Well, at least Weiner "wasn't going with prostitutes. He wasn't going out with little boys."

[LAGC]

...says Charlie Rangel, who came out in support of him Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110611/ap_on_re_us/us_congressman_twitter_photo

Seriously? Is that the standard we are now comparing members of the Democratic Party against? The worst the other side offers?

"Well, at least he didn't rape anyone." :banghead:

Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of Weiner's politics, and I agree that his private cyber-sex affairs should have remained a private matter between him and his wife. But truly, now that he's turned this whole sordid affair into a full-blown scandal by choosing to initially lie about it, catching the media's interest, and only coming clean about it once confronted by other women coming forward, with who knows how many more women yet to come, how in the heck is he going to be able to get anything done with this thing dogging him for the entire rest of his term?

We need HONEST, UNENCUMBERED fighters to take on the likes of Clarence Thomas. What political capital Weiner had has all been pissed away. Yes, he can stubbornly remain in office and maybe even get re-elected by his district, but what will he be able to ACCOMPLISH now that he's so compromised himself?

Wouldn't it just make more sense to let voters in his district elect an equally progressive warrior, minus the skeletons in the closet, to be able to take on the ethical flaws of the other side? Surely there have got to be plenty of other progressives in his liberal district that are up to the challenge?

[aquart]

1. If Thomas Jefferson had had a Blackberry, we'd still be British.

Seriously, you seem to be horribly mistaken about the standards of the Democratic Party. WE ALLOW SEX BETWEEN CONSENTING ADULTS. WE ALLOW MASTURBATION.

Your peculiar notions of sexual purity (not one word of which is in the constitution) would eliminate Jefferson, Franklin, FDR, JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., RFK and probably a whole lot more if I bothered to read more biographies of which you seem to have not read any.

We really try not to be asshole hypocrites here, we do.

[pnwmom]

2. This is about publicly lying, repeatedly, during press conferences that HE scheduled.

This is about asking one of the women to lie for him, and offering to have one of his "team" help her prepare a statement.

This isn't about sex. If he had just been honest at the very first press conference, this would probably all be over now.

[Mojeoux]

5. If it's about the lie, then all the WMD lies must be prosecuted also.

Lies are lies. Some are embarrassing and some kill thousands and thousands of people and children.


I mean really!


:kick:

[aquart]

6. No, honey, it isn't.

And no, Fox and Friends don't give up like that and you should be ashamed to come here with such a palpably untruthful meme as "probably all over now."

I admire your tenacity. I do.

This isn't about sex. And it isn't about lying. It is about a campaign targeting an effective liberal asset for destruction. You are intent on blaming the victim of a well-planned assassination.

EVERYONE LIES ABOUT SEX. Which, of course, is how they knew they could get him. Because people like you are so easily distractable.

Weiner's sex life has nothing to do with legislation. And it has nothing to do with his attempts to get the corrupt, traitorous Clarence Thomas to recuse himself.

Weiner is a dick idiot. But you should be ashamed to be so easily duped.

[LAGC]

3. Didn't most of those gentlemen you mentioned: Jefferson, Franklin, FDR, JFK, MLK, RFK, etc.

Seems like most of their skeletons in the closet came out after they already left office or were near the end of their terms anyway? Fodder for the historians, as it were.

Indeed, if there had been a mass-media and technology for instant information dissemination as there is today, history would have likely looked very different than we know it today.

But the fact is, the technology is here today. So is the MSM. Try as we might to ignore them, they do have great power and are able to influence many people.

Short of us going back a tech level or two, getting rid of all our fancy high-tech devices, we kind of have to deal with that reality today, don't we?

I mean, sticking your head in the sand might make things more comfortable for oneself, but what about everyone else who is exposed to the news?

[Poll_Blind]

4. They barely represent US. It's hard to imagine theyre much on getting each other's backs.

PB

[Bluebear]

7. Let his constituency decide, k?

[LAGC]

8. Fair enough.

I won't say a thing about Weiner from this point forward.

He's become enough of a media spectacle as it is, I suppose it would be best if we all just let the media sensation die. I just couldn't resist commenting on Charlie Rangel's quip.

I imagine if future revelations get too bad, there will be recall efforts anyway, assuming he doesn't just step down on his own accord.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Bull. Most people don't care. He didn't commit any crimes, everyone was an adult.

I know there is HORROR! that he put a PENIS! on the INTERNET!

(like that's never been done before)

but I think the guy's career- and political capital- will be fine.

And I think the standard for scrappy progressive warriors who stand up for what's important should be that they are scrappy progressive warriors who stand up for what's right not whether or not they have a spotless sex life and 100% faithful, trouble-free marriage.