Jonah, re that New York Times “news alert” — “Representative Anthony D. Weiner Acknowledges Communication With Women Online” — nobody who could write that headline with a straight face should be in the news business.
It’s one thing to lose the story to Andrew Breitbart because you’re too snooty to sully yourself with Weiner’s briefs. It’s another thing to pile on and support Weiner’s slandering of Breitbart out of ideological solidarity. But, when the congressman himself is at a press conference admitting he’s e-mailed explicit photos of himself around the Internet and you choose that headline to convey the story to your readers, you’re basically telling them you’re the paper for court eunuchs.
PS. I agree with Jonah: It’s not about criminality, it’s about honor. Likewise, what matters about John Edwards is not whether paying for his love-child’s Pampers with a donation from Bunny Mellon sluiced through a third party fronting as a 501(c) for tax-deductible carbon credits registered as a UNESCO branch office in Haiti is a violation of applicable campaign finance laws, but that he’s a contemptible slug who succeeded in flattering the genteel spinsters of America’s legacy media that his unfitness for office was a subject far too vulgar for such elevated souls to pursue. To survive, a society needs a sense of what’s wrong, not just a 12,000-page rulebook from the Department of Compliance.
PPS. On the other hand, I disagree with Kathryn. I don’t look to minor functionaries of the leviathan to be “role models.” Nuts to that: Weiner, Edwards, Rangel, [Your Congressman Here], “role models”? I’m just looking for the same level of integrity I expect from my hardware store or insurance agency. But by its nature Big Government will attract strange people drawn to “public service” for the boundless opportunities it offers the otherwise untalented for unearned perquisites and gratifications of one kind or another. As I said in my weekend column, you can’t have small government with big Weiners. The bigger the state gets, the more the modus operandi of its princelings will tend to the Weinerian.
Snaps to Steyn. Nice read and well said.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAcknowledging that you are the one who first posted on Weiner on NRO, there is some feeling here and around the Internet that NRO was reluctant to take up this issue because it was beneath you. So maybe your initial position was not that different from the Times'.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOK, I'll ask. Mark you suggest that all princelings tend toward being Weinerian in the end. Would a Weinerian operetta have loud and long recitatives, flashbulbs optional?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHere, here, Mark.
Amoral. Dishonor. Liar. The characteristics of a Congressman?
How many of you fathers, brothers, boyfriends or husbands would want this guy doing this to your women? Or are Democrats so thick-skinned they excuse lewd behavior, possibly to underage girls, because the perpetuator "did not know."
Yes he should have apologized to his wife, his constituents, and the media for his behavior and his lies. Yes. The point remains, however, in that he says he will take care of this himself and limit his tweeting. Well done! What a relief! However you cut it, he has dishonored the office of a sitting Congressman (the thought of him sitting is now sort-of creepy). He is the Democrat brand and mouthpiece (another creepy thought).
We should all demand a full report. Where are the GOP leaders on this issue? Waiting for Weiner to (excuse me for this one as well) "fall on his sword?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePlease leave my Tony bologna alone. I love him. Erika, age 8.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"The New York Times Acknowledges Communication With Women Online" .... in "Clintonian" times, a similar headline might read "The New York Times Acknowledges Stain on Blue Dress".
Both equally true, equally vague...
PS: My "solvemedia" bot statement was "labour of love" for this post, how timely...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...by its nature Big Government will attract strange people drawn to “public service” for the boundless opportunities..." This is true. Anyone who has been to the former USSR can see the slimy types who were in the communist party and who often continue to run the show. What is most evident is the number of slimy types relative to non-slimy: the ratio is much, much greater than the similar ratio for the general population.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWeiner won't resign since politics always trumps dignity and honor with Democrats. Although political cartoonists and stand up comics have got to love Weiner, he's made their summer work much easier.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark, shouldn't Rep. Weiner be thanking the attorney he hired for so quickly finding the culprit who posted this shot on his Twitter page?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWeiner called a variety of media types to his CONGRESSIONAL office the other day. He used his office as a platform from which to purposely and fervently perpetuate the same lies...and craft a few more. It was intentional, it was premeditated, and it was executed while looking everyone directly in the eye.
This scumbag is SO accustomed to deception, that it is second nature to him. Purge the sociopath from office. He has no character, no integrity, and no conscience.
Go get 'em, Mark.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the man can not honor a fundamental oath of fidelity to his wife, why would his constituants believe he will honor his commitment to work on their behalf. The way you do one thing is the way you will do most things. This is not his first error in judgement and it will not be his last.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThanks Mark, brilliant as always!
The phrase "hoist with his own petard" sprang to mind for some reason. Wasn't real sure what a petard was, so I looked it up. Turns out it's a "small explosive charge" or "a large firecracker".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSeems strangely appropriate.
At "pile on and support" I threw up in my mouth (laughing so hard).
Thanks again, Mr. Stein.
My stomach hurts.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell said and on the mark Mark. My twitter was the view of looking up seemingly endless cavernous nostrils which grew bigger with time...and with very little brain matter at the end. I witnessed no briefs nor external nudity...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually that headline is inaccurate.
He had acknowledged communication with women online when the story initially broke -- he admitted following and being followed by these women on twitter. He just denied the sending of explicit pictures. (Intriguingly, the NRO's filter precludes me from calling this my the common slang which rhymes with texting.)
So, characterizing what he did yesterday as "acknowledging communication with women online" is factually incorrect. He had already acknowledged that. His statement yesterday either added something more to that, or wasn't newsworthy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I don’t look to minor functionaries of the leviathan to be 'role models.'"
Amen to that! (Actually, amen to all of it.) What a huge mistake to hold any public figure out to be a role model, but especially the bottom-dweller politicians! I mean, aren't politicians lower than the sleaziest used car salesmen?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy insult used car dealers?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...boundless opportunities..." Indeed. D.C. is a district of 68 square miles. The U.S. "budget" for 2012 is going to hit $3.7 Trillion. D.C. real estate is therefore worth, in round terms, $85 Million/acre. Per Year!
With that much honey poured into one pot the flies and ants will swarm. It is unavoidable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy preidction is that AW will be New York's next mayor. I find interesting if not depressing that the GOP hasn't pulled a Pelosi and made AW into the mascot for the entire Democratic Party.
AW will survive, and he will use this episode to his benefit for no other reason other than Boehnner and the GOP will let him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLike the legacy mainstream media relentlessly reported that the Mark Foley text messaging scandal revealed the supposed corruption of the entire Republican party, we should not give the Democrats a free pass out of this more outrageous Weiner scandal. Remember, conservatives lost badly during that election when Mark Foley was the big news daily for weeks! If the liberal legacy media is not alarmed over Weiner's behavior, then it exposes the low moral character of liberals. What Weiner did does not bother liberals or Democrats -- they want EVERYBODY to be exposed to pornography and to lower the standards of acceptable morality.
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