The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Michael Maiello's picture

    Should Weiner Have Stepped Down?

    By Michael Maiello on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 4:55pm |
    No
    69% (27 votes)
    Yes
    31% (12 votes)
    Total votes: 39

    Comments

    The excessive moralizing is going to drive me crazy.  Anyone who's not his wife is not owed an apology.  How she decides to handle this is up to her.  I'm also really getting annoyed by people who emphasize that the woman he was flirting with is so young.  It's not illegal or immoral to flirt with people in their 20s!


    by Michael Maiello on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 4:58pm

    I  have to agree that the issue here is between him and his wife and the rest is none of our business.

    We have just turned into a soap opera/national inquirer junky socieity in addition to being a sexually and emotionally repressed culture...

    Clearly not enough Americans have a life they can tolerate without an intense amount of distraction.

    It remember I used to scoff at magazines next to the check out at grocery stores and I knew that the national inquirer was a bunchy of hooey and that a soap opera was like a bad romance novel.  With the 24 hours news cycle and the internet our entire culture has become aspects of all three.


    by synchronicity on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 11:15pm

    If his constituents consider it relevant--I can't see why they would--they can always vote him out.  I agree--this is between Weiner and his wife.  If he rides this out the media will get bored, or else some other scandal or bizarre occurrence will come along and the bullseye will get focused somewhere else.

    Being perceived or known as, on a personal level, a (fill in the blank), hardly prevents members of Congress from being effective.  Let his constituents decide. 


    by AmericanDreamer on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 5:03pm

    I think that if Weiner wants to stay in Congress, he should have to excise his weiner - and then change his name to something more appropriate. 

    Like.... "Lieberman."


    by quinn esq on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 5:56pm

    Wow. That's harsh punishment.


    by synchronicity on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 1:53am

    I agree that the original issue is between Weiner and his wife.  I am personally shocked that such a brilliant man could be stupid enough to do this in the first place, and then to think he could lie his way out of it in the second place.  I am very disappointed in him, and I will never understand why a person with his (presumably) good life, with so much to lose would pull shit like this!

    PS:  The underwear shot was very underwhelming, and that is another reason that I cannot comprehend what in the world he was thinking!!!!


    by CVille Dem on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 6:00pm

    No. But man I hate lies.  I don't think he was courageous telling the truth now; I think he discovered that there ARE ways to make sure it was his photo and that he sent it.  But he might want to give up the designer jockeys for shorts.

    On my Weiner diary at my.fdl I learned a lot about sexting, but it still baffles me that anyone could get a rise out of either taking, sending, or receiving photos of their crotches.  Somehow the allure escapes me.  But then one of the things I learned over there was that I was likely old and clueless, both of which appear to have been substantiated.  I also learned that there are a hundred lewd and hilarious comments about stuff like this (and goddam, did we need some levity this week), and this was a pretty progressive Dem in some ways.  Equal opportunity stupidity and comedy I guess.  Why does he hold his mouth like a Muppet in the pix?


    by we are stardust on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 6:20pm

    No. But man I hate lies.

    What she said. Plus, I also hate dumbasses.

    PS OK, I was wrong about Weiner. I confess it. I just found it hard to believe that he could be such a dumbass that he would a) send digital photos of himself that could all too easily go public even if he didn't b) click the wrong button and launch his schlong to into the public twittersphere. He makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of prudence.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 6:53pm

    I forgot 'dumbasses' and arrogant, power-crazed politicians who never even consider they'll get caught ( an extension of 'exceptionalism, I believe:  'I am untouchable'.).  Or fail to consider they might not fucking want to be doing what they're doing is not so healthy in this society for their uh...families.

    And I will abjure doubling-down on the 'Genghis was mistaken vector if any of you can shed any light on why no female pols have gotten busted for similar er...deeds.  When the first one does, will it mean Women Have Reached Political Parity, or something?  Or do women want love and security, not just sexual jollies or maybe more to the point, assumption of sexual potency and power? (Fuck, I hate to say the Venus/Mars thingie...)


    Inquiring minds and all o' that...


    by we are stardust on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 7:41pm

    When he got married, he swore a covenant with his wife; that he would forsake all others.

    So much for his quality of commitment.

    I feel sorry for his wife and family, Why should the voters believe he'd be as committted to do the right thing for them?

    We'll have to see, but I think he's damaged goods,

    He sure can't stand for family values?

    His wife may forgive him but I am sure it'll be a long time before he gains back her trust.

    Make a decision, either you're going to be a politician or a porn star?   

    Is there any way, someone could hack his internet viewing habits; discovering late night clandestine porn viewing, while his wife sleeps in the next room?.  

    Pornography is a scourge.

    Wiener succumbed to the deceptive reasoning of the Moabites.


    by Resistance on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 9:17pm

    I don't think it was anything to get your shorts in a knot about.


    by Rootman on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 9:43pm

    That’s the problem "you don't think"

    Maybe it's acceptable too you; that the man treats his wife and family to this crap?

    Never thinking bout how the Mrs or other family members might feel about him showing his Johnson to other woman;  saying "you want a piece of this, because what my wife don’t know wont hurt her? 

    What’s next;  maybe the recipients of the picture could suggest a secret rendezvous, so she could get a better look?  

    Then what, another broken marriage? Another broken home?

    That’s what you advocate? Adultery? Fornication? Selfishness? Greed? 


    by Resistance on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 11:33pm

    What if his wife knew about it and had no problem with it?


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 10:25am

    Some public officials and others in the public eye crack under the pressure, the expectations, the scrutiny.  They struggle in the fish bowl and end up doing apparently inexplicable things that are terribly destructive or self-destructive.     

    If any of us could have a conversation with Wiener and posed a question to him about whether the behavior he engaged in, done by someone else, would be a smart or a prudent thing to do, it isn't as though he'd hem and haw, not sure what the right answer is.  He knows he acted incredibly foolishly.  

    If you asked Bill Clinton if he acted foolishly in the White House he knows it was a completely idiotic thing he did.  Maybe he was drawn to the thrill of seeing if he could get away with it. Power being corrupting and all.

    It looks like it's an emotional health issue with Wiener and some may hope he is successful in getting effective professional help so he can begin to climb out on a personal level.  None of that necessarily means he isn't or can't be an effective member of Congress.  (He may not be able to be an effective married member of Congress.)  He's not a dumb guy.  If his constituents think he's so much of a creep they can't stand to look at him then they'll vote him out or let it be known loudly they want him to step down.


    by AmericanDreamer on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 9:36pm

    Sure, but he's still a dumbass. Whatever his psychological issues, he's not insane. The problem is not that he can't comprehend the stupidity of his actions. It's that he behaved incredibly stupidly.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 10:49pm

    Do you want him to resign?


    by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 8:56am

    He can resign right after Vitter.


    by Donal on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 6:31pm

    Ahhh.......

     

    Why the hell is this news ??


    by cmaukonen on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 6:39pm

    Dude ... it's a story where the news people get to make jokes about Weiner's wiener. I ask you, how could it NOT be news?

     


    by kgb999 on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 12:11am

    The publishers will love his memoirs Tracks in the Sand  by


    by Resistance on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 12:27am

    [INSERT MY SNARK HERE]


    by miguelitoh2o on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 7:06pm

    You need a third option ... None of the Above.

    Weiner knows what he must do. It's not for me or anyone else to make that decision for him.

    He needs to determine if he can be effective with the albatross he hung around his neck.

    Polls are toys that amateurs like to play with as if it were a crystal ball that can foretell one's fortune so I don't give them too much room since their accuracy is totally dependent upon whims and misconceptions of both the person asking and the person answering. Besides, this poll isn't random ... necessary for a poll ... since most of the people here are of a specific political mindset.


    by Beetlejuice on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 3:07am

    On C-Span Washington Journal this AM the question of whether Weiner should resign was first put to his constituents in NYC.  Almost all of them said he shouldn't resign because he was doing a good job for them.  That should be the bottom line.  Can he still be as effective as he was before this story broke? 

    He's an odd duck, for sure, but he's a bulldog, too.  We need his kind of bulldoggedness in the House right now.  I'd like to smack him silly for these stupid stunts but at the same time I can recognize his political worth.  Diminished as it might be at the moment, I think we can't afford to lose him.

    And how is it a sex scandal when no sex was involved?  Breitbart says he has another more damning picture that he wouldn't release if Weiner apologized to him.  Weiner apologized to him.  Wanna bet it won't be enough for Breitbart?  The photo will be released, but until it is I think the Rep should stay away from the internet and get back to doing his job.


    by Ramona on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 7:54am

    I'm a little surprised the way even PELOSI has jumped on him. I'd have thought they were allies. And here at dagworld, Weiner should be very, very popular for his stances and fighting spirit.

    Yes, he should probably be investigated by Ethics, but I'm not sure the Democrats get any points for investigating this--even though it's the "right" thing to do. We aren't in a fair fight where both sides conform to the Marquess of Queensbury rules of sportsmanship in battle.

    The lies and the act are discouraging, no question.

    But in this day and age, and after all we've seen, I find it hard to "get it up" for this issue. I don't understand why people in power do these things. Then again, a lot of people do these things, but Breitbart never makes it an issue. And a LOT of pols have done MUCH worse. Have Vitter and Craig been forced out yet?

    If anything all we're seeing is that Weiner is like, well, a lot of us.

    Except, with more Weiners, we wouldn't have an Iraq War and would probably have a better HCR bill and better financial regulation and more spending on the economy. Probably.


    by Peter Schwartz on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 9:22am

    What seems to me to be of importance is whether the recipient of the photo or photos had consented to engage in such communications. If not, then it is at least sexual harassment or worse. From what I can glean from the reports, Gennette Cordova was not engaged in some mutual virtual flirting with him.  If this is true, then he should step down just as if he had given a co-worker unwanted shoulder massages.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 11:56am

    I'm so angry about this.  I think he should definitely resign. and NOW.  I live in New York City and have contributed to Weiner's campaigns in the past.  I don't care about the sexting, that's his private business and it's between him and his wife.  I care about the lying.  I care about letting this go on for ten days.  Just as Democrats were building up a little steam in terms of issues, this idiotic episode comes along and has totally derailed any momentum Dems had and given the Republicans something to get all outraged about.  Grrrr.... Now the media is fixated on whether Weiner should resign or not, which means this will go on for at least another week.  For the good of the party, and any possible future he may have after this whole thing dies down, (and I personally don't think he has any future in NYC politics anymore), he should resign now. 

    Sometimes, it's not about how much you agree with someone's policies.  I agree with almost all his policies. 

     


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 06/08/2011 - 10:13am


    Seems like a relatively benign  sexual oddity..

    Labelling  it harrassment depreciates that term.

    There  may come a time when a hard boiled employer keeps you up all night

    and if you don't get that ice at least  you deserve to have that   distinguished from  someone whose laptop's received a photo of a scrawny middle-aged  jerk in underwear

    Inappropriate internet intimacy .  would be descriptive. It's certainly not a rarity for revealing photos to be emailed between people  involved in an actual relationship Trouble is, Weiner wasn't.

    As to his political future, one word :: Chappaquidick. 

    . 


    by Flavius on Wed, 06/08/2011 - 11:40pm