Oh geez - Reminder: It wasn't that he was sexting with women not his wife...

[LynneSin]

it's the fact that for 2 weeks he said the story was false and we defended him.

I really don't care what someone does with their dick but when they're caught don't do this faux outrage "I didn't do it" when you know damn well you did.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Exactly. We wouldn't even be discussing this, if not for one dick. He lost the seat.

:thumbsup:

[dionysus]

7. is that some kind of power fist? looks like fightin woids to me!

time for some kickboxin'!
:rofl: <---kickboxin'

:hi:

[sufrommich]

2. Yeah, that was what pissed me off. I defended him

because I believed Breitbart made the pictures up or used a picture of someone else. Who believes Breitbart? Weiner gave Breitbart a lot of credibility that he would never have if he would have just admitted the pics were of him in first place.

[LynneSin]

5. Oh gawd that made it 1000% worse that it was Breitbart

Because Breitbart is notorious for making shit up. Now this asshole can defend himself anytime by claiming he was right about Weiner.

It just made us look bad

[sufrommich]

6. Exactly. nt

[Wait Wut]

28. Uh huh...me, too.

I stared at those damned pics trying to find any proof that it WASN'T him....because he SAID it wasn't.

[Safetykitten]

Excellent points. Tastefully presented. If he admitted it right out, then said...

I do not care about what people think, then we would not be here, with people calling others that bad name.

He would still be in office. Bruised up, but still there.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. thank you. k&r

[RZM]

4. Thanks for pointing out that this isn't difficult to understand

People don't like being lied to. End of story.

His handling of it was less than masterful. Had he owned up on day one, he might still be in congress.

[LynneSin]

9. I wouldn't even cared if he took a couple of days to compose himself

I remember Jon Stewart defending him and even Stewart seemed pissed afterwards when he realized Weiner had lied.

And btw yes I know that Clinton lied too and trust me I was pissed at him for lying. But the thing with Clinton is that time heals all wounds and eventually I recognized that Clinton was a good president who happened to be flawed. I suspect in a few years Weiner will be back in politics and much will be forgiven including from myself. Time does heal all wounds.

[RZM]

12. FWIW

Clinton also knew how to finesse it once it was out there. Weiner, not so much. He stepped up to the plate and struck out.

People can say what they want about Clinton, but the man has a damn sharp political mind. Even the right gives him that one.

[hobbit709]

8. "Everybody lies about sex."-LL

[Tarheel_Dem]

16. But not "everybody" is an elected official.

If you're a perv, don't run for office. :shrug:

[LadyInAZ]

31. LOL agrees...

[dsc]

38. according to a fairly significant minority I am a perv

who has no right to run for office.

[Tarheel_Dem]

45. I'm amazed at how you can turn any topic into a discussion about you....

Please get over yourself. :eyes:

[dsc]

49. well I meant any gay person or for that matter adulterer

the simple fact is there is no perv test for public office.

[tblue37]

43. "Perv" away AND run for office. Just don't be stupid and obvious

about it. Weiner was sending his crotch shots unsolicited to women who were emailing him about politics. The shot that got him in trouble was sent to a woman who had never engaged him in sex chats or emails, but only in political discussions. She was surprised abut that picture. He claimed he sent it to her as a joke, but obviously it was a come-on.

I don't get why guys think that sort of approach is so appealing. I guess some women did go for it, but still, it seems awfully risky, since you don't know who is on the other end of an internet chat, and besides, it seems a fairly ineffective sort of approach for starting something with a stranger.

[HappyMe]

10. sigh! Yup.

I was so damn sure his account had been hacked.

He lied his ass off.

[LynneSin]

11. OMG Me too - I thought this would be the end of Andrew Breibart

And now in the future when I see these scandals with the Democrats, I'll end up hestitate before I do any defending.

[HappyMe]

17. That's the sad part.

I'll have a 'wait & see' attitude.


The other sad part is that I can't believe elected people haven't learned squat from other scandals.

[hfojvt]

13. so he lied? No one died.

:shrug:

I still say that his lies and his actions were no more harmful to his district and our country than my Congresswoman's lies are to my district and my country http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=153x9708

The media, however, will never, ever, ever call her to account for her lies, because she is not left of center.

I was gonna say that there was no sex involved, but that would not be true, since the rumor is that she had an affair which is why her husband divorced her right after she won the election in 2008.

I bet - that if the media started asking questions about it, that she would lie. Who wouldn't?

But the media will never ask questions because the left does not have an equivalent of the RightWing Noise Machine that can drum a conservative Republican out of office and replace him/her with a liberal Democrat. That machine digs through the dirty laundry of our people and then even we get sucked along at throwing stones at somebody for having skid marks and for trying to keep them hidden. After all, when somebody is on the pillory, only he who has the same sin would refuse to cast a stone.

So not only does the crowd stone that adulterous woman, they then proceed to stone anybody who did not take part in the stoning.

[LynneSin]

14. I like Weiner, I still think he has a very bright political career

He just has to let this mess subside. In the long run he did the right thing - in a few years he'll back probably running for Mayor of NYC or some other position and this scandal will long since been gone.

[hugo_from_TN]

32. Not unless he changes his name.

No way this scandal doesn't get remembered with that name.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. It's a very sad situation.

I feel bad for him and everyone that counted on him.

Three people that I trusted, and believe me, I trust very few people: Clinton, Edwards, and to a degree, Weiner. He just seemed like a progressive who really had a chance.

[CC]

18. He would be out whether he lied or

not. There were photos in the hands of the right-wing and the media and they were using them and would still be using them. As for his lying, he was wrong to do it but then not many men (or women) that step beyond the bounds of marriage according to society's rules wouldn't lie. My disappointment is that he would put his career at risk for it, especially when his career meant doing the people's work.

[unblock]

19. oh please. since when do politicians get booted from office for lying?

seriously, had he said, "yeah, that's my dick all right!" from the get-go, do you think the media would have dropped the story and democrats would have demanded he keep his job?

alternatively, had he lied about something far less salacious, would anyone have given a crap?


sorry, but he got the boot because he got himself tangled in an embarrassing zipper problem, and the fact that he lied about merely allowed the thin cover story that it was about the lying and not about the sexting, when in fact it WAS about the sexting.

once a man's johnson is on public display, he instantly becomes "creepy" and there's no recovery from that. telling the truth or a lie is completely irrelevant, the die was cast as soon as the pictures came out.

[RZM]

23. He wasn't booted though. He resigned

Sure, he was almost certainly pressured behind the scenes by top Dems, but he could have stayed on if he wanted to. Maybe he left because he couldn't stand being a laughing stock? Or perhaps he got an offer of something beneficial to him in the future in exchange for going quietly.

:shrug:

[unblock]

26. call it what you will, it's all the same.

booted, forced to resign, resigned under pressure, whatever.

the point is that the scandal and the fallout was all about the sexting and pictures; the feeble cover-up effort was beside the point.

[RZM]

30. I have to disagree

He would have had to absorb a big hit over the sexting, but he could have survived that. I think it was the lying that turned people off.

And we don't know exactly what that pressure was, either. My guess is that it was a combination of carrot and stick. Stay or make noise and we make your life a living hell. Go quietly and we'll talk about helping you with your transition back into the private sector. I'm sure it's been done countless times before.

[DefenseLawyer]

20. I still don't think the punishment fit the crime

but you are absolutely correct; a simple "I'm not going to comment" and the whole thing dies on the vine. Still, I don't think it's the kind of thing you would lose your job over.

[Llewlladdwr]

27. What punishment? NT

[DefenseLawyer]

35. In what world is being forced to resign not considered punishment? n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. Well, I would lie too! If I was in his situation. Now we get to have a Teabagger/Rethug in his seat

instead. What's worse? I say the TEABAGGER/RETHUG is!

[krabigirl]

22. I see. just like Bush was thrown out of office for lying! oh wait....

it's OK to lie to get us into wars, killing brown people, but lying about sex (or in this case, just pictures of a penis in underwear) is unforgivable. LMAO.

[raccoon]

24. "I did not have sex with that woman!" nt

[LynneSin]

34. And I was pissed at him too

I also believe that Time heals all wounds and I'm sure with Weiner the same will be true with him. I highly doubt this is the last we'll see of him. He'll be back in politics stronger than ever.

[WinkyDink]

37. Can we be precise here? Words count. Clinton said, "I did not have SEXUAL RELATIONS with that woman,

Miss Lewinsky."

And by the prosecution's eventual--and the dictionary's---definitions, he was correct.

[Recursion]

25. Sending the photos to women who didn't expect or ask for them creeped me out

I still think that in itself crosses a line.

[frylock]

33. this

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. That was a huge mistake on his part. Democrats felt betrayed.

Democratic voices defended him based on his word and his word turned out to be false. I admit it left a bitter taste in my mouth when I had to admit to Republicans the they'd been right.

I still didn't want to see him lose his seat, but I can understand how it happened. The time to tell people it was his business and his penis and this was a private matter had already come and gone. :(

[WinkyDink]

36. What's this "we," White Man?

Old and true joke. I knew he was a lying S.O.B hoist on his own petard, a la Eliot Spitzer.

[TheKentuckian]

41. Knickers in a twist over a politician lying??? Sounds insane since they all lie all the time.

In this case, since he wasn't lying about government business then it is a non issue considering all of them lie about critical issues that affect us, this is a bunch of bullshit

[LadyHawkAZ]

39. I have acquaintances who are former sex workers.

When the subjects of prostitution, escorts or strippers come up, they remain silent or deny involvement. People- including, apparently, many "liberals"- judge others on their genitalia and how they use it. I don't blame my friends for lying and I don't blame Weiner. Americans are prudish, intolerant and vicious when someone else's sex life is involved.

Also, the majority of the outrage was not in the least about the lying- the whole "LYING!!!" meme didn't crop up until people got called out for being judgemental. The outrage was all about the sexual element. You need to read back over some of those old threads.

[EFerrari]

40. Thank goodness Hillary Clinton is more forgiving than that. n/t

[Broderick]

42. I would have been burned at the stake for my life.

[Behind the Aegis]

44. Unrec for continued excuse-making

[Bluebear]

46. Obsession

[Jennivell]

47. Yep. He LIED, LIED, and then he LIED SOME MORE

To ANYbody who would listen! How do these peeps who say "ZOMG it's so unfair! All he did was send some pictures of his weiner around!" not GET that? It wasn't the pics, it was the endless, constant LYING! And I'm not defending a blatant, narcissist, LYING LIAR. Good riddance!

You're pissed that a Repub won NY-9? Then the lying liar WEINER is the ONLY one you should blame. Not Pelosi, not Wasserman Schultz, not Obama. Weiner made this happen because Weiner LIED. And you can't defend his lies without coming off as a total idiot.

[baldguy]

48. And the only reason a media shitstorm erupted & he was forced to resign was because he was a Dem

That one small change - no shitstorm, no resignation. IOKIYAR