What does everyone think of "Weinergate"?

[Kathryn31]

So many conservatives are snarked about here so I was curious as to what the general opinion was on former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his weiner scandal?

[doggie]

Love how he was so ashamed. well ashamed he got caught.

so many funny headlines. the worst was Weiner contacting a young teen.

[becky553]

I have been annoyed that there was so much coverage of this and he was pressured to resign while David Vitter is still a senator. I think what he did was much worse than sending pictures of yourself. In fact, isn't prostitution illegal? What he did was absolutely disgusting and hypocritical.

[O Latin]

I think it is absolutely the biggest waste of time. The entire political world is focused on some idiot's Twitter page instead of actually trying to, you know, do their jobs. I don't see why anyone cares.

[LynnKaboom]

All I can say-

"LOL WEINER'S WIENER!!!!!!"

Yeah. I'm really mature. But other than that? If it bothered the women who got the picture that much they could have just used the "block user" function. It's not like real life where you can't block the creepy flasher in the trench-coat, it's the Internet. And if Anthony Weiner didn't do it, someone else would have. Ever been on Chatroulette?

[demgirl]

I thought it was a rather large waste of time and a distraction from the multiple grave issues facing the nation today. And another excuse for the mainstream media to avoid doing real journalistic work. The only time I view these situations as worth spending time on is when the behavior directly contradicts the politician's message. (i.e. a "family values" candidate cheats on his wife, uses a call girl, whatever...).

[Stacie]

I just want to know why these idiots think anyone wants to look their junk? I mean, it's one thing if you're in love and involved w/ or married to the guy in the heat of passion....but otherwise keep it covered, please!

It used to be a "hush hush, wink wink" thing with politicians back in the day when they were screwing around. Now they're getting in trouble for their actions. About time. Although of course when they're twittering it for the world to see....

[Cassandra]

I just think its a shame that someone has to lose their entire career because they can't figure out how to 1) use social media properly 2) not take sexual pictures.

It's 2011. How many millions of celebrity sex tapes/naked photos have come out now!?!

Don't. Take. Lascivious. Photos!

It's not a hard concept, and I don't understand why people continue to not realize that if you take an inappropriate photo or video it will get out.

[oscar]

If Weiner had presented himself as a "family values" candidate, I'd be more upset by his behavior. As it stands, I don't really care. (And based on my interaction with him at a former job, I can't say I'm terribly surprised, either.)

[Austin]

I think these guys (of all political stripes), by and large, have way too much time on their hands. Very disappointing that they seriously can't think of more positive ways to spend their time and serve their constituencies than twittering photos of their packages, visiting prostitutes, and hitting on people in airport restrooms. I'm reading Republican Gomorrah right now and there are so, so many of these situations that I guess my reaction is to just roll my eyes.

[JesusFightClub]

I just want to know why these idiots think anyone wants to look their junk? I mean, it's one thing if you're in love and involved w/ or married to the guy in the heat of passion....but otherwise keep it covered, please!

YES THIS :clap:

Not to be prudish but why?

[handcuff]

I think these guys (of all political stripes), by and large, have way too much time on their hands. Very disappointing that they seriously can't think of more positive ways to spend their time and serve their constituencies than twittering photos of their packages, visiting prostitutes, and hitting on people in airport restrooms.

That.

Plus, while I couldn't care about him photo/sending his junk around, I had problems with (1) the fact that he sent such photos unsolicited to a wide range of women (um, why is that different from flashing a woman on the street, which is usually considered a crime); and (2) that he not only utterly lied about it to protect himself, but in lying, accused others of illegal behavior. If he's willing to do that to try to get off the hook, what other things would he do? He wields an incredible amount of power in that position... (I speak of the political position, not the position wherein he's standing with his pants around his ankles and a camera in his hand).

-handcuff

[BlackHawk]

I think it's sad a good congressman had to resign when others do it too, they just don't get caught. Seriously. He sent a picture of his penis.. who hasn't seen at least one in their life? Every human being fucks up, it's life. Life sucks sometimes and you do stupid things.. who hasn't? Seriously though, it was blow to our congress. There aren't many people who do what Congressman Weiner does... you know, stand up for what is right and not afraid to say what they mean.

I think on a personal level what he did was stupid, in poor taste, and a blow to his family... but come on.. that has nothing to do with his profession. If we took everyone's private life, or stupid internet mistakes, and held it against their profession... we'd all be up a creek without a paddle.

[ppmath]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Add me to those who just doesn't get why anyone would do such a thing and why a congressman thought he could get away with it. And if these were truly unsolicited, then I don't just give him an easy pass, though I am a democrat. I wouldn't want the local flasher representing me. So humiliating for his newly pregnant wife as well. Bad judgment all around.

[handcuff]

I do have to say that it has given me all sorts of fun jokes, though. Perfect last name for the scandal.

-handcuff

[Witsec1]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Add me to those who just doesn't get why anyone would do such a thing and why a congressman thought he could get away with it. And if these were truly unsolicited, then I don't just give him an easy pass, though I am a democrat. I wouldn't want the local flasher representing me. So humiliating for his newly pregnant wife as well. Bad judgment all around.

Agree. It just boggles the mind how stupid it was. Sending unsolicited penis pics is never OK. I never want to see a picture of Weiner's wiener ever again, starting now.

Andrew Breitbart is still a lying shithead though.

[LynnKaboom]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Add me to those who just doesn't get why anyone would do such a thing and why a congressman thought he could get away with it. And if these were truly unsolicited, then I don't just give him an easy pass, though I am a democrat. I wouldn't want the local flasher representing me. So humiliating for his newly pregnant wife as well. Bad judgment all around.

Not to defend his actions, but if it really bothered those who ended up with the photos that much, it's not rocket science to block someone on Twitter. Most social networking sites have a "block user" function. We have one here, it's called the Foe List.

I'm sorry, I'm not buying the whole "he repeatedly sent me pictures of his dong that I didn't want!" excuse. These women are just ashamed that they got caught cavorting in cyberspace with a married congressman. And I'm not even a Democrat, so I don't really much of a stake in trying to defend Anthony Weiner's honor. It just pisses me off that people are missing this. You have a rooster-tweeter bothering you? Block user. It's not that hard. It's also the Internet. Trolls gonna troll, and sometimes that trollin' will lead to photos being sent.

[alphaeta08]

I also don't get how he didn't think he'd get caught. YOU WILL ALWAYS GET CAUGHT!!! Geez, how hard is that to understand? What you do with your penis and camera is up to you, but don't act surprised that EVERYONE found out about it. Yeah, it's kind of a dick (no pun intended) move, but I don't think it's a reason to resign.

[bananacat]

Honestly? I did the exact same thing that he did the week before, and several men returned the favor to me. Is there anyone here who hasn't sexted? In a decade every single politician will have sext pictures and everyone will stop pretending that it's scandalous.

There are a few differences: I do not have a partner and the recipients were 100% to participate, so Wiener's "scandal" is a little bit bad, but it's not like he took advantage of an employee, had sex with a stranger, paid for sex, had sex in a public place, or even had sex at all, nor were there any drugs involved. He's also not hypocritical about it because he didn't win his seat by campaigning on a platform of Fambly Values and he hasn't tried to shame others for doing what he did.

I think that Republicans are trying to spin this as "Democrats are just as bad", and a lot of people believe it simply because they desperately want to cling to the idea that both sides are equally bad. I don't really understand why Nancy Pelosi thought that Wiener should resign. My only guess is that she's bending over backwards in a vain attempt to make Republicans like her, and she doesn't want to be accused of partisanship.

[moreorlessnu]

Is there anyone here who hasn't sexted?

Um, yes. And don't be surprised if I go to my grave never having done it.

To each his own, consenting adults, yada, yada.

Once he confessed, it became an issue between him and his wife.

Prior to his confession, I'm torn between the seriousness of his lying to the public, and his right to privacy. I still haven't answered that question in my mind. I don't believe we should have to answer intensely personal questions to those for whom it doesn't matter (meaning answering Huma? Yes. The rest of us? No.)

[keeperrox]

First, I think he's disgusting. His wife should leave him, pregnant or not.

Second, it should have no bearing on his politics or how he does his job. What he does in his personal time is none of my business. The fact that one of the women was actually a teenager puts this in a gray area for me, but my point still stands.

Third, I don't understand why this has to become a bipartisan issue. He didn't do this as a Democrat or liberal, just like that Republican getting BJs from young men in bathrooms had nothing to do with him being a Republican. He's a skeeve, regardless of his political affiliation.

[snarkykitty]

I think that it's ridiculous to use the word "-gate" to attach to any controversy. The word "Watergate" was actually the name of a hotel. It's just like attaching "-aholic" to words to describe a "strong affection towards", like "Choca-holic". The root of the word "alcoholic" is "alcohol". The "-ic" is the suffix.

Neither "-gate" nor "-aholic" are suffixes. They are parts of whole (proper and common) nouns.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I certainly would not be happy with what Weiner did if I were his wife, but I don't think it was bad enough that he needed to resign. As far as I know, he didn't send anything inappropriate to the 17-year-old, which would have been a game changer for me.

The newsmedia are the lowest form of pond scum. I have a friend who was harrassed by the media simply because she's female, was following Weiner on Twitter, and he followed her back. She's actually older than he is, although the various articles characterized her and Weiner's other Twitter friends as "young girls." He never sent her any messages or pictures of a sexual nature. She's a political/news junkie from NYC, and so she decided to follow a local congressman's Twitter account. Then one day, he asked his followers to send him a message if they wanted him to follow them back. So she did. Then when the scandal broke, she had all sorts of journalists (including one from the NY Times) sending her messages and asking her leading questions. They didn't want to believe her when she said nothing happened between them. They did this to all of Weiner's other female Twitter friends. After the media had finished with them, the right-wingers began to bother them. My friend says almost all of them deleted their Twitter accounts or changed their names.

[dramallama]

I could not give less of a fuck about Weiner's weiner or the adults that viewed it. He didn't run on (bullshit, IMO) "family values" and so the situation is lacking in the blatant Vitter-esque hypocrisy that would prompt me to give a fuck. I'm not his wife. It's between the two of them, and I think it's a statement on our ridiculous and pathetic media and political climate that this was THE story for longer than a nanosecond, let alone for weeks, to the point that he had to step down over it. I'll buy the Republican hand-wringing and pearl-clutching as soon as they start calling for David Vitter to resign. Which will happen, coincidentally, on the same day that pigs fly and I become Pope.

[contrary]

har! i love my husband to bits, and he's lovely in the sack, but i still don't want a picture of his junk.