“Anthony Weiner said Monday afternoon that he saw no reason to resign from Congress, setting in motion the final act of a political sex scandal: The struggle for survival,” according to Politico.com
“At first blush, he’s got powerful political currents running against him: His initial false claim that he was a ‘victim’ and hours of televised lies, his shortage of congressional allies, his very public persona, and a Republican leadership eager to make the case a partisan test.
“But Weiner, who accepted his public drubbing with remorse Monday, appears to have the requisite mix of shame and shamelessness – as well as a wife who, friends say, has remained by his side. And many have survived in office for much more egregious underlying offenses, including some in much less forgiving precincts than a liberal New York City district — such as Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.”
The rest of the article is here.
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The poor wives, who always stand by the side of their men after these shameful pecker-dillos!
Aristophanes could have made a great play out of this.
The question should not be, “Will he survive?” but “Should he survive?” No doubt he won’t shoot himself over this, and the wife will stick with him, at least for now, but he should step down for the good of his party anf let someone else who does not have this kind of baggage, have the job.
Jeff,
I would suggest that a title like the one you chose to use on such a “middle of the road” blog sort of says it all
John
“Do you know the Weiner man?” people will be asking, just like this from Shrek:
Can he survive? Yes. Will he survive? I think not. Should he survive? No. I’m not fond of the sexting, but the lying for the week was his complete undoing. If we find out he used government or campaign resources to carry on this activity he is and should be gone.
Memo to all gov’t officials who should be working for the public good and are supposed to have your constituents’ best interests at heart: “Be brave and true. If you like to sext your private parts or behave inappropriately in other ways, don’t be surprised when everyone learns about it. There are evil slug creatures lurking in the gutter who have taken human form–one manifestation is the fetid Andrew Breitbart worm, which exists only to out your secrets. If it does so you must bray to the world, ‘dang right that’s my junk and proud of it!’ And then get back to work if you don’t mind.”
thank you michael. you are right on, as usual. “DANG RIGHT, that’s my junk and I’m proud of it.”
Folks should take a deep breath and open up the space for humanity to stretch its legs. All this hrumphing is silly and very small of us….i’d suggest a little less judgment and a little more curiosity.
From what I have seen, there was no obscenity. Other than Weiner lying about it, what’s the big deal?
I doubt he’ll resign because his district isn’t demanding it. The real question is, will it hurt his mayoral campaign?
Watching a replay of Rep. Weiner’s hallway press conference from a couple days ago –– where he lashed out at the press and called a CNN producer a jackass –– I’m once again reminded of what former Nevada County resident Wilson Mizner said:
“The worst-tempered people I’ve ever met were the people who knew they were wrong.”
My friend Matt Dorsey posted this on my Facebook page this morning….I find lots of reasons to agree:
I agree 100% with Shawn on this, and the blame belongs to *all* men who maintain the polite fiction that our sexual piggishness isn’t hardwired into our being — and that we all haven’t expressed that in regrettable (but otherwise legal) ways throughout our life. I think the correct answer for Weiner would have been for him to say from the start, “I didn’t do it — and if I’m lying about that, it’s exactly the kind of lawful conduct I claim my moral right to lie about. Because the public doesn’t have the right to ask. And I’m not answering another question about it, period.” The public is not entitled to the titillating details about every individual’s private, otherwise legal conduct simply because that individual occupies a public role. After 400 years, it’s time for America to finally let its puritanism go.
Thanks Shawn, exactly.
If Clinton had, right from the beginning, told everyone that he was sorry for messing around with Monica, but also that he was done talking about it and anyone asking about it again could just piss off, the world would have been a much happier place at the beginning of the 21st century.
Good for your friend Matt, Shawn…this whole thing is a Tempest uh…Storm? While the media is busy making Weiner jokes, it has gone completely unreported that Weiner had the financial disclosure goods on Clarence Thomas and wife Ginny–serious million dollar conflict of interest cash–so forgive me if I think they should pipe down over a politicians naughty talk and bits with a porn star and others that apparently was adult and consensual…and get to the real political stories that profoundly affect Americans very lives and liberties that are apparently being sold to corporate interests who, according to Forbes, made 170 Billion dollars without paying 1 dollar in taxes! Sorry if I don’t give a fig about Eric “the pious” Cantors “feelings” about this subject when he and his cronies have their greedy hands out to every corporate lobbyist between here and the Potomac! Kate
Nobody’s talking about the kinked, conservative voyeur shop in this sordid mess. USAPatriot76, (I think they call themselves) spent months staring at Weiner’s “Tweeter”. They’re all a kinked up mess…but funny…Kate
Yes he will survive, but not in his present incarnation, and he will not be a replacement for the current mayor of New York City, (which was his goal). I predict that he will keep his head down, re-invent his public persona and do just fine in the next election.
Good prognostication, John, I expect you have it about right.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/early-polls-of-nycers-find-no-consensus-whether-weiner-should-resign.php?ref=fpb
If I remember correctly, he has already run for mayor at least once, in 2004, and didn’t do well. If he runs again, he’s going to start getting that perennial candidate aura…
Re nasty jokes – you all understand that his name is properly pronounced “Viner”, right? Not “weener”. Anyone making silly bathroom jokes is revealing their American lack of education.
[Unless the name is Dutch, in which case it would be "Winer", I think - not sure of my Dutch pronunciation, but I am sure of my German.]
Sharon,
You should have heard them naming the new child on KFBK news tonight. I am certainly glad that I did NOT have any of the grandchildren in the car.
John
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/nyregion/punishment-or-therapy-for-a-fool-in-q