Now comes a Democrat with a scandal and Cantor demands he resign. AFAIK, Weiner's actions were the actions of a jerk, which unfortunately is not against the law, unlike Ensign and Vitter, whose transgressions were illegal.
This reeks of GOP hypocrisy and selective memory. And it makes Eric Cantor look like a major hypocrite. No surprise there.
THIS SUMS UP MY FEELINGS ON THE WHOLE MESS:
"Weiner didn’t commit adultery or anything near adultery. He committed tasteless stupidity, and there’s no law against that. When reporters first asked him about the expose reports, he should have said “Butt out.”
The biggest offense in this case is the dirtying of the public airwaves and news-waves with ugly, trivial junk; it’s an offense like the one that used to be popular a generation ago with “urban youths,” who would carry around giant boom boxes and play music (or whatever it was) at deafening volumes.
For my part I couldn’t care less what sort of pictures or messages Weiner has been sending around the Net, and it’s an imposition to be required to care; to be unable to avoid the topic. I find that I have no interest in Congressman Anthony Weiner’s sex life or virtual sex life whatsoever. And I’ve heard enough tearful on-camera contrition to last me the rest of my life. I don’t want to hear Weiner’s apology. It’s got nothing to do with me, tells me nothing I want to know; the cable news media, conservative and liberal, would do the public a favor if they would agreed to a blanket tearful-apologies ban effective this instant. And in the future, let Weiner and everyone else who has done some trivial stupid thing that no one actually gives a damn about keep his apologies to himself,"
- David Gelernter, National Review
22 comments:
Hmmm, this could be useful. Let's get as many top Republicans as possible on record in support of the principle that any politician caught in a sex scandal, no matter how mild, should resign even if no laws were broken.
You know that's going to come back to bite them, over and over.
From a Democratic viewpoint, there's a case to be made that Weiner should resign, just to get rid of a media distraction which is drawing attention away from matters of actual importance. I'm told his seat is a safely Democratic one, so there's little risk of him being replaced by a Republican.
This reeks of GOP hypocrisy and selective memory. And it makes Eric Cantor look like a major hypocrite.
Saying Republicans look hypocritical about sex is like saying the Pope looks Catholic.
I watched Rachel last night too. All over the news everyone is tossing Rep. Weiner to the dogs, even his own party. I think this is ignorant. I don't expect representatives to be unics and Rep Weiner has not stood before the world bragging about family values like the ones who actually acted criminally. We cannot stop reminding everyone of the hypocracy at play here.
I think the republicans don't care one bit about appearing as hypocrites. They think most people's memories are so short that they won't remember...and they may be right!
I like Weiner and I'm gonna support him. I say let his constituents decide whether he resigns or not, he represents them. This story is the rethugs wet dream come true. The country is focused on Weiners weiner instead of the do-nothing hypocrite GOP.
I worry about the judgement of anyone, Republican or Democrat, that would take pics of "down there" and put it out on Twitter.
This guy should resign. Having an extramarital affair is one thing, but this is just so reckless.
Soliciting a prostitute should also be grounds for resignation as it is breaking the law, which they are sworn to uphold.
If you are visible on a political stage, you should always assume there are political hacks everywhere, such as Andrew Breitbart, seeking any dirt they can find. Knowing this advance makes Weiner appear outsized stupid and reckless (in addition to juvenile).
I feel the same exasperation for Weiner as I felt towards Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. There is no excuse for dumbness of this magnitude.
Besides, everyone knows what outsized hypocrites and opportunists the Republicans are.
After the Clinton scandal, Monica changed her party affiliation to Republican. Apparently the Democrats left a bad taste in her mouth.
BTW, in case you don't know about David Gelertner, he is (or was) a professor of Computer Science at Yale University and the author of the 'Linda Kernal,' a novel approach to massively parallel process computing. He is also one of the victims of the Unibomber, who meant to target his brother - a well-known and respected geneticist.
I had a a notice up on my blog saying I thought Weiner should resign, but on second thought, after learning how the GOPers said Ensign's and Vitter's constituents should make the decision in their sex scandals, I've changed my mind.
No GOPer called for Ensign or Vitter to resign, and what they did is far more egregious than what Weiner did.
Weiner broke no laws; his only sin is in acting seriously dumb.
And if we demanded all Congresscritters to resign for being dumb, then etc., etc., etc.
(O)CT(O),
I didn't see your second comment up there before I posted. Thanks for the info. I didn't know that about Gelertner.
Octopus said: "I feel the same exasperation for Weiner as I felt towards Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal."
Clinton was much worse. He engaged in sexual harassment and committed purjury. There's no indication that Weiner even came close to either of these.
As for Weiner, there's an election next year, I'd tend to say let the voters decide on this one, barring future revelations of crimes involved in this.
Yeah. Sexual harassment, dmarks. Lewinsky flashed the president her thong. Some harassment.
he should resign!
forget the pictures. he looked into the camera with a straight face denied the act countless times. he's a boldfaced liar.
politicians run deficits, act immorally and outright lie with impunity. small wonder the economy is in the crapper.
If every Congresscritter who lied had to resign, well, we'd have........................ a functioning government.
boehner, weiner, santorum! oh my!
I absolutely do not think he should resign - unless the ethics investigation comes up with something I'd just as soon they didn't. I'm not only disgusted with the hypocrites on both sides of the aisle, I'm super pissed at those spineless Dems who have called for his resignation. Bah. And I don't even want to get started on the media and the stupid jokes. Blah again.
Pssst. And how about that Bill Clinton having the audacity to criticize Weiner.
Shaw, are you being intentionally misleading? Bill Clinton engaged in the sexual harassment of Paula Jones. That is what got him in trouble. You know that is what I was referring to.
Billy said: "forget the pictures. he looked into the camera with a straight face denied the act countless times. he's a boldfaced liar."
That's what politicians do: look into the camera and lie. If Weiner should resign for lying to the press, then so should much of Congress. As Shaw said...
I'll change my mind and call for his resignation if we find out crimes were committed. There's nothing yet.
Yes, Weiner looks pretty stupid, and I find this type of activity offensive and immature.
But, I have one simple question: Has anyone noticed that it takes two to participate in this kind of activity? Having an affairs, sexual harrassment in the workplace, and partaking of the services of a hooker are all illegal activities.
But the exchange of of photos, the exchange of sexually explicit emails or whatever occurs a million times on the internet everyday.
Honestly, these women were willing participants and actually they welcomed the exchange.
Personally, I think everyone involved should be publically shamed not just Weiner. But, we are treating the women involved somewhat like victims, and they are not victims but rather just as guilty of whatever we claim Weiner is guilty of.
Now, after enticing and willingly participating in the exchange they are entertaining us with their tales of woe...and cashing in.
Then you have Andrew Breitbart...a very sick person. Citizens with no morals or scruples create politicians with no morals or scruples.
Tao said: "But, I have one simple question: Has anyone noticed that it takes two to participate in this kind of activity? "
Not for this type of activity.
It takes two to participate in sexual intercourse, yes. But just one person is needed to send pictures of their anthony through the Internet.
Sorry, dmarks...this was an "exchange" of which we have only seen one side of the exchange....the sleaziness went back and forth, it was solicited, it was encouraged, and reciprocated....
I wanna see what Weiner was sent in return!
Probably a picture of a bun.
Well, I did not expect it, but the other shoe dropped. Weiner's underage dalliances have since come to light and that is very serious.
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