And the inevitable has now happened:
Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told House leaders that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House, said a top Democratic official and two people told of Mr. Weiner’s plans.
His decision follows revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women.
The top Democratic official said Mr. Weiner called Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Representative Steve Israel of New York last night while they were at the White House picnic to inform them he had decided to resign on Thursday.
Mr. Weiner plans to resign in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, on Thursday afternoon, at a senior center where he announced his first campaign for City Council in 1992, according to two people told of his plans.
Question: Why is Weiner resigning for talking dirty to people and sending crotch shots while Ensign was allowed to serve as long as he wanted and Vitter is still in office?
Answer: Liberal media + IOKIYAR.
chopper
so now weiner will be removed from the annals of congress. so sad.
Villago Delenda Est
Yup, that’s the answer, allright.
“Lewd” talk is obviously more damaging to America’s fragile sexual mores than fucking your chief of staff’s wife.
LittlePig
Headline funny!
(seriously though, kill a few hundred thousand Iraqis for the sheer hell of it – A-OK. Tweet a dick pick – IT’S ALL OVER!*)
(* for values of politician = ‘Democrat’)
celticdragonchick
O/T
If you guys haven’t seen this yet…you need to.
Probably the most racially incendiary and misogynistic campaign ad ever produced (aimed at Democratic candidate Janice Hahn).
African American men posing as gangsters and thugs? Check
Bling and assault rifles? Check
Singing and dancing “musical negros” right out of a Jesse Helms senate speech? Check
Portrayal of a democratic female candidate as a pole dancing whore? Check
African American men shown sexually degrading a white women? Check
Scene at the end showing forcible rape of pole dancing whore with the barrel of an assault rife? Check
This one is utterly unspeakable. The only things missing are a mammy with a headscarf and a pickaninny with a watermelon.
PeakVT
Poor Anthony. I’m sure this has been a very deflating experience for him.
Bruce S
From TPM:
I feel like the media hounds, the “news” audience, the entire GOP and, yes, even the Dem leadership have all exposed themselves “inappropriately” to me. I call for their resignations…
elisabeth
And Coburn sits without explaining his role as bagman for Ensign.
Sad_Dem
Breitbart sure has delivered for his paymasters.
evinfuilt
That is without a doubt the worst set of puns I’ve heard through this whole debacle. I applaud you.
Now that this is over, we can finally get back to prosecuting the last administration for war crimes… oh, nm.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
I guess this is a decision he made after talking face to face with the wife (she just got back from overseas).
FWIW (nothing) I don’t think he should resign. Diaper Dave is still in the Senate, right? Fuck. Goddamn unreal double standard being applied here.
cleek
TNC had a very good reason. basically, this isn’t (as i, for one, thought) just a case of Wiener and a few consenting women sexting each other; it turns out Wiener would also rather aggressively try to steer non-sexual on-line conversations with women towards sexual topics.
now think of what that revelation would do to his constituent relations. what woman would want to talk to him about legitimate constituent issues knowing there’s a chance he’s going to start sexing her up?
celticdragonchick
I agree. However, Weiner had few, if any, favors he could call in. He was known to be abrasive and had few friends in congress. When something like this blows up…you need friends. Once he was exposed as a liar, the rest of the Dem caucus basically told him to fuck off. I got the impression that nobody figured they owed him a thing.
steviez314
If his name had been Anthony Smith he would have survived this.
Mary Jane
@Sad_Dem:
And our righteous Dem leaders served as bagmen.
Will
I’m surprised that he is out so fast too, especially since he is such a likudnik and constant voice in the Israel can do no wrong chorus.
Or it could be because he was poking around Justice Thomas’ ethics too much, maybe getting to close to some damaging information.
Well, conspiricies everywhere, and not a drop of proof.
shortstop
TPM theorizes that it’s because Weiner was designated an informal mouthpiece for the Dem leadership. Since Ensign was actually a formal member of the GOP leadership team when his shit started coming down, I am unconvinced.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Uh-Oh.
Here comes the blogosphere meltdown.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Now weiner will be free to primary Obama.
Captain Haddock
In the grand scheme of things, sending pictures of your dick may not be the worst crime possible. Having actual, real sex with another woman would have been worse morally, but not as pathetic. The whole “rehab” thing just made matters worse. The guy is a goof, plain and simple. He needs to go away.
ruemara
hm, after reading that TNC article, I’m not sure he isn’t making the right decision for all involved.
Trentrunner
The answer: Pictures.
If we had pictures of Vitter in diapers being spanked or Ensign…doing whatever, then they’d have had to go.
The constant drip of new pix was what done Weiner in.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
My personal standards would say that Weiner probably should resign at this point.
Then again, my personal standards also said Vitter should’ve been shitcanned and brought up on criminal charges, Ensign should already be in jail, and a whole host of other hypocrites on each side of the aisle (though quite notably more on the right side of the aisle than on the left) forcibly booted. So, that shows you how much my personal standards mean in the grand scheme of things. So for now, the Weiner debacle remains illuminating if only for the way it reveals blatant double standards and how such revelations are met with a yawn. Oh, and for how it somehow single-handedly revived Breitbart’s credibility and made him the national journalistic toast.
So…if anything, I’ll still curse Weiner to high hell if only for letting himself get punked out by fucking Breitbart.
eemom
Folks should check out Kornacki’s piece over at Salon summarizing Weiner’s career.
In short, this is no loss. The liberal lion schtick was a complete fraud. The guy is and always has been a self-promoting, sleazoid asshole with zero walk behind the talk.
Lawnguylander
That’s received wisdom on the liberal parts of the internet but it’s nonsense. Vitter is still there because they didn’t want to lose the seat. And how do you know that Ensign doesn’t want to be there anymore? Whatever the answer, using a guy who just resigned doesn’t help the IOKIYAR case.
Edited to ask, why does FYWP disrespect the blockquote tag like that and what can be done to fix it other than using two separate sets of tags?
brendancalling
i like how the Clintoons are “livid”. Cus you know, someone who got an extra marital blowjob, dumped his choad on the girls’ dress, and stuck a cigar up her vagina is very well-placed to condemn other people’s misbehavior.
And yeah, wtf is Vitter still doing in DC? or Mary “titty-lickin’ good” Bono for that matter?
Comrade Javamanphil
Kurtz at TPM reports it has everything to do with Weiner being groomed as a candidate for a future leadership position of the House Caucus. In that light, one does start to understand why leadership was pushing him out. Jefferson, Ensign, Vitter, Wide Stance were (and are) minor actors in their party. Not saying it is right, just more understandable why Pelosi was pushing so hard.
This in no way excuses the media and I will once again point out that Chuck Todd (or one of his approved minions) explicitly admitted that the story was covered more vigorously because the GOP pushed them to. You Gotta scroll down to “Answering why Ensign and Vitter didn’t get the same political pressure Weiner is receiving” Shameful.
Warren Terra
Once it became clear that if he remained the media would be able to field a constant drip of additional details, including the occasional picture and possibly the occasional 17-year-old, he was toast.
Other than IOKIYAR, one huge thing that both Vitter and Ensign had going for them was the lack of additional news hooks. No-one involved with either of their shames would play footsie with the media to provide a stream of new and titillating stories, and there were no pictures. The other major recent case was Eliot Spitzer, and (other than the lawbreaking and hypocrisy there, neither of which presented a major obstacle to Vitter or Ensign’s ability to remain in office), what Spitzer had to deal with was again a stream of photos (of the lady in question, not of him), and the lady in question was quite willing to play footsie with the press.
None of what I’ve said excuses the media’s behavior. The lack of juicy new images and quotes on which to hang a rehashing of Vitter’s or Ensign’s wrongdoing can not justify the fact that the mainstream media did a piss-poor job of explaining and denouncing their wrongdoing in the first place. But there is a genuine, non-partisan difference between the scandals that, however unfair, has to do with the way the news-entertainment industry works.
Han's Solo
But won’t this lead to a fatal lack of dick jokes?
So why aren’t reporters, at least reporters on the left, hounding the hell out of Vitter? Shouldn’t they be pushing hard at Vitter and asking him to justify Weiner’s ousting?
Vitter shouldn’t be allowed to walk ten feet in DC without being questioned about his diaper fetish. Does anyone really think he quit going to hookers?
Democrats need to remember that politics is a double edged sword. If the GOP can use extramarital shennanigans against Ds then Ds can do the same to Rs.
Jay in Oregon
You forgot “and then firing them and having his parents bribe them to make the issue go away.”
j
And Clarence (R-Conflict of Interest) Thomas is still sitting in a job for life ruling in favor of his corporate fascist overlords.
I hope Weiner turns over all of his investigation material to another Representative who will finally get that POS Thomas of the Court. Jan Schakowski esems like the obvious choice.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Democratic polling outfit PPP did a poll on Weiner: among self described Liberals, he had a 18% approval rating and a whopping 62% disapproval rating. (see page 2)
So while nationally rank and file liberals really dislike Weiner (18 to 62), on the blogosphere he’s wildly popular. I bet if DKos held a poll, weiner would get a 90% approval rating.
This just shows, once again, how disconnected rank and file commentators on blogs are from rank and file liberals. Yet, nevertheless, no matter how many statistics prove oth3rwise, the blogosphere insists they’re the base.
eemom
anyhow he’s going into rehab for sexual obsessive-destructive disorder, or something like that. Turns out it is a real condition and he’s a “garden variety” case. A whole bunch of shrinks said so in yesterday’s WaPo.
jheartney
While I’m sad to see this, I was surprised he took this long to make the decision. I expected this on Monday.
Also not surprising, in retrospect. You don’t get that sort of cyber-action without trolling for it.
shortstop
I can’t get reply to work for some reason. Comrade Javamanphil at #26:
Ensign had the #4 GOP leadership position, chair of the Republican Policy Committee. While he did resign that post when his affair came out, he wasn’t pushed to give up his senate seat. I don’t think the people pushing the “But Weiner could have been a leadership contendah someday!” explanation are really cutting it here.
fasteddie9318
This doesn’t seem that hard to piece together; Weiner is in a safe Democratic seat that is a likely hold and from which they can ideally find another high profile voice that hasn’t been turned into a punch-line. If this were a situation where Weiner was the only hope the Democrats had to hang on to the seat, he wouldn’t have been tossed under the bus so readily. The hint of underage involvement and of there being women he’d sent these things to who actually weren’t interested in seeing his junk only added fuel to the fire.
licensed to kill time
It was the fatal combination of pictures + his name. A perfect storm for Weiner and an irresistible bright shiny object for the media.
Weiner’s still a dick for doing such a stupid thing, though.
Pliny
In a sane world Weiner would have been called on to resign when he introduced legislation to kick the Palestinian delegation out of the UN (and the country), suggesting they should start “packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags”.
But alas, Israel is always right and anyone who suggests otherwise must be an antisemitic bigot with terrorist ties
MattF
Not entirely off-topic… Can someone explain why “The Devil made me do it” is a defense of any kind? I mean, well… of course the Devil made him do it (or testosterone, or wingnut taunting, or circumstances beyond his control, or something…)
TooManyJens
Is the reply button broken (by which I mean, missing) for anyone else?
Mike Kay (True Grit)
How ironic, he was supposed to deliver the keynote address today at Netroots Nation.
He must be kicking himself. He could have really scored with those gullible blogger chicks.
licensed to kill time
TooManyJens: I have no reply button either.
It’s a conspiracy! LulzSec strikes again!
Derf
Ah yes, John Galt Cole’s obsession over Weiners weiner (and war is bad…..even if he has to take the GOP’s/Libertarians hypocritical side to prove it) continues.
Joel
@cleek:
They better watch out on August 1st.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Did Weiner get the shaft? I don’t think so. All the arguments for him staying are pretty limp.
jheartney
And now for some tastelessness:
“Weiner pulls out of Congress”
“Get out your Kleenex, Weiner’s finished”
“Weiner drops from Congress after slow-dripping scandal”
Mike Kay (True Grit)
steviez314
/fix’d
Natasha
He spent a week very publicly lying about what happened and anyone who publicly supported him was left looking like an idiot. He allegedly tried to persuade at least one of his twitterspondents to lie as well. His judgement sucks.
He should be thrown under the bus as far as I’m concerned.
eemom
No reply button here either. Joooooooohnnnnnn…..
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Everybody relax, we still have the Casey Anthony trial and Michele Bachmann’s surge in the horse race. Just because Weiner is quitting doesn’t mean we have to suffer through news of actual import,
Tim, Interrupted
I am disappointed in Weiner for resigning. I wish he had called Nancy “Impeachment is off the table…” Pelosi and told her to shove her resignation right up her panty sniffing, pearl clutching ass; mistakes were made, lessons learned, we look forward not back.
Illegal wars based on lies and countless related crimes: NO PROBLEM! IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE.
Sexy-time pics tweeted and no crime committed: RESIGN NOW YOU HORRIBLE SCUMBAG LIAR.
And of course, our brave and fearless and spineless CIC added his voice to the chorus of Weiner whining; insinuating that AW should resign. George Bush’s unspeakable crimes, meanwhile, are behind us and because we should look forward instead of back we don’t need to see them. This is change you cannot believe in.
All of the above and more is an illustration of reason #2,475 why, as of 2004 I no longer participate in the American political process as a Democratic voter. The level of bullshit and misplaced outrage and appalling lies is astronomical and completely out of control, and I don’t enjoy being a party to it.
Davis X. Machina
He apparently told Pelosi, and colleagues, up front that it was all the work of hackers, and it wasn’t.
They didn’t care for that. It’s a collegial body, and he has people he has to work with.
shortstop
Could we stop using “rehab” and “counseling/treatment” as synonyms? Rehab specifically addresses addiction and is not a word that either Weiner or his spokesperson has employed, unless they’ve made very recent statements I missed.
I’m as skeptical as the next person of politicians “discovering” alcoholism or other addictions the minute they’re in the spotlight for something sexual, but that doesn’t appear to be what Weiner’s doing. And I don’t think it’d be that hard to make the case that someone in a high-profile and politically combative position who takes the gigantic chance of having these conversations with multiple almost-total strangers, any of whom could expose him (sorry) with one phone call or forwarded message, is not exercising what might be called normal risk assessment.
Han's Solo
I watched Jane Lynch and Bill Maher read one of the Weiner emails/tweets and I have to say it sure sounded consensual. We should be forcing people out of their jobs for talking dirty on line with a willing participant?
Here is the question as far as I’m concerned: Would similar behavior lead to a firing in the private sector? I could see firing Ensign, who forced a subordinate to have sex with him. I could see firing Vitter, who arranged for an illegal rendezvous with a hooker from his place of work. Both of these actions are firing offenses. But I’m not so sure that what Weiner did would be a firing offense in the private sector. Maybe it would be if he used company assets or did the tweeting while at work, but otherwise?
Regardless, Weiner proved he should go for sheer stupidity. Anything you put online, via tweeting or emailing or whatever, is subject to capture by those who oppose you. An electronic paper trail is a great thing if you are trying to prove you did, or did not, do something. But if you are doing something embarrassing you really should find a more covert way than the internet.
Adding to the stupidity is the fact that, like Alan Grayson, Weiner actually has a spine and that scares the hell out of Republicans. Therefore they will use anything to attack Weiner. Anthony must have realized that; yet he went on with his tweeting.
cleek
Obama fails us yet again
Jimperson Zibb (formerly Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
I would like to point out that nothing that Ensign or Vitter did was nearly as outrageous or illegal as what Weiner did. Vitter and Ensign had consentual sex. Vitter even helped the young lady he had sex with put a little money away for retirement. Now you liberals are against people saving for retirement? Oh, I guess it’s only all right if the nanny state saves for you. And as a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure prostitution isn’t even against the law. And besides, Vitter is a committed Christian who asked God for forgiveness even though he did nothing wrong! Now that’s devotion. And even if he had done something wrong, God forgave him, so it’s out of bounds to bring it up. And besides, as the RNC head said the other day, this story is 5 years old! So it doesn’t count. And it wasn’t anything bad anyway, even if it did count.
And Ensign was a thoughtful suitor who lavished his attention on a hard-working underling out of the goodness of his heart. I guess you liberals would rather that he berated her every day instead of making her feel fulfilled. And then he thoughtfully contributed a great deal of money to her retirement as well. I guess you’d rather she starve in her old age. Shameful. In short, everybody had a good time, nobody got hurt, and the Democrats hatefully harassed poor Mr. Ensign until he had to resign for the good of his family. I guess you think targeting a senator’s family is good politics and you even think it’s justified if it gives you the capital with the “lame-stream media” you need to demonize the bold and gutsy common sense solutions to our bankrupt Medicare scam fraud ponzi scheme that the Democrat Party has foisted upon an unwitting populice, but mark my words, George Will is watching and he’ll call you out over it. David Brooks, too.
Now Weiner did nothing that helped any of those women. He didn’t contribute to capitalism in any way. Instead he showed unwitting and unwilling women pictures of his underwear, which is a federal offense in many states and counties. They had no choice but to receive these disgusting pictures and are all horribly scarred from the ordeal of being stalked by a sexual predator who is most likely a sexual sadist as well. This much is clear. And besides that, he lied. Vitter and Ensign would never do that. Sure, he said he was sorry, but he didn’t even drag his wife out as a prop when he said it, so you know he didn’t mean it.
It is the height of offensiveness to in any way compare a little bit of “boys will be boys” hijinks on the part of Vitter and Ensign with Weiner’s lewd, unlawful and indecent conduct. I demand you stop this outrage immediately if not before. And, too, I want my country back, also!
bemused
I hate our media. Pelosi made it clear at her press conference about jobs, medicare, you know those boring issues, she would not make a statement about Weiner and CNN, MSNBC and Fox (no surprise there) all cut away right after that.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Davis X. Machina
This is the thing that whinny bloggers don’t get. If you lie to your supervisors at work, you’re gonna get fired.
sixers
Pointing out how shamelessly the gop handled their own scandals is not a reason to act shamelessly when one of your own does something reckless. If they jump off a bridge etc….
Also how bout the guy coaching people(including porn stars!) to lie for him? Everybody cool with your congressman having that reaction when things get tough? If you are ok with that and don’t think he should resign you’re no better than the Vitter supporters.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
bemused:
And this is why weiner had to go. The liburel media was like a dog with a bone, they were never gonna let wienergate go.
Brachiator
Ensign ultimately resigned. Vitter’s constituents have no problem with him, especially since they apparently let him play the Baby Jeebus card.
I would have no problem with letting the voters in Weiner’s district decide his fate. But I ain’t the Democratic leadership in Congress.
But it ain’t just about the crotch shots. In addition to the lying, which was a self-inflicted wound, Weiner has become a joke, and there has been a continuing series of revelations … leaking out … with the promise of … more to come.
And some of the people Weiner sexted claim that they neither desired nor solicited this aspect of the messaging. What part of sexual harassment is it that people do not understand?
The conversations with the 17 year old girl, although non sexual, was pointlessly private. This reminds me of Mark Foley who, as the Brits would say, was grooming interns when they were underage, but only having sex with them when they had attained the age of consent.
And Foley, as I recall, also resigned.
And oh yeah, Foley’s colleagues and the press “respected his privacy” even though Foley had been “cautioned” about his activities, and even though House pages had complained about his conduct for 10 years.
So some of this is not about how the GOP gets away with stuff and Democrats do not, but that a lot of slimy behavior on the part of government officials is overlooked even when people complain about it.
Sad_Dem
Mike Kay (True Grit): So while nationally rank and file liberals really dislike Weiner (18 to 62)….
This is why you can’t trust polls. People will say they don’t like Weiner, but once they’re behind closed doors, it turns out that Weiner is as popular as ever.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Han’s Solo:
Yes. Firms are hypersensitive bout workplace lawsuits.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Sad_Dem: You really are an idiot.
Stooleo
I’d love to see him run in the special election and let his constituents have the final word.
jinxtigr
One less AIPAC guy. So it might be best in the long run, because clinging to a hardline Israeli stance as a country is gonna get us killed (even if it’s death by a thousand paper cuts, and then hysterical self-flagellation)
Pity he’s a total schmuck, but since he is, fuck him.
lamh34
Wow so now Nancy Pelosi is the enemy. How quick libs turn against someone so many lobs respected and admired. I’m sorry, but I’d take Nancy Pelosi over Weiner anyday. It’s ridiculous to me the animosity some on piling on Nancy frakin’ Pelosi, cause Weiner is an idiot.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
What was it Stuck said at the premature reports of his resignation? Something like:
It made me LOL, whatever it was. (apologies for any misquote)
shortstop
lamh34 at #64: I don’t see anyone piling on Pelosi other than Tim. I think a lot of people here are frustrated at the double standard between Dems and Republicans (I’ll never forget the standing ovation Vitter got from the GOP caucus when he returned to the senate, and Ensign’s last-possible-moment resignation doesn’t impress me), but I don’t really see anyone but Tim making Pelosi “the enemy.”
Restrung
you gotta keep it fridgerated. ho, HO..
or, You gotta keep it constipated.
Is it(un)fucking over now?
Instead of being a NY congressman, he’s a Weiner. ha, fkn ha.
That’s what they said before “Ow, my Balls” became the de-facto conservative primary.
Han's Solo
Mike – Firms may be hypersensitive ’bout workplace lawsuits, but if Weiner were texting someone he didn’t work with, on his own time and with his own electronics, it wouldn’t be a firing offense. Indeed, you can sue for being fired for such a thing in many states.
He deserves to go for being an idiot, but not for his dalliances in and of themselves.
Georgia Pig
Let me guess, because Pelosi actually gives a shit when members lie to her and act in a way that borders on sexual harassment, while the Republican caucus is a fucking fraternity where the last thing you do is turn on a brother unless he gets caught with a live boy or a dead girl? Just because Vitter should be in jail and Ensign got to hang around until it looked like he might be indicted doesn’t mean Pelosi wasn’t right in forcing Wiener out. Yeah, you’re right about the press, but that’s the way they are. Not much Pelosi can do about that.
hitchhiker
Lots of things at play here, but the one I can’t get over is him texting that photograph of his boner trying to escape his underwear to a 21-year-old college student who — according to them both — had NOT engaged in any sort of flirting or dirty talk.
If he hadn’t deleted the thing, that woman would have opened her phone to see that picture. And what he said was that he meant to send it privately, as a joke. Excuse me, WHAT?
Yes, there are double standards for the 2 parties, yes, it’s stupid that we shame men relentlessly for liking sex, for being horny, for wanting it dirty, yes, the media is obnoxious and sick, etc. etc.
But I have a 21 year old daughter in college who is politically active. If an elected official sent that picture to her out of nowhere, I’d be disgusted and angry. Something is seriously wrong with him. You just don’t do that.
FlipYrWhig
@ Han’s Solo / 52:
It’s not like plenty of people aren’t having phone sex while still holding down a job. But, then again, if your job involved dealing with the public, and you had a habit of taking requests for information and steering them _into_ phone sex — even later, after hours — you could certainly get fired for that, I’d think.
ETA: For instance, you call to complain about your cable bill, and the person answering is helpful and friendly, and you decide to find a way to talk to each other privately, and it heats up… and then it comes out that the phone rep has been doing this a lot… I think that person would be fired, yes.
Tony J
Not to belabour the obvious but Weiner spent ten days lying about his guilt in the full light of a media circus, letting everyone think that this was just another Breitbart smear that would be exposed once the facts came out.
But it wasn’t, and he knew it, but he lied anyway, and in the process rehabilitated that slimy little cock-knocker in the eyes of the Village. For that alone you’d think he deserved to get shitcanned.
And at the end of the day, what do we have? Example 6421 in the long list of ‘Ways the Democratic Party is different from the Republican Party’.
Edit – Natasha at 46 said it way better and shorter.
El Tiburon
Vitter and Ensign are patriotic Americans, and as Newt has so profoundly taught us: patriotism leads to man-on-woman-who-is-not-your-wife sex.
Weiner, OTOH, is not a patriot. He is an American-hating-terrorist-loving-cheating-on-his-wife scumbag.
This, this is why he had to go.
FlipYrWhig
@ hitchhiker / 70: Agreed. It has the _logic_ of sexual harassment even if it were to be fully consensual, IMHO. It’s converting a fan/celebrity or supporter/politician or protege/mentor relationship into something explicitly eroticized, and to me that’s inappropriate structurally, irrespective of how willing each party happens to be. I teach, and it’s ringing the same warning bells as student/teacher intimacies. It’s a mess, and you have to use really good judgment, and err on the side of prudence and prudery, while remaining friendly.
FlipYrWhig
@ El Tiburon / 73: Except that Weiner was and is a hawk when it comes to the Middle East.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
how long before the blogosphere calls on alan grayson to move to queens and run in the special election?
Bender
It’s a dumb question. Weiner’s resigning of his own free will. No one kicked him out. Ask him why he quit.
I’ll bet it has something to do with consensual vs. non-consensual sexual activities. Remember, The Comely Coed has said she didn’t solicit the pics, nor did she want them. Weiner essentially flashed his package at her via the internet like a perv in the street. He also evidently instructed the Porn Actress to lie about messages they had exchanged.
And before you go on your Bizarro “Media Hates Democrats” bullshit, remember: The Big Media, including Fox, wanted nothing to do with this story. They covered for Weiner for 3-4 days while 3 right-bloggers kept the story on life-support, doing the investigative work needed to disprove Weiner’s lies while most Big Media ignored the story or (WaPo, Politico) wrote credulous whitewash pieces for him — “Lewd Photos Sent From Hacked Twitter” — based on DailyKos faked pixel research or Weiner’s own press releases.
These three bloggers, led by the tireless Ace Of Spades, tweeted Big Media reporters, pointing out how obviously false Weiner’s cover story was, shaming them into finally covering the story after 4 days, and then Weiner unraveled like a cheap suit. Even then, Blitzer and others tried to cover for him with softball interviews — the sickening “Congratulations, Congressman!” interview — which allowed Weiner to tell clear lies without questions.
So no. If Big Media had their way, Anthony Weiner would still be cyber-flashing his rod to college girls, flirting with high-school chicks via DM, and cavorting online with porn actresses, thank you.
This was the triumph of the Little Guy armed only with truth over the Big Corporate Media who would’ve rather heard the lie.
cat48
Maybe, when Gloria Allred & a Hooker have a news conference regarding your behavior in asking the “poor little Hooker” to lie for you; it’s just past time to go! No, I didn’t see it; I switched to the Food Channel when they announced it was coming up.
Moe99
Ga Pig: Word
Mike Kay (True Grit)
El Tiburon: Even your idol, St. Glenn hates weiner: “[Weiner] is one of the most extremist AIPAC loyalists in the Congress, which is not an easy distinction to achieve.”
Tsulagi
Pretty much. For damage control the dick tweeter could have tried a quick name change, but given the level of lame stupidity exhibited, dumbass probably would have changed it to Schlong.
FeFiFo
Agreed that he wouldn’t have been out if it wasn’t for the pictures (and chat logs, but mostly the pictures). However I’m not weeping over the loss of a sexual harasser with control problems and the judgement of a horny 15 year old, and I don’t really care if he’s wearing the red team jersey or the blue.
hidflect
Don’t worry. AIPAC will find another replacement.
Brachiator
See, this is where technology falls short. In the old days, if you had sex with the hooker, you might get some protection since the prostitute could assert “hooker/John privilege.” At least, with hookers with ethics.
But apparently, Ginger Lee called on Weiner to resign during her press conference even though she didn’t vote for him or even live in his district.
jomo
Because there are pictures
Because his name was Weiner
Because the pictures were unsolicited
Because some of the girls he corresponded were in college – or minors
Because he vociforously lied about it
Because he lied to friends who then lied on his behalf on national TV and are very pissed about it
Because he lied to the House Leadership and the Prez
Because he has a beautiful, classy, and pregnant wife
Yeah he’s a Democrat too – but come on – this guy’s distasteful and toxic. He’s useless – better out of the way
Mike Kay (True Grit)
I wonder which lobbying firm Weiner will join?
trollhattan
In the end, Weiner hurts only himself (via victimless “crimes” and his considerable prevarications). Hereabouts, we’re forced to dodge drunk Republicans trying to mow us down on the streets.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/06/legislator-arrested-at-capitol.html
Bender
I wonder which network Weiner will join. (No, just kidding, I know it’ll be MSNBC.)
Catsy
Un-fucking-believable. Even if you think Weiner was being a douchebag dumbass–and make no mistake, he was–the double standard at work here is indefensible. Not since the Clenis Incident has this double standard and the media’s complicity in maintaining it been so disgustingly transparent.
The worst part about this is that it gives Breitbart and his troupe of felons completely undeserved and unearned credibility that will be used to sell more of their scams and do further damage to this country.
trollhattan
If it ain’t representing the Meatpackers I’m going to be very disappointed.
NamelessGenXer
The typical, nauseating IOKIYAR hypocrisy aside and in keeping with my mantra of “can the smart people please run the country?“:
Wiener has got to go.
(Dude may be book-lernin’ intelligent but his actions have demonstrated that he is terminally stupid.)
Buh-bye!
jinxtigr
If Pelosi did force him out, this quick, because he lied to her and became toxic- that’s pretty cool, actually. That’s discipline. The one Republican thing that the Dems could use a bit more of, as a rule.
Nancy smash? :D
Elizabelle
I’m glad Weiner resigned. I wish he’d done so when this blew up in his face. He damaged himself more with the lying and attempted coverup.
It’s telling that his new wife declined to stand by him publicly.
Yes, the Republicans stand by theirs to the last.
Do we want to be like that?
It wasn’t fun to hear about William Jefferson and his freezer full o’ cash, and then see him re-elected.
Cynicism and ignorance are cheap.
Have some standards.
There does seem to be a double standard, but stupid, deplorable behavior remains stupid, deplorable behavior.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Regarding Weiner lying, yes, he lied his ass off. This is America. Anything relating to genitalia, even tangentially, must be hidden at all cost. If there is anything worth lying about in America, it’s your sexual behavior. So the American circle is complete; if you’re caught possessing genitalia the only conceivable way out of your predicament is to lie your ass off. Then when you’re caught in your lie society crucifies you for lying.
I don’t live within two time zones of Weiner’s district and as far as I’m concerned this matter could have been left to his constituents, though on another level I’m glad he is apparently quitting and we’ll finally be rid (a few days from now) of this idiotic story. But this continuing genital hysteria, to the exclusion of all the other business of the nation, does not bode well.
Bender
Well, if it’s so transparent, maybe you’ll explain it, rather than just making a blanket assertion that I’ve already proved (and you could look up the Twitter streams for yourself) is wrong.
sixers
This event has reinforced to me that there are people on the left with blinders on as big as the average Sarah Palin supporter.
Bender
Are you joking, or just thick?
Gerry Studds.
Marion “Bitch Set Me Up!” Barry.
Mal Reynolds.
Robert “Ku Klux Kleagle” Byrd.
Ted Kennedy.
Barney Frank.
“Cold Cash” Jefferson.
Bill “Cigar Aficionado” Clinton.
Hal
To me, this is a conflict between the old way of having an affair and the new way. Vitter and Ensign did it the old way, behind closed doors. Weiner went through the new medium, the Internet, where photos of him will circulate forever.
I think it would be impossible for him to ever be taken seriously again because of that. Vitter, Ensign, Clinton, etc can always go down the “it’s a private matter” road, but Weiner by default cannot because his business (literally) was made public.
If Paris Hilton discovers a cure for cancer, the first thing her obituary will mention is her sex tape. Weiner is in the same boat now. Nothing he does will precede twitter picks if his privates, and he will have to deal with that for the rest of his life.
Davis X. Machina
@jinxtigr.
That’s why DemocraticUnderground is calling for Pelosi to be replaced by DeFazio.
Bender
Vitter and Ensign also did it consensually. Weiner, if we are to believe Coed and Porn Actress? Ehhhhh, not so much.
cleek
you let us know when Diaper Dave Vitter is persuaded by the GOP leadership to resign, Bender.
until then, yes, the GOP sticks by their own.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
It’s one thing to break the moral bonds of marriage or other commitments with people who are adults, and (more or less) conspire with you to do that breaking. As bad as that is, it’s an issue, in the end, between the people involved.
But when you start to send texts to people who you’ve not even hinted at such relations with, you’ve lost the plot completely. There’s a world of difference between consensual sex acts, and forcing people to interact with you, even one-way, in a sexual manner. That’s textbook sexual harassment, and when done to people you work with, it’s a fire-able offense.
Weiner works for everyone, in a way. Present with evidence that he not only sent unsolicited sexually-oriented texts to women, but tried to drive at least one to lie about it, pushing him out was the least people could do. The Progressive Movement needs lying, sexist assholes like a hole in it’s head.
He’s no loss.
Bender
Nancy is only being pragmatic. It’s not like her delicate San Francisco sensibilities were offended!
A Democratic candidate could be shown in a campaign ad next to, say, Clinton. Sure, he humidor-ed that intern and lied and probably had affairs, but come on — he’s a stud.
A Democratic candidate couldn’t be shown next to Weiner (and believe me, they ALL would have been), because he’s texting dick-pics on Twitter to girls who might not have wanted them. ICK factor: 1000
Bender
I never said that they don’t, occasionally (though they come down harder on their own than do the Democrats, obviously).
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Hal:
Her sex tapes were boring. They were really disappointing. Who would have thought an exhibitionist like PAris would suck in bed (no pun intended).
Bender
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
Yes! Yes! When will puritanical Americans finally be free, as the gods and goddesses intended them to be, to send dick-pics to girls who don’t want them?
Why must we lie about forcing young, unsuspecting girls to look at our junk? Are we such savages?
I have a dream that there will come a day — I may not live to see it — where a Congressman can get caught Tweeting his dong to a Coed he’s flirting with on the internet, and say to the Media proudly, “Come ooooooon, guys! It’s only my dick! You know she wanted to see it!”
Jimperson Zibb (formerly Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
Are you truly dumb enough to want to get into this?
Ensign
Vitter
Randy “Duke” Cunningham
Tom DeLay
Bob Ney
John Rowland
Jim Gibbons
Bob Taft
Jack Abraham
Vito Fossella
William Janklow
George Ryan
Ralph Reed
Those are only the ones I could think of off the top of my head. Lord knows, people of any party can turn out to be scumbags. But it sure seems like the Republicans stick by their creeps a lot longer than Democrats do. Seems to me that Republicans only turn on their own after they’ve been convicted, if then. Democrats seem to have a lot less tolerance for corruption–as a rule; yes, there are exceptions. But, really, Democrats as a whole tend to think of government as a worthwhile pursuit. Republicans believe the very idea of government is corrupt (yes, it’s an exaggeration, but not too big a one), so, hey, why not cash in?
Edit: And what do you know, I forgot about Don Sherwood, the guy who tried to choke his girlfriend. Nice bunch of guys, your Republicans…
Catsy
Do you enjoy not knowing what the fuck you’re talking about, Bender? I mean that as a half-serious question. You write replies like this often–triumphalist, factually vacant replies that have no rational relationship to the comment you’re replying to–and it leads to the inescapable question of whether you write this way intentionally, or if there is something deeply pants-on-head wrong with the way your brain works.
Case in point. The “blanket assertion” I made was that “[n]ot since the Clenis Incident has this double standard and the media’s complicity in maintaining it been so disgustingly transparent.” The “double standard” to which I’m referring should be blisteringly obvious from context: the standard by which Republican scandals typically garner comparatively little attention in the media and are ignored or brushed off by Republican leadership, while nearly identical scandals involving Democrats are relentlessly hyped in the media and typically result with the Democrat being hounded out of office.
In the statement you dispute I am making two main assertions: that such a double standard exists, and that not since the Lewinsky scandal has the double standard been as transparent as it is in the Weiner scandal.
The first–implicit–assertion is beyond honest dispute. If you don’t believe such a double standard exists, I’m not going to provide you with a laundry list of examples that everyone here knows perfectly well you’ve seen before by now: it’s feigning ignorance in bad faith and it’s a waste of your time and mine to prove to you that water is wet.
The second assertion is a matter of opinion about which example of the double standard is most obvious, most transparent.
So which “blanket assertion” did you “prove wrong”? The assertion that such a double standard exists? Or the assertion that the Weiner scandal is the most blatant example of it since Lewinsky?
Because I don’t see you writing a single word that undermines either point. Not word one. It was barely even relevant–more like you just seized on a few keywords in my comment and set your word salad generator for stun.
cleek
Diaper Dave, Larry WideStance and Appalachian Mark Sanford thank you for your tireless efforts to obscure their legacies.
spark
This is Breitbart’s apotheosis. He has brought down–and humiliated–one of the most outspoken, outstanding Democratic stars.
I fuckin hate the guy, but he sure does seem to have a lot of notches in his tomahawk.
Brachiator
I know that a lot of people here are having fun playing the double standards game. Lining up your usual suspects on either side of the aisle.
But please allow me to school you on something.
When Gloria Allred shows up, there is often a hot piece of something profoundly embarrassing being dangled out there.
Somebody is going to pay or go away quietly, or both. Or take a hard fall.
Ask Tiger Woods or California gubernatorial candidate, and Republican loser, Meg Whitman.
Just sayin’
Shoemaker-Levy 9
…strawman argumentation ever end???
gocart mozart
Tweatin’ Weiners (to the tune of “Rockin’ Robin”)
He tweets in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and tweeting his schlong
All the little journos on Media Street
Love to hear the Weiner go tweet tweet tweet
Anthony Weiner, tweet tweet tweet
Tweetin’ weiners tweet tweetly-tweet
Don’t leave Tony Weiner
‘Cause there really is no need to resign
Elizabelle
I am getting very tired of “Defining Deviancy Down”, congressional version.
In that, I am not speaking necessarily of sexual peccadilloes. But of the myriad self-dealing, corrupt, trashy and sociopathic behavior we have seen.
I am sick of either side propping up public servants who have betrayed the public’s trust.
It has to stop some where, and if Nancy Smash helped bring an end to Mr. Weiner’s sad saga, so much the better.
Bender
So… you rather missed the point of the whole thing, I’m afraid.
If you could read, you’d see I was responding to someone who truly believed that “standing by your own” during an ethics scandal was a uniquely Republican quality. I think I proved that it is not.
And face it… yours is a shitty list of nobodies and never-weres compared to mine (the governor of South Dakota? Do you really want to get into malfeasance by Democratic governors? We’ll need more bandwidth!). Some of them aren’t even elected officials, and almost all of them resigned within a few months of being charged. None of them but Vitter sought re-election, and Republicans en masse didn’t defend the vast majority of those guys after their various “scandals.”
It only seems like that to you.
Catsy
So am I. But not quite in the way you seem to mean.
I’m tired of the bar for hounding elected Democrats out of office being lowered further and further, while the sheer volume of Republican perfidy combined with the IOKIYAR double standard keeps raising the bar for doing the same to Republicans.
Whereas I am growing increasingly sick of the presumption that the sex lives of our elected officials are any of our business and have anything at all to do with their ability to perform the job they were elected to do.
Embezzling funds? Committing perjury during confirmation hearings? Tax evasion? Voter suppression? Using taxpayer money to hide wrongdoing? Holding the economy and credit of the country hostage to an extreme ideological agenda? Voting to ruin lives and kill sick people because you’re on the payroll of insurance and drug companies? These are betrayals of the public trust.
What someone chooses to do with their genitals? Not so much. It might be a betrayal of their wedding vows. We don’t know, and even if we did that’s between them and their spouse.
But unless it runs afoul of the law or Congressional ethics rules, it’s got fuckall to do with the job we elect them to do, and we’ve got to stop feeding the tabloid media and Republican noise machine by pretending that it does.
Jimperson Zibb (formerly Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
O.K., so Democrats are not saints. I get that, but I wasn’t saying we were. We’ve stuck by people at times when we should have called on them to get the hell off the stage. But, jeez, how many Republicans were yelling that Vitter should resign? How many asked Ensign to leave? How long was Spitzer in office after he got caught with his pants down with a whore? A week? The Democratic legislature impeached Blagojevich, or have you forgotten?
But nobody was screaming that Ensign should go. He didn’t resign until he was about to be called to testify to the Ethics CZommittee, which was going to expel him. Republicans weren’t asking Vitter to go anywhere. He’s still sitting on his fat, diaper-clad ass in the U.S. Senate. They didn’t even dump him from his committee assignments. (They didn’t expel Jefferson, but they threw him off all his committees.) It’s true, people did call on Larry Craig to give up his seat, but that was because he got all tangled up with awful, awful gayness, while Vitter and Ensign had the good taste and the respect for Jesus to fuck women. Also, Idaho had a Republican governor at the time, while Louisiana had a Democratic one, so they weren’t going to lose a seat if Craig went, but they would have if Vitter had.
So as long as Diaper Dave sits in the Senate, you–or any Republican–have no business calling out Democrats for not being quick enough to run our assholes off into obscurity. Look to clean up your own house before you tell us how badly we’re doing.
Elizabelle
Bender:
given that the very next paragraph dealt with a criminal Democrat, I was not making the case that Democrats don’t prop up their own.
I was making the case that there’s a terrible cost to propping up those who are not worth it.
This imbroglio has exposed what I can only call tribalism on both sides, in many cases. (And Bender, since you are reading this with your acute critical skills: I am NOT saying that all the commenters above are acting “tribally.” Hardly.)
I did not respond to you earlier because I sense that you are just using the Weiner debacle to cudgel most of us, and don’t generally respond to troll-like behavior.
Yours,
Elizabelle the thick
lou
The thing is, Weiner was stupid enough to get caught. If enterprising reporters or bloggers really wanted to uncover every sexual scandal in Congress, half of them would be out on their assess tomorrow. All they’d probably have to do is pick a representative at random and hang out in front of his DC abode at dawn Tuesdays through Thursdays.
Anthony Weiner made the bad mistake of picking the wrong enemies and leaving pictoral evidence.
cleek
and in the end, he didn’t even resign. he finished his term.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
It becomes our business when they not only sexually harass innocent people, but pressure people to lie about the harassment.
Why letting a Congressperson get away with harassment of people who didn’t ask for it is so important, I do not understand. Why so many of my fellow Liberals think (judging by their patterns of commenting) “but the GOP gets away with it!” is the only standard to judge this by, boggles me to no end. It’s of a piece, in my mind, with the inability of so many to grasp why the racism in that CA political ad is so horrific.
Bender
@ Catsy – June 16, 2011 | 3:44 pm
Good. If we’re going to name-call, then I can be as brutal as I wish. You could’ve disagreed politely, as I did with you. But you didn’t, and here we are.
So now I have to give lessons in basic argumentation to someone who thinks she’s (I’m assuming you’re a she) smarter than me! I sure hope I’m up to this massive challenge!
“Beyond honest dispute?” Are you joking? Seriously, I almost fell off my chair laughing. After your whole “you’re so stupid, pants-on-head” pre-amble, that’s the best you can do? “I’m not going to provide you…”?
Sorry, dear, but for your argument to be taken seriously, you do have to provide me with some evidence of your claims. I know… it’s inconvenient to have to think of things, isn’t it? While your “everybody knows it’s true” assertion is much easier than thinking, this argument (and I’m being polite calling it that) doesn’t wash with me, because obviously, I’m not buying that premise.
You have to give examples of where this “double standard” has surfaced outside the boundaries of your own head, so I can show you how you’re wrong. You haven’t shown a mainstream media coverage “double standard” except by hinting that Clinton-Lewinsky was a big story, and now Weiner is a big story. Well, obviously, there might be certain legitimate reasons why these would be big stories without there being a “double standard.” Hell, you don’t even name a similar GOP scandal that you think should’ve been as big that wasn’t!
The first one, which disproves the second. You can look for yourself at the Twitter feeds and Ace’s timeline and see how the media didn’t want to break the Weiner story at all (come to think of it, they didn’t want Monica to break either — Drudge did that, right?). So if they didn’t want the scandal to break at all, and covered it up when the story surfaced, it’s kind of hard to believe in your “double standard” where the media overemphasizes Democratic misdeeds.
TomG
I’ll just chime in here to say that in my opinion, the ONLY people who Weiner should answer to is his constituents. If they don’t mind him staying, his Democratic colleagues should grow balls and let him stay.
I know this is all too late, but damn.
If Vitter gets to stay, Weiner should stay. I definitely agree on that.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
TomG: That’s stupid. It’s been 18 days of non-stop weiner coverage, with no signs of abating. Just yesterday, the porn actress he was sexting held a big televised news conference, and last night photos of weiner in drag emerged. It’s one thing if it was for a few days, but now it’s been a few weeks. enough is enough.
trollhattan
Heh, indoozle, “you wish” summarizes splendidly.
Bender
@Elizabelle:
When you asked “Do we want to be like [Republicans]?” it does imply that “we” are not already like Republicans (or worse) in the respect of sticking by disgraced members so they can hold onto their offices like grim death. I’d disagree with that assertion, so I offered up counter-examples.
But I’m sorry if I misinterpreted, and I apologize for insulting your width.
I’ve been commenting here for almost 10 years now, before John started huffing freon. To me, you guys are the noob trolls!
shortstop
I really don’t think too many are arguing that it’s the sole standard. And if we didn’t have a pattern of GOP protection of its own to look to, I’m not sure you’d see so many references to it. I don’t like seeing a few folks make no ethical differentiation between consensual and non-consensual sexual communication, or between sexual communication with minors and with people of age. (I also wonder why people don’t make a distinction between more garden-variety infidelity and what was apparently non-stop compulsive behavior, but whatever.)
But I’d ask you to also make a distinction between people who think that Weiner absolutely had to go but are also pointing out the double standard between Dems cleaning house and the GOP doing the same, and those who think that because there is apparently no Republican standard of sexual conduct outside of getting one’s gay on that requires removal from office, we should use the same measure of acceptability with our own. Even if one is glad to see Weiner hit the road and says so, there’s no reason not to call the GOP on the fact that Vitter is still in office. God knows the media never has, and probably 9 out of 10 voters don’t even know his story.
Brachiator
Oh look. Inappropriate messages take down a nonpartisan official.
Seems that some kind of naughty costume was involved.
Strangely, no one is buying the argument that it ain’t nobody’s business.
Go figure.
Catsy
@Bender
Oh, please. You’ve been trolling this blog for long enough to have lost any expectation of courtesy in the process of shooting down your trollery. You’re like that kid who relentlessly antagonizes his classmates and runs to the teacher the moment any of them retaliate. Nobody’s buying this “what a nice conversation we could’ve had if you’d been polite” horseshit from you of all people. It’s very nearly comedy.
Starting out by making wrong assumptions about my gender isn’t really a distinguished start to that challenge.
I jest not.
It is as beyond honest dispute as the existence of global climate change, the fact that FNC functions more to distribute Republican propaganda than actual news, the fact that waterboarding is torture, or the fact that the primary justification (WMD) for the Iraq War was fraudulent. These things are true. They have been cited and defended ad nauseam on this blog and others, and we both know you’ve seen them before. You’re just being disingenuous.
By “beyond honest dispute”, I mean simply that the examples of this double standard are so pervasive and commonplace, and have been cited so many times on this blog alone, that it is impossible for you to be unaware of or dispute them in good faith. It means that I don’t feel an obligation to spend the time on Google digging up cites that numerous people on this blog alone have typed dozens of times, just so that you can pretend you haven’t seen them before or barf out yet another tu quoque deflection in order to keep on trolling and pretending that this double standard doesn’t exist.
First of all, jackass, I’m not your fucking “dear”. If I’d actually been female, this would’ve merely been patronizing, sexist horseshit. But since it follows from your failed assumption about my gender, it has the benefit of being unintentionally hilarious, patronizing, sexist horseshit that makes you look like an idiot.
Secondly, I am not in the habit of dignifying bad faith demands for evidence of things that are already exhaustively proven. This cute little response might have had some currency if we were arguing something a bit more esoteric or ambiguious, such as whether we should spend money on manned or unmanned space exploration, or whether or not Liberace was really gay. If we were discussing these things, I’d be happy to do your Googling for you.
As it stands, you are laughably attempting to demand supporting cites for the existence of a double standard in how the scandals of Republicans and Democrats are treated… in a comments section populated mainly by political junkies who’ve been observing this double standard for decades. On a blog where entire threads have been devoted to exhaustively documenting and rehashing this subject. In some of which you yourself have participated.
In other words, nobody’s buying your bullshit. Peddle something else, preferably somewhere else.
You can believe whatever you want, and apparently routinely do despite all evidence to the contrary.
But neither the facts of this scandal nor the decades-long track record that led up to it tell the story you seem to think they do, and every time you try to claim that there is no double standard between D and R scandals, it provokes laughter, derision, and eye-rolling from everyone who either pays more attention to politics than you do or is more honest about it.
Though on the latter point, based on your long and inglorious history of trolling here, that’s not exactly setting a high bar.
Davis X. Machina
Notorious right-wing tool Robert Kuttner chimes in….
JRon
I’m late to this thread, but I strongly think the answer here is more complicated than IOKIYAR. (though that’s part of it)
It lies in the fact that our politics and our media are run by alphas who see his behavior as weak and masturbatory. Prostitution? Bribery? Affairs with staff and their spouses? That’s real-man behavior, as well as traditional behavior that has been going on since the dawn of humankind.
Chris Lee was out in a hurry too (probably because he was looking for transsexuals as well as women, but it’s all part of the same issue.) I summarized this better on my own blog, but I really do think that this particular (and very conservative) attitude has a lot to do with why Weiner was forced out.
Jay in Oregon
You know, the “We survived Breitbartpocalypse!” tag at the top of the site has never been more ironic.
Karen
I think that if Weiner just admitted it in the beginning, saying that he made a stupid mistake, it would have been different. That would have killed the salaciousness. But it’s the cover up that was worse than the actual “crime” and the way he lied was STUPID. He treated it like a joke and unlike someone who was contrite, he showed he was only contrite because he got caught. It was long overdue for him to resign. Those who are so caught up in IOKIYAR and can’t see that he showed extreme bad judgement are selectively blind.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Davis X. Machina Kuttner is an obviously corporate shill.
Larkspur
Catsy, that’s some good argumentizing. (I mean it. I am not being sarcastic.)
Elizabelle (95), I disagree with you, at least insofar as you mean that his wife’s absence further damages his reputation. It always seems so cruel to see the wives standing there, silent. And Ms. Abedin was overseas working for the first part. How awful would it have been for her to ask her boss for personal leave, and go home early? It has always been Weiner’s problem. How Abdedin deals with it is none of our business. I mean, I am assuming that there is such a thing as none of our business any more.
grandpajohn
To me, an important message that is once again being displayed within this latest “tempest in a teapot” this is being over looked here, is not the difference in how the Democrats and Republicans handle member scandals but but the difference in how much attention the media gives Democratic scandals compared to the relative inattention given to Republican scandals.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
shortstop / 129:
Please do as I did, and skim over the first, say, 50 comments. See how many folks actually mention either of those points, even in passing. (The answer, by the by? Two.)
You’ll see, then, why I didn’t even bother to make the distinction you mentioned. The clear vast majority of respondents wanted to talk about the politics of it, the optics of it, or make jokes about it. Which is fair and all, but practically no one, esp. DougJ’s front-page post just after this, even implies what he did was really beyond the pale, even for a politician — and it is.
If all we’re interested in is tit-for-tat and political points scoring, then what the fuck are we fighting for?
Elizabelle
for Woodrow, comment 139:
Thank you.
shortstop
Woodrow/asim: Because, as I noted above, tit for tat and political points scoring isn’t all we’re interested in, and you can easily find full discussion and criticism of Weiner’s culpabilities in at least a couple dozen other threads that have gone on since this thing began. If you want to critique this post and thread as a standalone, I guess you’re entitled, but it isn’t anything close to a snapshot of what BJers have had to say about Weiner’s ethics, emotional health, judgment, etc., etc.
These conversations have gone on in sometimes excruciating detail for three weeks. It’s not really so strange that once he finally quit, attention would turn to the other beyond-the-pale actors who haven’t — and haven’t been asked to in any meaningful way — and comparisons would be made. I get that you don’t like that, but please don’t pretend it’s all that folks here have had to say on the matter or that it represents the whole of people’s interest.
CaliCat
Reply to Mike Kay (true grit):
CaliCat
Oops. Block-quote fail. I definitely couldn’t get any Weiner at Netroots Nation.