RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Weiner’s Wife Didn’t Disclose Consulting Work She Did While Serving in State Dept. “The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. . . . Ms. Abedin declined a request for an interview, but the picture that emerges from interviews and records suggests a situation where the lines were blurred between Ms. Abedin’s work in the high echelons of one of the government’s most sensitive executive departments and her role as a Clinton family insider.”
Search Results
WHEN MR. WEINER POPS UP.
NASA ACCUSED OF MARTIAN GRAFFITI: I think it’s an endorsement of Anthony Weiner’s candidacy.
I WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM FOR A CATCHMAN: Anthony Weiner, Pitch Man? ‘Hating Breitbart’ Team to Use Disgraced Pol to Promote Film.
THIS IS TRUE FOR MOST POLITICIANS: Of course Anthony Weiner wants to run for mayor — what private company would ever hire him?
VOTE FOR THE WHOLE PACKAGE: Conservatives Suggest Bumper Stickers For Anthony Weiner Mayoral Campaign.
THE WEINER SCANDAL AND Patterico’s SWATting.
I QUESTION THE TIMING: A reader who works at Yale emails:
I found it interesting that this email came out today from Yale benefits:
Dear Colleagues:
We would like to make you aware of a significant federally mandated change which will impact Yale’s healthcare flexible spending account benefit. Effective January 1, 2013, as a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the annual contribution limit will be capped at $2,500. Currently, the maximum amount of pre-tax dollars you can set aside in a healthcare flexible spending account is $12,000.
As a participant who contributed $2,500 or more in 2012, we encourage you to keep this in mind as you begin to plan for your 2013 out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision expenses. You will soon have an opportunity to re-enroll in the flexible spending account benefit plan during Annual Benefits Enrollment (December 3-17). As a reminder, you have until March 15, 2013 to incur expenses against your 2012 contributions, and until April 30, 2013 to submit claims those for reimbursement. We hope that this grace period is helpful for maximizing your flexible spending benefit for 2012.
If you have any further questions, please contact an Employee Services representative.
What interesting timing! I did know about this, as a former CPA/tax accountant, but how many did?
Today my husband came home and told me that his boss informed him today that a layoff is planned. Small aerospace/manufacturing plant.
We are worried. We were worried before the election that if the direction didn’t change, we’d face an ugly economic future. It may already becoming true for our family.
I think a lot of stuff will be coming out over the next few weeks and months that was carefully kept off the radar before Election Day.
UPDATE: Including this? Anthony Weiner returns to Twitter.
JEWS LOSING FAITH IN OBAMA? “The signs and portents are everywhere, beginning with the special election of a Republican in Anthony Weiner’s heavily Jewish, New York congressional district one year ago. Now a startling new poll even has Romney performing the ultimate miracle: the parting of the blue states, winning the Jewish vote by a healthy 44% to 40%!”
We’ve already seen that blacks aren’t as enthusiastic as in 2008. And then there’s this: Three Reasons Why Obama Is Losing The Women’s Vote. Plus, a fourth explanation from the “Pickup Artist” community.
GREAT MOMENTS IN HEADLINES: Eva Longoria Goes Full Weiner.
#WARONWOMEN: A special breeding program for Party members? “You want to get ahead in the Democratic Party power structure? Submit to the matchmaking… and make some babies. I’d like to know more about how this picking of “good people” is carried out. Are good looking women chosen to provide wives for the men? . . . I’d like 10 years of data.”
I have obtained secret video of the meeting where this plan was developed.
UPDATE: Moe Lane suggests a name for Schumer’s program: “How about ‘Spring of Life?’”
And reader Patrick Anders writes: “It’s worth remembering that Anthony Weiner was Schumer’s chief of staff. Weiner later went on to become the perfect model of a happy marriage!”
HUMA ABEDIN STANDS BY HER MAN.
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: Spitzer Thinks It Might Be Too Soon for Weiner Comeback.
From the comments: “Is it such a great change to move from being the party of Weiner to being the party of Frank-N-Furter?” The Doctor was a great American.
Plus: Separated At Birth: Stacy McCain and Riff Raff. So that’s why Stacy always wears the fedora. . . .
WEINER PULLS OUT: “Despite recent talk of a possible political reemergence, former New York congressman Anthony Weiner insists he has no political comeback planned – at least for the moment.W einer, who resigned from Congress last summer following a drawn-out scandal over the discovery that he had been sending lewd pictures to women on the internet, has come under the spotlight anew, after a New York Post story last weekend alleged he was ‘seriously’ considering a mayoral bid in 2013.”
FROM PROFESSOR JACOBSON, A Weinergate retrospective — the lying liars and their lies about Andrew Breitbart. “Andrew Breitbart was proven right. He brought down a flame-throwing Democrat the old fashioned way, with the truth.”
FROM “BIRTHERS” TO “GIRTHERS:” Meet The Weiner Truthers: One year later, a dogged handful still believe that Anthony Weiner was framed.
HOW MAD MEN LANDED THE BEATLES: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (AND $250,000): I loved the use of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” one of the Beatles’ most innovative recordings under the montage at the conclusion of Sunday’s episode of Mad Men. The New York Times notes, “As with most transactions that involve the Beatles, that usage did not come cheap:”
According to two people briefed on the deal, who were not authorized to speak about it, Lionsgate, the studio that produces “Mad Men,” paid about $250,000 for the recording and publishing rights to the song. That is an appropriately high price, several music and advertising executives say, since many major pop songs can be licensed for less than $100,000.
Mr. Weiner declined to discuss the licensing costs, but said: “Whatever people think, this is not about money. It never is. They are concerned about their legacy and their artistic impact.”
Covers of Beatles songs turn up in various media, but the band’s own recordings are rarely heard on television or in films. The surviving Beatles and their heirs are known to be very picky licensors, turning down almost every request.
Aside from songs that have been played in the occasional commercial or the Beatles cartoon series that was shown on ABC in the 1960s, the use of “Tomorrow Never Knows” on “Mad Men” is likely one of the only times that a Beatles track has been used in a TV show, music and advertising executives say.
Other than a verse and the chorus of “All You Need is Love” being played near the beginning of the climactic episode of Patrick McGoohan’s groundbreaking 1967 TV series, The Prisoner, which apparently the otherwise pop culture-obsessed Times seems to have forgotten.
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Jim Treacher, that’s who! “It’s just more proof that we don’t need these guys anymore. They’re not our gatekeepers. They’ve proven it over and over: ACORN. Rielle Hunter. Van Jones. Anthony Weiner. They keep trying and failing to cover up stories that don’t suit their agenda. They keep pretending they control the flow of information. They’re determined to prove their own obsolescence. And they’ve got the ratings and circulation numbers to prove it.”
WEINERGATE UPDATE: Anthony Weiner A Jerk Before Crotchgate, Craved Media Attention Says New Book. Well, he certainly got plenty of that, but he didn’t seem to enjoy it.
A new book offering an inside look at the US House of Representatives depicts Weiner as a desperately ambitious loudmouth who berated his staff and would do or say anything for TV airtime.
Weiner “would enter his office in the Rayburn Building screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘Why the f–k am I not on MSNBC?!’” journalist Robert Draper wrote in Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives. He finally got his wish, Draper wrote, when Weiner pushed to become the liberal spokesman for ObamaCare.
“He was now on MSNBC every week, sometimes every day — to the point where he was carrying his own makeup kit. (Or rather, his press guy was.)” Draper wrote.
Yeah, I know — Congressman craves TV time is kind of a dog-bites-man story. But desperate to be on MSNBC? That’s just sad. Obama comes across as rather unwilling to hear advice here, too. That explains a lot.
HEH: My Funny Valentine. The Anthony Weiner one is my favorite.
NOT DEAD YET: What’s Next for SOPA and PIPA? “With popular sites all over the Internet ‘going dark’ to protest well-intentioned but ill-considered antipiracy legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT-IP Act are shedding supporters faster than Anthony Weiner on a Twitter spree. But as I explain in a Cato podcast today, neither is dead yet: Rep. Lamar Smith has pledged to continue marking up SOPA next month, and PIPA is still set for a cloture vote next week.”
If you haven’t done so, you may want to tell ‘em how you feel.
FUNNY, I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT JIMMY CARTER WAS BLACK. I stand corrected. But really, you don’t need to strain yourself this much. We understand that everyone who criticizes Obama for anything is racist by definition. Just leave it at that and save yourself the trouble. But I have to say, this from Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher may be the lamest effort yet. I hate to reward such trolling with traffic, but sometimes it has to be pointed out. You wrote about Instalanches, Tommy. Enjoy this one.
UPDATE: From the comments:
Urbandictionary.com has five different definitions for, “Liver lips.”
Not one of those definitions has any reference of any kind to any race.
Of course not. Nobody ever thought it did, before. But then, Tommy Christopher isn’t exactly reliable as a reporter.
ANDREW MALCOLM: Kind columnist vows to help N.Y. Times readers on its reneged offer.
The Times worker, who will shortly be informed that he/she has accepted the next buyout offer, pushed the button. And off the email went — to nearly 9 million people on the wrong list.
People who had not canceled their subscriptions. People who’d given their email to the newspaper for some reason long ago. People who liked the generous out-of-the-blue offer to cut in half what they’d already paid in full. And people who had thought the famous newspaper knew what was going on in the world but now discovered in its own offices apparently not so much.
The phone lights began to twinkle and email acceptances flowed in.
So, according to Associated Press, in true Anthony Weineresque fashion, someone rushed out an urgent company Tweet suggesting spam: “If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”
Alas, both were really sent from the East Coast Times, which is such a serious publication that it doesn’t even publish comics, except for Paul Krugman.
Read the whole thing.
IN NEW YORK STATE, another Weiner problem.
JUST WHAT YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR: Anthony Weiner’s Sexting Partner Writes a TMI Tell-All.
THE HILL: Issa: Holder being ‘disingenuous’ on Fast and Furious program. Ya think?
Related: Eric Holder Hits Bottom, Keeps Digging. “A similar scenario played out last summer when CNN reporter Dana Bash asked questions of the arrogant Anthony Weiner to uncover the truth behind the sexting scandal. Weiner called for the cameras, but then struggled to talk his way out of his problems. We all know how that turned out.”
Also: “And you should ask yourself, ‘My God, what have I done?’”
Plus, Joe Arpaio, missing in action.
GETTING AHEAD OF THE DISTRICT? A New York reader emails:
The NY Times’ front pager on the GOP victory in Weiner’s old, heavily Jewish, district didn’t mention a leading reason for the Democrat’s defeat: his vote in favor of gay marriage.
During the Cold War, I learned how to “read” Pravda by carefully tracking what Soviets kept *out* of their press. It was a way to
infer what the Kremlin feared. Looks like the Democrats, not the GOP, have a big social issue problem they want to sweep under the rug.
The public is gradually warming to gay marriage, but even in New York it’s not nearly as far along as the political class is.
WEINER-SEAT UPDATE: Prof. Jacobson is blogging the NY-09 results. “This race should be a piece of cake for Democrats in a district which has several times more registered Democrats than Republicans (it’s the former seat held by Geraldine Ferraro and Chuck Schumer), except for three things (1) the lingering stain of Anthony ‘Breitbart hacked my Twitter’ Weiner, and (2) a relatively weak Democratic candidate. The third factor (3) is the Jewish vote and the way in which Ed Koch and others have put Obama’s Israel policy on trial.”
The Dems have been scared. I expect votes for David Weprin from Peter Minuit and Willem Verhulst.
GROUND ZERO MOSQUE comes up in the Weiner-seat race.
Remember all those lengthy lectures 13 months ago from our moral and intellectual superiors on the Ground Zero Mosque? Liberals insisted that we should be tolerant and support those all-American things like freedom of some religions, single moms, and the Prius. My how our liberal betters strutted and preened and clucked their tongues at us mouth-breathing, booger-eating, inbred, racist Tea Baggers for daring to suggest that maybe this was a bad idea. We must stand by basic American principles, they said.
Now, with a congressional seat in balance, liberals are saying How Dare You Quote Us!
Have you no decency, sir, and all that bunk.
I am rather amused. Republican Bob Turner faces Assemblyman David Weprin in Tuesday’s election to find a successor to Democratic former Congressman Anthony Weiner, whose boner on Twitter cost him his job. Weprin appears in a yarmulke in his ads. Turner cannot. That is how important a certain religion is in the Brooklyn/Queens district. The problem for David Weprin is, a year ago, he supported the Ground Zero Mosque. . . . My, my, my. If supporting the building of the mosque is the right thing to do, why not stand by those words that were said 13 months ago? Oh wait, that high-moral-ground stand might cost Democrats a seat in Congress. So what liberals are saying is that they are willing to stand up for unpopular causes — unless doing what they say is right may cost them a few votes.
Quoting people’s statements when they are politically damaging is unfair, or something.
JOHN PODHORETZ ON THE WEINER-SEAT ELECTION: Oy, Such Tsuris for Obama and the Democrats.
It’s the most Jewish district in the country, and a great many of its Jews are religious Jews. In choosing Weprin to run for the seat, Democrats thought the fact that he sports a kippah would carry the day with his fellow Orthodox Jews.
It’s not happening that way, and even the notion that it would testifies to the ignorance of pols, including Jewish pols, who think religious Jews are like other ethnic voters.Weprin may be an Orthodox Jewish Democrat, but as such he is now actually in the minority among Orthodox Jews. And the commonality of their religious practice apparently does not provide sufficient cover for his being a representative of the Democratic party in the age of Obama.
The one thing we have been able to determine over the past 20 years is that the more “Jewish” you are—meaning the more you attend synagogue, the more you keep kosher, the more you send your kids to day school and Jewish camp, and the more you commit yourself to living a Jewish life with some fealty to the rules of the religion—the less politically liberal you are likely to be. Owing to Anthony Weiner’s foolhardiness, we are now getting a real-world test of this proposition in the one district in the country where it can actually be tested.
Read the whole thing.
MICKEY KAUS: Kos To Dems On Anthony Weiner’s Seat: Panic!
If the Dems lose Weiner’s seat, I think you’ll see a lot of senior Congressional Democrats wanting to get Obama off the 2012 ticket so he won’t drag them down with him.
WEINERPALOOZA: Irresistible urge to send pictures of manhood snares another Democrat. “In his statement, Magazzu insisted that the woman he had sent the photos to had set him up.”
CONGRESSMAN WU’S creepy enablers.
This is as much a scandal for Pelosi and her failed leadership as it is a scandal for Wu. We’re talking about the same proud feminist leadership and the same dysfunctional ethics panel that have dragged their feet on cleaning Capitol Hill’s mountain of other dirty laundry while providing cover to other predatory Dems:
They slapped New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel on the wrist for serial tax-cheating.
They have yet to bring California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters to trial after charging her last year with three violations related to her crony TARP bailout intervention on behalf of minority-owned OneUnited Bank in Los Angeles.
They are just now looking into former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner’s possible abuse of government resources while sending lurid messages and photos to young women across the country.
And they have only recently reauthorized a probe into the aftermath of allegations that former New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed several young male staffers.
In that case, you’ll recall that Pelosi’s office and Democratic Rep. Barney Frank’s office had both been told by Massa’s top aides of the out-of-control abuse of underlings — but said and did nothing for months.
Wu’s a creep. But the pattern of malign neglect on the part of his Washington enablers is even creepier.
They protect him while he’s an asset, then dump him when he becomes a liability. Not exactly a pattern of neglect.
THE HILL: Dems Grapple With Wu Sex Scandal. “Democrats are grappling with a new ethics scandal surrounding allegations that Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) sexually assaulted a young woman. The explosive claims are damning for the party, which was beginning to recover from the tarnished wake former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) left when he resigned last month, after initially denying that he sent sexually suggestive pictures of himself to young women over social-media platforms. . . . Sources close to Wu have said that he is not planning on seeking reelection next year, but Wu gave no indication Monday that he would resign. Several television news channel crews were seen in lawn chairs outside of his third-floor Rayburn office.”
Related: Roll Call: Weird Wu Moments.
MESSAGE TO ANTHONY WEINER: You Should Have Listened To Glenn Beck. In Weiner’s defense, he was distracted . . . .
MICKEY KAUS: Weinergate’s Incomprehensible Afterlife.
PONDERING non-monogamous marriage. Well, Anthony Weiner may become available. . . .
WEINER THRUSTS HIMSELF INTO choice of his successor. What a putz.
ANN ALTHOUSE WANTS THE TRUTH: How stupid/evil was Bill Lueders’s attack on Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser? “Lueders needs to tell us whether or not he knew the Bradley-as-the-aggressor story when he presented his original work of investigative journalism under the name of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. If he knew it, why didn’t he present the whole context at first? And what was in the ‘reconstructed account’ that got Prosser to decline comment? If Lueders didn’t know the alternate version of the story, in which Bradley was the aggressor, why on earth didn’t he know? The story he presented is so weird that any thinking person would demand to know more of the context.”
It’s as if the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is just a partisan hit shop or something. Plus this: “Finally, it must be said: If Lueders had the larger context of the story — including the allegation that Bradley was the aggressor — and he suppressed it in his original account, what he did was not only evil, shameful journalism, it was freaking stupid. All sorts of bloggers and tweeters like Millhiser committed themselves to the firm, righteous position that if Prosser did what is alleged, he must leave the court. Lueders’s article lured them into stating a firm and supposedly neutral principle about physical aggression. With that principle in place, they are bound to call for Bradley’s ouster, if Bradley really did take the offensive and transform the verbal argument into a physical fight.”
UPDATE: Professor Jacobson: Applying the Weiner Test to the Wisconsin Supreme Court: “If Bradley has not pressed charges, why not? Inquiring minds want to know.”
On the upside, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is getting a lot of attention from famous law professors. On the downside, this is the kind of attention it’s getting . . .
FIRST WEINER, NOW THIS: Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fl) under investigation for sexual harassment.
IS WEB ANONYMITY still alive and kicking?
ANOTHER DAY, another shameless smear of Andrew Breitbart. “With the Anthony Weiner scandal, the story within was the lack of integrity of the MSM in their attacks on Breitbart and defense of Weiner. Here, we have several people associated with Netroots Nation showing the same lack of integrity, trying to tear down … the exact same man.”
THE HILL: Weiner Gone, Dems Try To Move On. But something’s missing.
TABLOID HEAVEN: A montage of New York Post Anthony Weiner covers.
SO THIS VIDEO IS OVER A YEAR OLD, but Weiner-defenders were posting in the comments, attacking Andrew Breitbart and, well, defending (now ex-) Rep. Anthony Weiner. Nice work, guys. . . .
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIALIZES: Operation Fast and Furious should end Holder tenure. “Documents released by the Issa panel make it clear that Operation Fast and Furious was well-known and enthusiastically supported at the highest leveIs of ATF. That means the program had to have been supported elsewhere within the Justice Department. Thus, it is inconceivable that Holder did not know about Operation Fast and Furious. But even if he didn’t know, he clearly should have. Either way, Wednesday’s hearing provided the latest evidence that it’s past time for Holder to go.”
Well, people are calling this ATF gunrunning scandal worse than Iran/Contra.
On the other hand, some are suggesting that Holder should run for higher office. They’ve even got a running mate picked out:
It’s a perfectly matched ticket. (Image from reader Robert Sbisa).
MICKEY KAUS: Weinergate: The Search For Meaning. “Weiner is a victim of web-driven macho partisan cocooning. That is, it was the fight-back partisanship of the Daily Kos community that gave him a group of linked-up followers he could make himself a hero of. This included dozens or more women (real or virtual) who idolized him whom he could contact in the space of a coffee break. Weiner was arrogant enough to think he could get away with recklessly exploiting his fame and status in this Web niche in part because he figured his pack would always defend him in a pinch. He was too essential to the fight. The ingenious instant wisdom of the Kos crowd would be too powerful in a clinch. He was almost right about that, though in the end it proved a delusion.”
WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY, WHERE “A good wife is a good sex worker.”
“Disobedient wives are the cause for upheaval in this world,” the club’s vice president and co-founder, Dr. Rohayah Mohamad, told told the Associated Press. She blames the country’s rising divorce rate—as well as incidents of prostitution, rape, and even incest—on wives who have neglected to keep their husbands satisfied in bed.
Isn’t that what Chris Matthews was saying about the Weiner affair?
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF WEINER: Report: Weiner Tells Friends He’s Stepping Down.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS COULD STRIP ANTHONY WEINER of key committee seat.
DAN SAVAGE sours on Weiner.
MEN USING WEINER, ETC., TO BASH OTHER MEN: “Remember it’s okay to say one sex is superior to the other as long as you’re saying women are better.” That does seem to be the rule, but as I noted before, these affairs don’t make women look all that good either, really: Schwarzenegger’s paramour was married, and deceived her husband into thinking he fathered someone else’s child, Weiner’s various female fans knew he was married and didn’t care, Rielle Hunter knew John Edwards was married to a woman with cancer, etc., etc. That seems to get left out of these discussions.
Can we call the men who engage in this sort of sucking-up to women “Uncle Tims”?
Plus, from the comments: “I’d like to see the stats on which sex voted in larger proportion for those presumed f***-nuts.”
FRUSTRATION: “This intense eagerness to get Sarah Palin for whatever it is she might have done on line unfolded concurrently with all the attention that had to be paid to Anthony Weiner for his on-line antics. What we can’t see is the agony the poor journalists must have endured as Weiner’s wienerisms hurt the Democratic Party just when they stood ready to damage the Republican Party with Sarah’s misdeeds. And then — oh, how awful! — they got nothing from Sarah. Nothing but hard work and — urrrgghhh! — good government and — damn! — family values.”
INSTAVISION: Magical Realism: The Fantasy World of Barack Obama, Anthony Weiner & Lesbian Bloggers. I talk with Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online and the American Enterprise Institute.
UPDATE: Now also available in handy embeddable YouTube format.
(Bumped).
SECOND LESBIAN BLOGGER revealed as a man. Not named Weiner, surprisingly.
TOO MUCH ESTROGEN IN THE ROOM? There’s been a lot of men-are-pigs talk about the Schwarzenegger and Weiner scandals, but it’s worth noting that in both women were willing participants in wrongdoing. In Schwarzenegger’s case, the woman was cheating on her own spouse, and deceiving him into believing that someone else’s child was his. In Weiner’s plenty of women were carrying on with a man they knew to be married. Not much real grist for the female-superiority mill there, really.
Meanwhile, the claim that increased diversity creates better government isn’t really very strong either. We’ve had more diverse government over the last few decades, but it’s hard to seriously argue that the quality of decisionmaking has improved. . . .
LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Weiner’s Pathfinder Has Different Plates, is Unregistered.
UPDATE: Reader David McCourt writes: “Maybe the Honorable Congressman got a waiver from the Obama administration.” Heh.
And reader John Galvin emails: “So Anthony Weiner, staunch Democrat backer of unions, has TWO non-UAW cars, a Nissan Pathfinder and a Honda. Of course, he’s not a hypocrite, right?” Yeah, this could cost him his seat faster than the sex stuff. On the other hand, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz seems to have gotten a pass.
SARAH PALIN’S Trig Letter.
UPDATE: Reader John Russell writes:
Last night reading Harnden’s Torygraph piece, when he commented that after all that she could only emerge from the stunt with her reputation enhanced, I thought well, this is more proof that God has a wicked sense of humor (or, for the Telegraph, humour). The media stage the world’s largest “Chinese fire drill” looking for something, ANYTHING, to skewer her with and after a truckload of emails she didn’t think anyone would ever read she comes across as honest, forthright, funny, and smart. A brunette Carol Lombard in My Man Godfrey.
Coming right on the heels of Breitbart’s absolute skewering of them this was just too good. Wouldn’t it, I daydreamed, be funny if, after covering up for Edwards and Weiner as long as they could, only to have them be revealed as real schmucks, and embargoing any mention of Jeremiah Wright during the campaign, they discover that they had possibly elevated the object of their scorn, hatred, and derision to something as close to sainthood as one can get in politics.
Then I followed your link to the LAT piece. First time reading about a politician brought tears to my eyes. Well, tears of gladness, wonder, instead of frustration or ridicule. Thank you.
You’re welcome. But you know, I just linked it. She wrote it.
A WEINERGATE stalemate? “Whatever might motivate Weiner to quit, it obviously can’t be shame. Anyone who has seen the middle-aged congressman’s photo self-portrait of himself posing naked in front a gym mirror must conclude that Weiner is utterly shameless.”
MICKEY KAUS: Weiner not the only one heading for rehab:
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos, said he would request a leave of absence from his popular group blog to learn what he called “partisan aggression management.” ”Twice now–with John Edwards and Anthony Weiner–I’ve defended pretty obviously guilty Democrats by approving nasty arguments attacking their critics–arguments that turned out to be wrong. I thought I was fighting back, but I brought nothing but humiliation and disgrace to myself and my party. The truth comes out eventually. I hadn’t taken that into account. I have departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better blogger and healthier person.”
More rehabbers at the link. Plus this observation: “The ‘it’s only sex’ Weiner defense and the ‘he’s seeking therapy for his illness’ defense sit uncomfortably together, no? I think maybe you have to pick one or the other!”
UPDATE: Reader John Mitchell emails: “Understanding that Mickey Kaus’ piece was entirely satirical and sarcastic, I would have thought for sure that Kos would also admit he needs counseling for nearly trampling other lefty bloggers in the race to pin the Giffords shooting on Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and everyone who voted Republican in 2010. It’s one thing to stand up for louts like Edwards and Weiner, but quite another to implicate millions of Americans in an attempted assassination.”
Let’s not dwell on the past. The important thing is that he’s getting satirical help now.
COMING: A WEINER PULL-OUT? Report: Rep. Weiner May Resign. “A source close to the congressman told the Daily News that Weiner had been adamant about keeping his seat – even as the Democratic leadership urged him to quit amid daily new revelations of reckless sexting. But the unrelenting media coverage, the demands he step down from his party’s leadership, and the appearance of more humiliating photos made Weiner realize he may not be able to bull through the crisis after all, the source said.”
THERE’S A WEINER JOKE IN HERE SOMEWHERE: Syrian lesbian blogger is revealed conclusively to be a married man.
FUNNY, NOBODY SAID THAT ABOUT MARK FOLEY: Actress defends Weiner, says ‘everyone lies about sex.’
It’s as if there’s some sort of transparently political double standard or something. But the Democrats can always put together a Groper’s Support Group for the politically correct. Or at least the politically useful. Weiner’s problem is that he’s not that useful any more.
UPDATE: Reader Richard Combs emails: “1998 called. It wants its lame justification for Democratic misbehavior back.”
DID NIETZSCHE FORESEE the rise of the Uberweiner?
AND ANOTHER ONE: Weiner seeking treatment amid growing pressure to resign. Ah, the old “sex addiction” excuse.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: 8 Things About Sexting That Actually Turn Women On. Well, if you’re a member of Congress from New York, anyway. . . .
Plus, context and crotch shots.
Meanwhile, a cautionary note for Anthony Weiner. A SWAT raid?
WEINERGATE UPDATE: A 17-year-old girl?
TO HELP US GET PAST WEINERGATE, instead of MoveOn, there’s SitOn.org.
SOME ECONOMIC GOOD NEWS: A boom in Anthony Weiner t-shirts. A fitting kickoff to Recovery Summer II . . . .
TRYING TO PARSE the Clinton/Weiner distinctions.
Plus, a great title on this Weiner roundup: Requiem For A Lightweight.
MEGAN MCARDLE ISN’T BUYING the Weiner-defenders’ privacy excuse. Oh, wait, I said Weiner-defenders’ when I should have said Weiner-defender’s. Guess who it is! Anyway, nobody in the media — and certainly not the Weiner-defender — would be making that excuse on behalf of a similarly situated Republican, so it’s obviously partisan twaddle.
SUSANNAH BRESLIN: Anthony Weiner and the Rise of the 21st Century Slutrepreneur.
THE WEINER STORY: Who was stalking whom?
UPDATE: Related: Feminism and the ‘Friendly Stranger.’ “Guys who make a big show of being on board with the feminist agenda are just doing it to ingratiate themselves with women, perhaps with the worst sort of ulterior motives.”
CORRUPTION: Jon Stewart has put his friendship with Anthony Weiner above comedy. From the comments: “If anybody thinks Stewart just put ideology above comedy now – like this is a break in form – then they haven’t been paying attention. I can barely watch him, or Colbert, because they’re so ideologically driven. The funniest thing I’ve seen? Salon.com’s Joan Walsh claiming the Weenie made her look stupid. No, sorry Joanie, but you did that all by yourself – and long before Anthony was even on my radar.”
Speaking of Joan Walsh, let’s flash back to her dismay over learning that George W. Bush had the same SAT score she did.
MICKEY KAUS: Weiner And The Ethics Committee Gambit.
MY THEORY ON BARBARA WALTERS: SHORTAGE OF ARICEPT: Barbara Walters’ theory on Weinergate: It’s the Viagra.
GENE HEALY ON THE LESSONS OF WEINERGATE: “Not only are political sex scandals great fun, they serve an important social purpose. They remind us that we should think twice before we cede more power to these clowns.”
A WEINERGATE LESSON? Beware Of “Feminist” Men.
Related thoughts from Jennifer Rubin: “As for the ‘I just don’t get it’ response of some young liberal men out there, I can only imagine that ideology so dominates their lives that they fail to see the harm in a public figure’s not-at-all-private conduct. Or perhaps they too see the Tweets as a harmless pastime. Maybe, for all the ‘sexual harassment’ training we’ve gotten, we’ve forgotten some essential training in ethics.”
SELF-DESCRIBED “PROGRESSIVE FEMINIST FANGIRLS” swoon for Anthony Weiner.
UPDATE: Weiner’s willing women. “He didn’t hide who he was — in fact, he used his power to lure women into his web. The women willingly ‘went there’ with him, in spite of the fact that he was married. He didn’t enhance his profile, he just relied on the fact that women would be so enamored to be conversing with a congressman that they’d keep it a secret. And, come to find out, he was right. Had he not inadvertently sent his now notorious photo to all of his followers, he’d no doubt be planning his next romantic endeavor.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Weinergate Gotterdammerung. I confess that those are two words I never expected to see used together.
ED DRISCOLL: Weinergate vs. The Summer Of Nixon.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: How Anthony Weiner and John Edwards lost control of their private parts.
WEINER HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: Erections Have Consequences. “Let’s put it this way: Any offenses that result in a press conference in which a member of Congress can relevantly be asked ‘Were you fully erect?’ are offenses that disqualify that congressman from public service. It’s that simple.”
HOT AIR: Creepy must-see flashback: Weiner lies shamelessly to ABC about what happened. “How creepy? Creepy enough that ABC posted this footage (which was recorded a few days ago, of course) just within the past hour and then sent around the link via e-mail. I didn’t go hunting through their archives for it, in other words; they’re pushing it on people tonight themselves because, understandably, they (a) want to atone for having aired this guy’s lies as news last week and (b) presumably want the world to see what an almost pathologically fluid liar he was when cornered.”
ANTHONY WEINER’S COLLATERAL DAMAGE: Barbara Walters. “When Joy Behar, of all people has to defend Sarah Palin from your bizarrely gratuitous swipe, you know you let your hate lead you too far into Whackyland. . . . As you listen to Walters, all you see is passionate advocacy; not a newswoman concerned with the truth of a story, but a partisan doing everything she can to divert attention from a story she doesn’t like. . . . We don’t actually have a genuine press any more. Thank God for the Internet, says I. I wonder how much longer we’ll be able to traipse its environs freely.” ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ.
ROGER SIMON: The Wives’ Tale: Weiner and Strauss-Kahn.
Maybe Huma felt guilty because, according to Chris Matthews, she may be partly responsible.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Collapse Of A Rotten Edifice:
Nemesis is always hot on the trail of hubris, across time and space, and the goddess has been particularly busy in destroying the carefully crafted images of Bono, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Al Gore, Eliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner, and a host of others. What do their tax hypocrisies, sexual indulgences, and aristocratic socialist lifestyles all have in common?
Collectively, they represent a self-appointed or elected global elite that oversees, lectures about — in sanctimonious fashion — the ethical responsibilities of the redistributive state.
While demonstrating through their actions a belief that taxes and rules are for the little people.
