Even before Andrew Breibart announced a cache of revealing material allegedly proving that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) was “involved in an online, consensual relationship involving the mutual exchange of intimate photographs” with an unidentified young woman, the embattled congressman’s dubious claims that he was the victim of a “hack” or “prank” were already being shot through with holes.
For example, The Daily reports that the infamous “randy photo” (Weiner’s words) was sent via TweetDeck — an Adobe desktop application — as opposed to the photosharing site Yfrog, as some have been suggesting. In fact, according to a website that catalogs every Tweet sent out by members of Congress, Weiner had been using TweetDeck all evening up to the time when the picture was sent, and continued to do so afterward. Experts say this new piece of evidence makes it “more plausible” that Weiner sent the photo because it presents yet another obstacle that a potential hacker would have had to negotiate in order successfully pull off this “prank.”
Regardless of how this pans out, I hope Weiner's father-in-law kicks his ass.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYep. As a married man with daughters, I am not happy with all the politicians making husbands look bad (MacGreevy, Spitzer, Vitter, Ensign, Sanford, Clinton, ... the list is grossly long).
It devalues marriage and impugns the character of all men with guilt by association.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAre we to assume Rep. Weiner is participating in an "online consensual relationship" on the taxpayers' dime?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat in the world does that mean? Twitter is free. Even if it weren't, how would tax money go to it?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe is clearly referring to people social networking using government computers and government networks - perhaps on company time.
This, too, will come out in the laundry. Timestamps are a [female doggie].
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseReally? So if you have an employee spending their workday on Twitter or Facebook that's NOT on the company's dime, because both of those internet services are free? I'd like to work for you...you know, if you were hiring...
Your response to Jenna only makes sense if ALL of Weiner's electronic flirting took place after business hours. After that, it would have to be from a phone/computer the taxpayers aren't paying for. Chances of that are roughly zero.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRE: "I'd like to work for you...you know, if you were hiring..."
My intuition tells me that Jason is not a job creator. Just a guess. :D
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJason:
Your question explains how easy it is for politicians to waste our tax dollars and the folks paying the taxes don't have a clue. Perhaps you want to work to pay taxes while Rep. Weiner plays on Twitter with his new friend, using computer equipment we pay for, in an office we pay for, during the time we're paying him to work for us, but I don't.
Let me ask you a question. If you were caught by your employer doing what Rep. Weiner did, would you still have a job?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, you think the more time Weiner spends on his job, the better for the taxpayer? You must not be a Republican.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAmateurish deflection.
To your ridiculous "point", though, if we could arrange for the entire Dummycrat delegation to spend *ALL* (and I mean *ALL*...votes included) their time transmitting images of their private parts to each other, the country would, without a doubt, be a much, much better place.
Problem is, especially in the case of your boy Weiner, they think they can [bleep]-off as much as they want *BUT* still be a power player.
Meh...tell Weiner there should be an IMF job opening real soon...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen it comes to getting what we pay for, what does political party have to do with it? I didn't vote for Weiner, but I help pay the cost of "employing" him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA couple of clarifications: TweetDeck is an Adobe Air app for the desktop, but it's also available as a Web app and an iPhone app. Also, when you upload media through tweetdeck, it uses a third-party image-hosting service like yfrog or twitpic.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHeh. How long before he cracks? Anyone want to guess?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's June and the perfect time for a Weiner Roast!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse1. Attack Breitbart.
2. Make a "these attacks don't help...(insert politically correct victim 1) or (insert victim 2) or (insert victim 3)" statement.
3. Blame Bush.
Their playbook is rather easy to read. Soon CNN will be running "It's OK to send bulge pictures to women" stories.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, and those incriminating new photos the genius Breitbart has.
THEY ARE PICTURES OF CATS.
Really. Anthony Weiner sitting on a couch, with cats. That's his big, incriminating scoop.
What do you do with people so easily led by the nose?
Also, I am not sure how the fact that the Tweet originated from Tweetdeck, one of the most popular modes of accessing Twitter, is all that incriminating. In fact, it's harder on Tweetdeck to accidentally send a public Tweet instead of a DM, so it actually argues against the Breitbart hypothesis that he meant it to be secret but it was public. If it was on Tweetdeck, it's more likely that whoever sent it (i.e., Mike Stack or Dan Wolfe) meant it to be public.
Look, it's not just a random accusation of hacking. We know who did it, we know that they were planning to gin up a sex scandal against Wiener all month, and they left footprints all over the Web. Quit being so led by the nose by this charlatan; he took down ACORN on false pretenses, he got someone fired by editing a videotape, and he's gotten cocky. He thinks he can just concoct evidence, because you people will lap up any pablum, as long as it make someone you don't like look bad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse(CAPTCHA = "bait the line")
Well, at least we have now identified the target audience for Breitbart's "release the pictures slowly" strategy.
Yes, the purpose was to see if anybody would be dumb enough to incrementally step up their defense of the indefensible.
Let's talk again after a few more photographs are released!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am so gonna love it when Wiener is forced, in a desperate attempt to hang on, into at least a partial admission. And not just because the most obnoxious pol in DC is out. I am also going to enjoy imagining the looks on the faces of all his defenders when you realize you were wrong.
Or do you ever realize that?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat was amazing, RiotLibrarian! You fit your entire foot in your mouth!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@RiotLibrarian: any post-press conference comments regarding the ongoing conspiracy to take Weiner down? Why did Weiner cave to the conspirators and cop to the frame-up?????
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse