Why Dem leaders say Weiner should resign: he's been a "godsend to Republicans."

[pnwmom]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/11/2262260_p2/weiner-to-take-short-leave-as.html

"They would like him to resign because he's a distraction from the discussion of the Ryan budget," said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York Democratic political consultant, referring to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his proposed 2012 federal budget.
Weiner's travails have been a godsend for Republicans, who've been anxious to shift talk away from Ryan's controversial plan to overhaul Medicare.
GOP lawmakers and campaign organizations have used Weiner to go on the offensive, publicly challenging Democrats who've taken campaign contributions from Weiner to return them.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/11/anthony-weiner-leave-from-congress

Democrats said the concerted call for Weiner's resignation had been brewing for days, as senior party officials concluded the scandal was interfering with their attempts to gain political momentum in advance of the 2012 elections. Democrats hope to rebound from a devastating election last November in which the Republicans won control of the House.

"We had decided we were not going to have one more week of Anthony Weinergate," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official added that Pelosi had spoken numerous times with Weiner in an attempt to persuade him to step down for the good of the party, telling him that because of the media focus on his predicament their attacks on a Republican Medicare proposal were going unnoticed. The Republicans have proposed major cuts in the government-run Medicare programme which provides healthcare to the elderly.

[OHdem10]

1. Wow what bravery--speaking on anonymity.

[loyalsister]

2. Absolutely

Also, simply out of respect for the president. He called Obama and lied to him. If he stays, it makes Obama look like a sucker for a liar. He needs to take responsibility for the entire scandal so that the 2012 push can proceed with a clean- er slate.
The whole thing breaks my heart. I want us to succeed and get some numbers back so that we can make some actual progress.

[krabigirl]

3. Wow.

[sabrina 1]

23. Obama has lied to us, and that's way more of a oproblem than a sex

lie. Out of respect for those of us who helped get him elected, maybe he should start telling the truth about where he really stood on the issues.

'I will not support Offshore drilling when I am president'

'I will not support mandated insurance as it would be unfair to force people to buy what they cannot afford'

'I will not have a commission to discuss the deficit, in my admistration there will be open discussion about these matters. Commissions are a way of doing an end run around Congress.

'I will close Guantanamo Bay and trials will be held in our courts'

'I will end the war in Iraq.

'I will support teachers for whom I have the utmost respect.'

I could go on, all lies far more important than a sex lie, but we'll all probably support him again because the other side is completely crazy.

Weiner must stay. He is way more popular with his constituents than any of them are with theirs.

[customerserviceguy]

31. There's only one problem with Obama's lies

The only effective way to deal with them is to primary Obama, and that's just not in the cards.

When even the mildest Repuke is worse than what you have, then you're safe if you want to lie, unfortunately.

[madmax]

4. Gotta give the pug's props

they go to the mat for their own. We eat ours.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Well, it's not like they have anything better to do than proclaim their victimhood.

Gosh, we can't do anything because of Weiner's naughtiness.

[Arctic Dave]

6. Yeah, that's it, blame him for your lack of spine.

You guys got your asses handed to you because you buckle at the first sign of a fight.

Gutless cowards.

[pnwmom]

7. Part of being a fighter is knowing when to pick your battles.

The Weiner isn't worth another day of media time, much less months.

[Arctic Dave]

13. Months? You obviously over estimate the average attention span.

I'm sure it will be a handy excuse when they get their asses handed to them again. This tells me that they have shit to run on and they are doing nothing playing defense.

This time when the repugs kick their ass and take their lunch money I'm sure they graciously thank them for allowing them to shed those unnecessary pounds.

[xphile]

16. Democrats haven't been picking battles. They've been capitulating to EVERYTHING. n/t

[Arkana]

21. Haha, you actually think they'd stop if he resigned?

How cute.

[customerserviceguy]

32. How much more do you hear about this Lee fellow

who resigned in a couple of hours after being caught? The media doesn't stop until it has the head mounted on the wall.

[mazzarro]

29. +100% - Bingooooooooo!

That's what is so disingenuous about the claim by the Dem leadership -- every time they find excuse to buckle. Now they have a ready made one - Wiener!

[Warpy]

8. Aw, poor whiny babies.

Maybe they should just stay home this weekend and not think about it. After all, it's not their problem, and as scandals go, it's nothing.

As Maher pointed out last night, Weiner didn't even get laid!

All they need to do is shut their big yaps and wait a couple of weeks until the whore press goes to its next bright shiny object.

[Edweird]

9. "discussion of the Ryan budget" - it's the rest of the "Dems" that are the godsend to republicans

There shouldn't be any discusiion of theRyan budget. The only reason there is is because too many "dems" are actually republicans. This whole thing is sad and your incessant spamming of DU with anti-Dem drivel is quite telling.

[pnwmom]

11. Wanting Weiner to resign doesn't make me anti-Dem.

But many of his biggest supporters here consider themselves leftists rather than Democrats. They don't really care what damage he's inflicting on the party.

[mazzarro]

30. No - It is the spineless Dems that are damaging the image of the spineless party -- n/t

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

14. yes, you are absolutely correct

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Again, democrats doing the work of the republicans on their behalf.

[still_one]

12. and I wonder how many of those believed bush should not be impeached?

[xphile]

15. What a surprise the Democrats who have less spine than jellyfish are

speaking anonymously about how Weiner must go. God forbid we should have someone who actually speaks for the values that the rest of the party makes noise about.

Weiner is a godsend to Republicans? No the spineless actions (or rather lack thereof) of the Democratic party is the true godsend to Republicans.

Weiner ought not go anywhere. And anyone taking cues on what is proper from Republicans has their heads up their ass.

Republicans back Johns and rapists. Nothing Weiner has done is anywhere near that kind of wrong-doing.

Democrat should either back Weiner or STFU.

I'm tired of this spinelessness.

And as for discussion of this rancid piece of shit that Republicans are calling a budget? There should be NO discussion of it. Period end of story. The budget as proposed does harm to the nation. But then I guess Democrats don't give a damn about that anymore that's why they're concerned about the distraction from the discussion.

[Metta]

17. This has all been projection, denial and acting out on Rethugs part.

Give me a freaking break. They occupy the moral sewers. They're only doing it to see if they can get any traction.

[TheKentuckian]

18. When are all the worse than worthless Turd Way politicians going to quit then?

Nobody has helped Republicans more, walking hand in hand with them to set up "free trade" policies, kill public education, to protect the insurance cartel from suicide, to enrich the multinationals, to sell the commons, to deregulate, in pursuing wars of aggression, in stealing our civil liberties, in opposing civil rights, in ignoring our glaring infrastructure needs, in maintaining the dominance of Big Oil an feeding them welfare, and every other crime against the people, our, land, air, water, and wildlife.

If that is your standard then we can empty D.C.

Hell, I reckon you are calling on President Bipartisan to step down to as he willfully legitimized their failed ideology and welcomed them instead of throwing them an anvil while ignoring their crimes and stupidity. He refused to indict their failed ideology in front of the court American opinion and now matters are worse and stupid and false ideas have further domination.

Let's not even talk about the piles of shit in Congress.

[sabrina 1]

19. Aw, poor babies, the Republicans are yelling at them!

What else is new? Democrats doing the bidding of Republicans.

Weiner should become an Independent, he will have a lot more power NOT being in the party. They will need his vote but if he's IN the party it will be taken for granted. If he's an Independent, he can force them to give him stuff for his District. That's who he works for, and the betrayers in the party, the DLCers whose real reason is they hate liberals, are not worth a minute of his time, or ours for that matter.

THEY should quit, they are worried about Republicans?? Maybe they should start worrying us. Now, I am really motivated to help find primary candidates to take out as many of them as possible. They are jaded, and ineffective as far as the people are concerned, and they are ignoring Weiner's constituents.

No way should he quit.

[customerserviceguy]

33. Well, he'll have no less power as an independent

I have to admit, I've been thinking about the big picture with the guy for at least a couple of weeks.

Fact one, he's gotten NONE of his sponsored laws passed. He makes a fiery speech on the floor of the House, but what does that accomplish? Oh, yeah, it gets replayed on the NYC news stations that night.

He's just used a seat in Congress as a steppingstone to being mayor of NYC. I'm even suspecting that his marriage last year was just a front to get the Clintons as powerful backers of his NYC mayoral effort. Hillary knows all about using NY as a steppingstone.

[sabrina 1]

34. His constituents disagree with you. Clearly you don't know much

about him. But they do and have reelected him seven times, and are ready to do so again. I would not pretend to know anything about his personal relationships.

His fiery speeches, he did way more than that, and that is what made him a target of the right. If he was so ineffective why were they so afraid of him?

As for bills, many members of Congress do not themselves sponsor bills and of those who do, few even get out of committee. That is not the main fucntion of a member of Congress. He supported others who sponsored bills and helped get them passed. But it is what he does for this own dist. that matters.

Your last sentence is interesting. He's a politician. Name one who is not ambitious. I'm at a loss to understand how any of that makes him different than any other politician.

I've learned a lot about this party over the past two weeks, not much of it good, and from speaking to people in NY where I came from, people are not at all happy with the spinelessness of this party.

As an Indep. he will not be beholden to the Dem. Party. They betrayed him, along with Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, ACORN, Juan Carlos Vera and a whole host of others Liberals targeted by Breitbart and his far right network of anti-Democratic funders. Not once have they stood up for a liberal he sets out to destroy.

Their performance here was abysmal. I hope they don't pay a price for it with the voters who did not agree with this ugly witch hunt which they basically condoned.

[customerserviceguy]

35. Yes, polls have shown support

But I've seen polls decried here many times. Hey, it's NYC, if they had videotape of him having sex with a donkey on the streets, there would be people who would say, "Well, he brings home the bacon. And I've seen a donkey show before, no big deal, fuggetaboudit."

The problem isn't what the voters in his district think, they're used to bribery and extortion on a daily basis. It's about how he's dragging down the rest of the party, in areas where texting pictures of one's genitals is often frowned on.

Yes, politicians are ambitious. They are not often stupid in their pursuit of their ambitions, however, and I'd sure like to believe that when they are, more often than not, they're Republicons.

It's not a witch hunt. He supplied the evidence with his own hand, and camera.

But I suspect you're right, as an independent, he will always find support in his district. Unfortunately for him, that district is likely to be eliminated. You're aware that NY has to lose two congressional districts as a result of the last census, right? Since both parties have veto power over redistricting, it's most likely that NY will lose one district from each party. Weiner's district is an easy target for the one we have to lose, in the minds of many people.

[sabrina 1]

36. Yes, he commit the crime of being fairly open about sex.

Although I always that it was Republicans who were the hypocrites when it came to sex.

He didn't do it publicly, he was hounded and entrapped. Although I still don't get how Democrats should feel one needs to hide their sexuality. He certainly didn't, until he was taught that he DID need to feel 'shame' about it. He supported all kinds of sexuality, Trans, Gay, Straight and he did THAT publicly.

It's been a lesson. I thought we had, at least on the left, removed the stigma of sex from the arsenal of the right. But we are still letting them govern our reaction to it. We have a ways to go still.

Frankly if I could have, I would have told him to simply answer the question 'did you, or did you not have SEXXX?' with a firm 'Of course. And that is YOUR business, how?'

But even someone like him, always open about it, was somehow forced to believe it actually was shameful.

McCarthy would be proud.

[Arkana]

20. If he's a "godsend to Republicans" it's only because spineless Dems

are letting him be just that.

That fuck Vitter was soliciting prostitutes and he is STILL A FUCKING US SENATOR. John fucking Ensign was a senator until just recently, too--until it became obvious that he would never win another election again.

Weiner fucked up. But he should remain at his post until his constituents tell him otherwise.

[JI7]

22. All you have to do is bring up David Vitter , in fact it's the republicans who end up looking worse

i want them to bring up Weiner just so we can bring up Vitter. and bring up how WEiner isn't a hypocrite or did anything illegal like Vitter.

why are you so scared of republicans ?

[sabrina 1]

25. It's just an excuse. They can't be so stupid that they don't see

how hysterical it is for Republicans to talk about ethics. I too would love them to bring up Weiner just so I could demonstrate just how hypocritical they are.

He's a liberal. There is no room for liberals in the Democratic Party.

[JI7]

27. did you see how stupid that or whatever his name from the RNC

looked when he went after WEiner and then was asked about that whore Vitter. Vitter who actually did have sex and illegally with another woman he refuses to attack but goes after the guy having internet sex and nothing illegal.

[sabrina 1]

28. Oh, that was hysterical!! I l was laughing so hard I didn't hear

all the denials. He was so blatant. He didn't even have the intelligence to get around it, just 'no, I won't talk about Vitter' but 'I just want to talk about Weiner'. And he was talking to a friendly interviewer, Greta Van Sustern. Imagine what Keith or Rachel could do with him. :rofl:

That is gold, that is what is needed to demonstrate how crazy they are to the public.

He is the new Chair of the Repub. Party I think.

This is why I know they are lying. They just don't want liberals in the party.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Awww. Poor helpless Dem leaders who just can't act becuase of Anthony Weiner.

Maybe they should look for work they can handle.

[Bluebear]

26. I can think of about 8 dozen DINO's who have been "more of a godsend" to Republicans :)