Jess , Rachael , Amanda , politicians really need to remember the adage that “politics is show business for ugly people.” It turns out even if you’re a politician who thinks he’s hot, as does Rep. Anthony Weiner and now-former Rep. Chris Lee, it is never a good idea to take self-portraits of your hotness while standing in the bathroom flexing your muscles, then send these images to potentially appreciative fans. Actually, even if you’re a hot quarterback, like Brett Favre, it’s not a good career move to take photos of your private parts and forward them to a cheerleader as a way of introducing yourself. So now, through an amazing press conference, we learn that Weiner has been using Facebook, Twitter, and the phone to engage in dirty conversations with young women and the exchange of titillating photos. Including, he admits, some X-rated ones of himself that have yet to surface.
I’m glad that at his press conference Weiner simply apologized for his inexplicable behavior and didn’t engage in any self-analysis or excuses. (All right, I know that it’s not wholly inexplicable that a man would get kicks out of having on-line sex with a bunch of young, attractive women. But it is inexplicable to leave an electronic trail of your activities with women you don’t even know if you have big political ambitions, which Weiner does.) Weiner acknowledged he informed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi that he had been lying previously when he said he didn’t send the dirty picture of himself, but he was not going to resign. As we saw from the instantaneous departure of Chris Lee , had Weiner had been a Republican, under John Boehner’s leadership there wouldn’t have been a press conference, there simply would have been no more Weiner.
I agree, Rachael, that unless Weiner is lying about his lying, he probably can survive this. There are plenty of politicians who’ve made it through worse scandals (Sen. David Vitter and the female prostitute, Rep. Barney Frank and the male prostitute). Maybe for solace and advice Weiner can turn for guidance to the man who performed his very wedding ceremony: Bill Clinton. And surely Weiner’s wife is getting an earful from her boss, Hillary Clinton.
