Everything started on May 20, 2011, when Andrew Breitbart (notorious conservative scandalmonger, mud-slinger, lier, and all around bad man) got a call from Meagan Broussard claiming she had an online relationship with Rep. Anthony Weiner.
May 27, 2011, a picture of a bulging penis is tweeted (accidentally?) from Rep. Weiner's account and then quickly removed.
May 28, 2011, Unfortunately, ever vigilant for a new scandal, BigGovernment.com (Andrew Breitbart's sleaze and vitriol filled blog) caught the tweet and reported it with the help of ABC.
May 29, 2011, Rep. Weiner tries to downplay the whole situation by claiming his account was hacked. Over the next few days he continues to refuse to get law enforcement involved, and claims it was little more than an over blown prank.
June 01, 2011, The "scandal" continuing to bounce around the media echo chamber, Rep. Weiner goes into damage control mode. He shows up on media shows for the next few days and reiterates his claims that his account was hacked. Interestingly (and almost admirably), he refuses to say that the picture is not his. When I first saw his appearances (see Rachel Maddow Show) I figured that the picture probably was his and I was happy that he didn't lie about that. I wish he had come clean about the whole thing, but you take what you get when it comes to politicians.
June 06, 2011, Breitbart's scandal-blog publishes a self-aggrandizing story claiming that a new woman has come forward. New photos surface, which breath new life into the dying story. This time the photos are a little more revealing and leave little doubt that the rumors were true. At 2:30PM, Meagan Broussard "speaks out" (that is media-speak for people taking advantage of their 15 minutes of fame). Almost laughably she claims she is making a spectacle of herself in hopes that the media will then leave her alone (the old joke "that's like f***ing for virginity" comes to mind). At 4:00PM, Breitbart hijacks Rep. Weiner's Press Conference (before Weiner gets there), and bloviates about being vindicated (one can but wonder where security was during all this). At 4:30PM, Rep. Weiner, admits to sending the racy photos and apologizes (even to Breitbart for some reason I can't quite fathom). Rep. Pelosi, then calls for an ethics investigation later that evening
Since then the scandal has taken off with Democrats trying to do damage control. From the left we've heard reactions from Senator Harry Reid, Anchor Ed Schulz (who begged him to resign), and House Democratic Committee Chairwoman Rep. Wasserman Schulz (who officially called for his resignation). Even the White House (In a pathetic attempts to "jump on the political bandwagon"), spoke up this week, calling the whole thing "inappropriate" and a "distraction." Thank you Mr. President for stating the obvious.
His wife has since said that she's gonna stick by him (for the time being).
Most Republicans recognized the potential for disastrous charges of hypocrisy (think David Vitter) and stayed out of the fray. Indeed, Rachel Maddow called it right on Letterman when she pointed this fact out. Here is another good post on the topic of Republican hypocrisy in this scandal. As the scandal has grown a few Republicans have entered the fray. Rep. Cantor has recently suggested that Democrats should be pushing harder for a Weiner resignation.
Perhaps the only sane voice in this whole thing has, shockingly, been Alec Baldwin, who stated what most American's were thinking: "He is a modern human being."
The Scandal continues even as Rep. Weiner enters treatment (for "sex addiction"). There are even new allegations there one of the women might have been a 17-year old. Though Rep. Weiner maintains that the correspondences with the teen were not explicit.
MY THOUGHTS:
(1) WHO THE FUCK CARES!?
I think what bothers me most about this scandal is that the ONLY problem I can find is that the guy is married. That makes is sleazy, but it's not illegal, it's not even unethical (at least as far as his job in Congress is concerned). Why should American's care about the women to whom he shows his dingy? I honestly, could care less.
(2) I don't want him to resign, because I like his policy positions!
Something we lose track of in these whole fiascos is the policy positions of the people we tar and feather. I'd be fine if he resigned, but I don't mind having him in Congress because I like what he stands for on policy issues. Really, that should be all that matters to people. The obvious retort is that this position would then excuse all members of congress who do dirty things. That's not true. Rep. Weiner has never once claimed to be an example of family values or perfect personal virtue. Republicans (who are trashing him left and right) do claim these things. That makes what they do ten times worse. It's hard to hold a person to a standard they have never claimed for themselves, but I have no problem demanding the resignation of bible-thumping, family values conservatives who claim they live by the same values they try to force on others. There is a pretty clear difference.
(3) Treatment is a MASSIVE copout and the Media needs to call him on it
The concept of going to treatment has been the biggest hollywood/politician copout and we all know it. Lindsey goes to rehab, gets out, and starts doing drugs all over again. Politicians go to rehab just to placate their moron constituencies who don't recognize that it's a massive ploy to get people to forget what they did. Furthermore, how is he claiming that sending dirty pictures (something all men do in the digital age) translates into a sex addiction? Can someone please explain that to me? Why isn't the media asking that question? they were not willing to take his claims of hacking at face value, but suddenly they are willing to take his claims of sex addiction? That's not right! If you are going to investigate, then investigate, don't just repeat the stupid shit people tell you.
(4) IT'S NOT A SEX SCANDAL!!!
Sex scandals require sex... that should just be obvious.
(5) Republicans HAVE done worse
In politics, the politically correct thing to say is always "both sides do it." That's fine, and certainly true. Both parties have their legitimate sex scandals, but let's not pretend that Dems are even in the same league as the GOP. GOP politicians are regularly getting themselves, not only into sex scandals, but REALLY SKETCHY scandals. In CA, an anti-gay assemblyman picks up a young man at a gay bar for sex and gets caught. Vitter was a regular of the DC maddam (and got re-elected). Sen. Craig solicited sex in a f***ing airport bathroom. They even had an anti-gay politician sexting an underage male page. I mean this is some REAL scandalous stuff. And you're going to compare it to a guy who used to be one of NY's most eligible bachelors sexting woman on twitter? Not even comparable. Not even close. Anyone who pulls the "both parties do it" card is a moron, and should be called out. This scandal doesn't even fall on the same spectrum as GOP scandals.
(6) Did the media suddenly discover a cache of angry Rep. Weiner Pictures?
Why is it that the media suddenly latched on to all these REALLY ugly pictures of Rep. Weiner? If you are supposedly reporting the facts, do you really need to paint the guy in the worst light possible? That doesn't seem very fair. Not that I pay that much attention, but it is a little annoying when they have THIS picture on the front of every article. I'm just saying. (Notice how I picked a relatively normal picture for my post!)
Should he resign? maybe. But let's not pretend that he'll be resigning because he did something "wrong." He'll be resigning because of a manufactured sh*t storm and a media that just can't seem to control themselves. He'll be resigning because OUR (and the media's) ridiculous obsession with people's personal lives is preventing him from doing his job. He should be embarrassed that his lack of self-control came to light, but if he resigns, it'll be because of OUR lack of self-control, not his.
Common Sense
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