cases they didn’t even want to discuss with their parents.
And yes actually being propositioned a couple of times, After reading this thread, I wonder how I managed to make it without having my character assassinated?
I,m curious , is there a pledge or oath or something Democrats take that requires them to shit their pants in fear and then throw under the bus Any other democrat that does something stupid.
wow
AAA Bonds
No tears for an AIPACer down the drain.
Maybe if we catch a few more of these folks with their pants down we can effect a shift in the Democratic Party against our idiotic Israel policy.
God knows there’s a constituency out there waiting and hoping for a sizable chunk of either party to come out and say, okay, Israel is no longer a priority for the United States.
You want to retain young voters as they age? Give us some sign that we won’t have to spend the rest of our lives as we’ve spent every day of them so far: financially responsible for everything Israel does or doesn’t do.
grandpajohn
@BethanyAnne: Three cheers for logic over paranoia.
Poopyman
Enough with the 24/7 Weiner shit, alright?
How is it that he gets more coverage than this?
Yeah, I know it was reported two days ago,and that’s nothing compared to a week–long -panty-boxer sniffing, but really, give it a rest, people.
Villago Delenda Est
@Yevgraf (fka Michael):
Which is why the GOP was an early adopter. Newt Gingrich, in particular.
My IT friends loathe it for precisely the reason you stated. You can’t boil down a lot of things to that few characters and not lose a lot of meaning and valuable information.
MikeJ
@grandpajohn:
It’s part concern trolling, part score settling (and fights within a group are always more vicious than fights with the enemy) part the elevation of politics over policy.
Suffern ace
Sex scandals have to be the easiest thing to investigate. Also since no advertising revenue is at stake from a pissed off corporation, there is no cost to issuing an opinion. Plus it’s good for the rehab industry. Everybody wins.
How was it that there was even a watergate scandal when Nixon wasn’t even fucking anyone
PS
@stuckinred: Well, as long as the beer’s cold
Cacti
@grandpajohn:
You left out the part about posting public pictures of your penis, lying about it, and asking others to lie about it for you.
dogwood
I guess what baffles me about Weiner’s behavior and the reaction to it is the lack of pride and dignity in all of it. I mean what is so great about being a backbencher in the House? Once the first picture was made public Weiner had to know it was only the beginning. If he would have followed the Chris Lee example and cut his losses at the get go he could have saved himself much of this public humiliation and worked on the private problems this will undoubtedly cause him. I realize there’s a lot of anger about Vitter getting away with his prostitution scandal, but do you really believe if there were pictures of Vitter in a diaper the press would have ignored it? Weiner gave the press what it needed – visuals and text. Weiner is another political grifter who in the last 2 years made a name for himself posing as a lefty Obama basher on cable tv. It seems this gave him access to lots of online sex from political groupies as well. He’s free to do whatever he wants that’s legal, but I am not interested in paying his salary, benefits, and retirement while he engages in this juvenile behavior. And if you think this episode will teach him a lesson, remember Bill Clinton. After the Genifer Flowers scare in the primaries, I never believed he would drop his drawers while serving in the Oval Office, but I was wrong. It would be interesting to hear the conversations between Hillary and Huma about now.
stuckinred
@PS: :( no drinky here :(
FlipYrWhig
@grandpajohn:
It’s a holdover (or hangover) from the idea that the Democrats are the hedonistic/permissive party and the Republicans are the straitlaced law-and-order types. So if a Democrat does something dirty, it amplifies that bad reputation, so all the consultants and advisors leap to tell their non-dirty clients to distance themselves and hence assure the political world that they aren’t That Kind Of Democrat. If a Republican does something dirty, it doesn’t compute, because they’re the stick-up-the-ass party and would never do such a thing. So Republicans don’t have to distance themselves from dirty-sexy Republicans… they’re not tainted by association by default.
The ’60s and the Culture Wars of the ’80s and ’90s (which were themselves rehashes and score-settling of the battles of the ’60s) keep paying off for Republicans. The WeinerMobile scandal is another instance of that.
grandpajohn
@MikeJ:
True, but you don’t see the Republicans doing it. Their creed is never let them see you sweat, never admit wrong.
They follow the philosophy of never apologize, your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe it.
PanAmerican
I’m lost in my own mind’s pain
Feeding on the juices of my brain
Loss of oxygen, I’m going insane
At least the girls know that I came
You’re all a bunch of fuckin idiots!!!
Fuck florida, and fuck college, and fuck me!
Do you guys want to see it?
I’ll show it to ya!!!
Come on, Come on, Come on,
Come on now SUCK me babe!
Wait, wait, wait!!!
Lets finish our song here guys!
eemom
it is my opinion that there is nothing further to opine on this matter than that which has already been opined infinity times.
Maude
@grandpajohn:
You weren’t in Congress and didn’t have pictures of your privates online.
The problem is also that this may not be all of it. There could be more information coming down the track and that is never good.
Oingoboingboingboing
Disgraced perv and former Republican Congressman Mark Foley tells Weiner, “Don’t go back into that building!”
On how to be mensch when called to account for your dishonor:
Sage words…
Anya
@dogwood: This.
boss bitch
I wish people would stop bringing up David Vitter. Just like so many have said that it is up to Weiner’e constituents whether he should resign or not, the same should go for Vitter. The people of LA had their say and re-elected Vitter. Dems put out a commercial and attacked him on it and he still won.
OzoneR
@PaulW:
and nobody, not anyone with power, nor the other 250 million Americans, ever will.
rob!
“I was a single, hetero man and for many years I was sexually interested in women and flirted with them online. I am truly a monster.”
grandpajohn
@Cacti: There is no evidence that he did any of this to the 17 year old girl that THIS thread is about and at my advanced age I try to keep myself on topic.
any of the other things mentioned involved persons of legal, consensual age , and evidently the tweets were consensual as none of them complained about it and they were discussed in different thread than this one.
we should try to keep our apples in one basket and our oranges in another.
Fred
A majority of his consitutents still support him in the latest poll. That is the bottom line. Calls for him to resign are just politicians covering their own asses.
OzoneR
@boss bitch:
One of the most laughable things I’ve heard all week, and one that proves how tone deaf some of the left are, is the whole
“Democrats never called for Vitter’s ouster” argument. Of they called for Vitter’s resignation in 2007.
http://jmbell.org/blog/2007/07/louisiana-democrats-call-for-vitter-to-resign/
RossInDetroit
If the high standard that Congressmen are held to applied to the general population my 20s and 30s would have been a whole lot less fun. But I guess that’s the tradeoff for power.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
@JPL:
Penicillin can cure that.
Martin
Would have been better 18 months ago, but nice to see they’re finally doing it.
MikeJ
@grandpajohn:
If they had some other reason to dislike the Republican in question, they might. I think Bachmann would love it if Mittens got caught in something similar, and St. Ronnie’s 11th wouldn’t stand in her way.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@boss bitch: Mention of Vitter is (to my mind) more about the media response than Vitter himself, though I am a bit puzzled about how he gets around that whole breaking the law thing. I watched one Tweety segment about all this last week, and he kept spluttering about Eliot Spitzer as if it were the only point of comparison. Marthin Bashir brought Vitter up to Reince Priebus, who was clearly stunned to be challenged in any way. I don’t watch CNN, but I’d be surprised if anyone on their payroll mentioned Vitter unless a guest brought him up first.
Keith G
Late to this game, but it seems to me that the standard for stupid (legal) behavior of a Congress person is to let the folks back home decide.
The communications with the 16 yr old female not only seems to be legit and not related to his “disturbing” behavior, but would be seen as commendable were it not for the over-riding story.
Other than that, I hate the precedent that is set by punishing a Congress person for cyber/phone sex. I thought we were a bit more grown up than that.
grandpajohn
@Maude: Then we should wait until the information comes out.
My reference was to this particular thread involving dialogue with a 17 year old girl who evidently initiated the dialogue and her parents are OK with it.
Throughout this whole “Tempest in a Teapot” stirred up to cover the misdeeds of Republican actions, there has been one set of Bibical scriptures that keeps coming to mined
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@grandpajohn: and a big rock flew from behind Jesus, hitting the adulteress in the head and knocking her to the ground.
Jesus turned to see a small woman giggling and clapping and said unto her,
“Dammit, Ma, sometimes you can be a real pain in the ass!”
PS
@stuckinred: Well, that settles it. Fortunately I shall be in a majority-Hispanic town this evening, where the variety of beans available is large. Till later, hasta la revolucion, a bas la bourgeoisie, et cetera et cetera and so forth.
grandpajohn
@RossInDetroit: If the high standards that members of the house and senate are alleged to be held to were actually enforced, those governing bodies would be hard pressed to have enough members to have a quorum for their sessions
emma
Crud. I picked a bad day to break my news fast. Another Democrat thrown under the bus by Democrats. Lovely.
All we do is whimper when they hit us. No wonder they’re doing so well in destroying the world.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
The last person Weiner should listen to is the blue-dog nancy Pelosi
Mike Kay (True Grit)
The last person Weiner should listen to is the blue-dog nancy Pelosi.
stuckinred
@PS: Laissez les bon temps rouler
arguingwithsignposts
@boss bitch:
Well, sorta. We get the democracy we vote for, and yet 49 percent of the people aren’t represented by David Vitter. or GWB, or Scott Walker. That’s the flaw, and I don’t know how to make it better.
Bob
Man, that’s a whole lot of parsing. Back in the ancient days of email, if you sent an email to a graduation speaker at your hs graduation (“I thought your speech was inspring, etc”) and you got an email back (“Thank you for your support, you are but one example of the excellent young people around these days etc”) would everyone be fainting and/or tearing their hair out and demanding to see your birth certificate and police pulling up to your door? Or would you be going, “hey check it out I got an email from congressman X!” And maybe you exchange a couple of more emails – is it time to swoon yet? So yeah, maybe it doesn’t look good or smell good in the context of Weinergate but come on, a dm is no different than an email. Maybe they should check the context of all of Weiner’s dm’s to people. If there are like 1,000 people then why should we see this particular case in any special light except for the 17 years old hot hot angle?
ppcli
@lamh34:
Good link – though I have to add the Jolly Boys version, which is a classic. Nothing like a dentally-challenged 80 year old mento singer to make those lines come alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqaadTlATqk
Comrade Scrutinizer
You revel in this story, John. It’s kinda like reading Sully when he gets on a high horse about something. The only thing worse than your thigh-rubbing is the smug moralizing of some of the people here.
Consensual acts between adults and innocuous messages? This is the most important thing we have to worry about?
ken
Weiner is not going to stop texting women. Do you think Vitter wants to stop seeing hookers? or that Newt won’t leave Calista? Until Weiner can set up a structure in place where his every move is controlled, he can’t be trusted to be scandal free.
I guarantee Vitter is being watched every minute of the day. I bet Vitter is bursting inside for a little S and M. Vitter will fall off the wagon.
Davis X. Machina
@OzoneR:
As does Sasquatch.
dogwood
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
Since when is sending unsolicited pictures of your crotch to a college student in Seattle considered “consensual acts between adults”?
D-Chance.
Schadenfreude!
Although, it’s not as much fun as watching the pathetic sniveling going on amongst the Liberalti… feel sorry for “Screech”, the Weiner Man; not so much for his ardent cultists.
Villago Delenda Est
@dogwood:
When you made the mistake of hitting the wrong send button.
Why people can’t understand this one simple point, I will never know, but apparently, the fact that it’s a crotch shot makes it a federal crime to hit a ‘send to group’ message by mistake when you meant ‘send to babe that I’m flirting with’.
dogwood
@Villago Delenda Est:
Sorry, but I don’t believe there is any evidence that the woman he was sending to picture to was a willing participant. This isn’t a matter of hitting the wrong send button. And I’ve done a fair bit of flirting in my day and it never led to someone sending crotch shots. That young woman in Seattle didn’t ask for any of this nonsense. But as usual, the woman is ignored as we rush to defend some narcissistic man who doesn’t have enough decency to leave the spotlight.
ChrisNYC
@Villago Delenda Est: The reason why nobody understands that is because it’s not what happened.
Weiner said in the press conference that he intended to send it to Cordova and mistakenly posted it to his Twitter. She hadn’t been flirting with him. It was unsolicited.
Villago Delenda Est
@ChrisNYC:
Ah. OK, that part I did not get. Probably because I’m not obsessed with this idiot.
Well, dumbass. Dumbass dumbass dumbass.
On top of being a dumbass.
No one up to now has bothered to explain that. Instead it’s all ‘harassment!’. Not “he sent it as a joke, when he should not have, and then he sent some more after he was told it was not welcome”. Which to me defines “harassment”. Doing it again and again when you know it is not welcome.
Is there any evidence he did that? At all?
Which is how mature people deal with shit like that. Say “no thanks”, and move on. Which Ms. Cordova did, from my understanding.
Sixers
@Villago Delenda Est:
I really hope you don’t have any daughters. You’ve literally walked back your defense of Weiner once every new revelation has leaked out and your stupid theories of what really happened crapped out. I’m not sure what could come out to make you abandon him. Puppy murder maybe?
To everyone screaming “Vitter didn’t resign so why should he?”..What happened to being better than the trash on the right? You’re just really saying I’ll slum it in the gutter like those assholes because I like the way my scumbag votes. Look in the mirror.
ChrisNYC
@Villago Delenda Est: I don’t know where you’re getting sending and being told he was not welcome, etc. I didn’t say that. I haven’t read that.
Weiner said at the press conference that he sent the picture to Cordova as “a joke” or “a prank” and that she was in no way involved. He also apologized to her for disrupting her life.
I’m rooting for him to resign because I’m not a big fan of electeds who send out unsolicited dic pics to random women who happen to be interested in politics. But hey, that’s just me.
Villago Delenda Est
@ChrisNYC:
Oh, might I also add, this is precisely the way to correct someone (like myself) operating on faulty information?
There’s no moral scolding here, which is one of the things I have found the most offensive about this entire matter. It turns me off, because it’s used in so many other ways for so many other things were someone’s personal sense of what is “creepy” gets projected on to others. Ms. Cordova obviously isn’t as frail as dogwood, who is in moral high dudgeon over an image. An image.
And Ms. Cordova has experienced a lot more hassle from the panty sniffing twits of the media than she has from Weiner, who apparently did it once and didn’t repeat himself, when he was informed it was unwelcome.
This all aside from the stupidity of sending a picture of your crotch to someone who asked for it, because the instant you hit the “send” button, it’s out of your control. Even to someone you think is your “friend.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Sixers:
Once again, you’re reading things into my posts that have never been there. I haven’t mentioned Vitter once. Well, I just did. First time.
Yeah, I walked it back. Because information I did not have before was provided. And that information changed my view. This is what is called reason, the scientific method, whatever. I’m not afraid to admit it when I’ve taken off from a false lead. It’s apparently bad in your eyes that I don’t defend the indefensible forever.
You, however, invent things out of whole cloth, like mentioning Vitter in relationship to my posts, that have never been there. I’ve never brought any of the GOP hypocrites into this conversation, ever. It’s been exclusively about Weiner.
All your criticism of me seems to be projection of your own intellectual bankruptcy.
Lawnguylander
What a dumbass. Weiner isn’t too bright either.
Congratulations on taking only more than 24 hours to stop pretending that the version of invents you were peddling yesterday was at all accurate. You simply made it up and now you’re congratulating someone for finding the right approach to get you to quit lying. I join you in congratulating ChrisNYC. Well done, ChrisNYC.
fasteddie9318
It’s hard to feel bad for Weiner, when everything he’s done has only elongated the whole affair. He’s not getting the shaft here; it’s more like his attempts to erect a defense against the probing of the media have caused his fellow members to turn on him. At this point I would expect significant shrinkage in his public profile, some attempt to soften his image rather than maintain a stiff, even wooden, façade. Perhaps he could pitch a tent on the DC mall and plead forgiveness from passersby for this stupid boner.
she's crafty
@Villago Delenda Est:
The women who have come forward about their flirtation with Weiner all said they initially contacted him to talk about policy or politics, and he responded with flirting. These are the women we know about. They’re also the ones who decided the flirting was welcome.
How many women decided it *wasn’t* welcome, who were grossed out that they tried to have a serious, intellectual discussion with a member of Congress, and his response was to show them his dick?
Because doing that to his female correspondents — but not the male ones — is a great way to reinforce the idea that the only thing women have to offer is sex. Woohoo.
He didn’t repeat himself because he got caught, dumbass, not because the pic was unwelcome. She didn’t even see it.
And the pantysniffing media would have no reason to go after her had Weiner not decided it was a great idea to send a picture of his dick to a woman whom he didn’t know, and who, again, had followed him because she was interested in politics, not in getting dick shots.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@fasteddie9318: it’s a sticky situation. hopefully this has come to a end, hopefully he final has his hands on the problems and nothing else will explode in his face.
fasteddie9318
@ken:
That’s not a wagon you fall off of, it’s a wagon you take a running leap off of and go right over a cliff. Someday somebody is going to find Vitter in a closet, wearing a rubber Batman suit, trying to autoerotically asphyxiate himself.
FlipYrWhig
@fasteddie9318: When he wakes up in the morning, it’ll be easier for him.
Villago Delenda Est
@Lawnguylander:
Actually, what I did was admit I was wrong, and change my assessment of the situation.
You, on the other hand, are still a prudish git who I still cordially invite to go DIAF.
jaywillie
@Amaliada: and how effective do you think he’ll be pushing for that now? Every response to Weiner will be, “He’s a proven liar. He went on prime time television and lied to everyone, repeatedly.” He has no credibility left.
jaywillie
@Fred: @askew: He’s good at going to the House floor and frothing at the mouth ala Alan Grayson. Actually accomplishing something…not so much. But we’ve now reached the point where his defenders are calling Nancy Pelosi a Blue Dog and trashing her.
Nina
@JGabriel: he’s getting serious tweetment for his pwoblem.
MoneyGal
He once kissed a baby. OMG! Now John can add “Pedophile?” to his book of lies.
This thread shows how the Republicans (Including JC) move issues to the right.
This issue shows how complicit Dems are working with the Repubs to keep moving the discussion to the right. Today Nixon’s actions would be legal (and promoted in the NYT). If we move much further to the right we’ll be asking, “what is to the right of fascism?”
Ronbo
We welcome all the neo-liberal (Republican) comments! Perhaps we can attack FDR for all of his socialist activities. You do know, that FDR associated with lesbians, right? What a dirty, filthy socialist.
Admiral_Komack
“And now he is off to rehab. This is just sad.”
No, it isn’t.
The Progressive Left’s newest hero, long on talk, but flaccid when it (ahem!) comes to action, lies about his accounts being hacked, can’t answer a yes or no question whether his talleywhacker was erect & ready for it’s close up, lies to people about it, and now he’s going in for treatment to learn to shut down his computer, and now I’m supposed to feel sorry for him?
Bullshit.
I feel sorry for his wife and expectant child.
I don’t feel sorry for Weiner ’cause, ya know…he’s not a “values guy”.
kay
@MoneyGal:
It really doesn’t show that. It shows that you’re refusing to read or recognize Weiner’s own words and actions regarding his own behavior. He apologized. To everyone, including Brietbart. He announced he was going to rehab. No one else did those things. No one forced him to do those things. He did them, voluntarily, after the behavior and his own lies about the behavior were uncovered.
You can’t keep continuing to ignore the man’s own words and actions regarding these events.
He doesn’t agree with you that it’s not a big deal. He doesn’t agree with you that this issue doesn’t affect his work, in one of two ways, either politically or substantively.
I suspect Pelosi wants him out because Democrats have been off-message for 2 weeks and they had a very favorable political momentum going to push the Medicare-Medicaid-Ryan debacle. Weiner’s handling of his problem has stopped that in it’s tracks.
I think it’s wrong to portray him as a victim. He’s a very well-connected and powerful person. To use a term that’s popular on this site, he committed (at the very least) “political malpractice” and there are going to be repercussions from Pelosi for that. She’s doing her job.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@kay:
in a love-sick groupie’s eyes, the star can do no wrong (ie weiner, edwards, hamsher, greenwald).
Admiral_Komack
@fasteddie9318:
He’s hard up for some support.
Someone ought to give him a hand.
Admiral_Komack
@rob!:
…and then there’s Weiner, who is truly a dumbass.