a case of not wisely picking one's battles

[veronica_rich]

Having read and watched on the whole Anthony Weiner Tweetageddon (Twitterocalypse? Tweetygate?), I have a few thoughts:

1. Weiner is one of more vocal opponents to stupid shit the more radical Republicans propose in Congress. So I am especially pissed off that he lied, and that he put himself in this vulnerable position.

2. Dude. SERIOUSLY. Everybody's fucked up with technology. You accidentally post to Twitter instead of texting and take it down - and say you were hacked? Why not just admit you hit the wrong button, take the jokes on your name, roll your eyes at your own techie incompetence, and let it die? Why lie about something so minor? If you'll lie about that, what else will you lie about? That's the question, sadly.

3. Re: The Republicans asking OMG WHAT IF HE WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR??!111? So what? HE never campaigned on that bullshit "family values" or sexual morality so far as I know. Was HE caught soliciting sex in an airport bathroom? Was HE caught making advances to his 17-year-old intern? Was HE caught preaching against homosexuality and then exposed to be hiring the services of a male prostitute? I think we all need to take a moment of silent contemplation to remember the party to which those three pillars of society belonged. STFU REPUBLICANS.

4. Re: The Democrats haranguing him. As well they should. The Republicans sure as hell don't have a good track record of policing their own; I'm actually kind of glad to see the Dems are doing it.

5. Should Weiner resign? I don't know. The offense with the photos was no big deal, as far as I'm concerned; if his wife wants to beat on his ass, that's her prerogative, not anyone else's. It's the LYING that grates at me. (The only reason I usually ever care if some right-winger gets himself strung up in a personal scandal is if he's one of those jackasses who gets into office on sexual morals. PUH-LEEZE bitch.)

5a. Poor Jon Stewart. I feel sorry for the guy, having to make fun of his friend like he would anyone else. But - hey, he did it. He didn't have to. He's a comedian, not a journalist; it's not central to his career to be of high character. Good on him.

6. John Edwards. There was a time I would've voted for you. Ugh. YOU, I dislike personally, whether the criminal charges pan out or not. You don't cheat on a sick spouse, and you don't sleep around on a dying spouse unless you have worked out between the two of you some sort of agreement where this is going to happen (yes, I knew a couple who did this, actually. The whole town knew them).

Comments

[sirriamnis.livejournal.com]

I giggle every time I write or say "Weiner scandal."

But seriously, I don't begrudge him the lie. He panicked. I probably would have, too. Shit, I panic NOW if I think I've accidentally posted something private to the whole wide world. And my internet fame is not nearly so far reaching.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Well, it goes beyond that, I think. It's that he stuck with that lie for so long.

Have you seen that commercial where the kids are sitting in a locker room and one is making fun of this pro athlete who has long hair, mimicking him and all, and the athlete poofs in by magic and is standing behind him scowling until he's noticed? He goes "Are you making fun of me?" "No!" *scowl* "Are you making fun of me?" *pause* "Yes." If Weiner's initial reaction had been to deny it, then sheepishly admit it, that'd be one thing. Not only was it dumb to stick with it for so long, but he kept spinning the story even when questioned closely - that wasn't panicked lying, which I do get.

Friends keep trying to pressure me to get Facebook and Twitter. The more I read and see of how one can fuck up using either, usually with their real name, the happier I am I don't have either. :-D

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

It's been....jaw-dropping to watch this cat torpedo his career. I think he should resign, slink away and hope he can live out his life with a modicum of dignity. (I guess he would need to learn "dignity".)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

It was such a dumbass thing to deny. I mean, we've gotten a lot worse out of shithole Republicans over the past several years, and if he'd been criticized for admitting it from the outset, all he would've had to done is point out that he didn't invade two countries illegally and order the death of tens of thousands. I don't understand his thinking.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Shame? And a feeling of being untouchable?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh, undoubtedly on the first. As for the second, maybe it was that he felt too touchable (obligatory HAHA at Weiner touching) and that's why he denied it at first. I just don't get sticking with that story when it's so, so easy to debunk. (Although, you may have a point on the second, in that the guy HAS to be aware of his last name and the comedy of it in relation to doing what he had done. I don't get why he would've done it in the first place with media that can be traced. Then again, I read fanfic on my work computer - not at work, but at home and away from work sometimes (I have to travel with it) - so I'm not in much better position to deny anything. But I've never photographed my boobies to send to anyone!)

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

*nods* And....you and I are not voluntarily holding positions of public trust either. I mean, really???? There are some career choices which simply just place a person into a different way of behaving than others. Be scuzzy all you want but don't expect to be Mayor of New York. And, imo, rightfully so.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

There's levels of trust, IMO. Like, there's a big difference between lying about WMDs and lying about what you've done in your private time with consenting adults, that doesn't affect doing your job. I come back again to not knowing what the guy should do, honestly.

[captsparrow4evr.livejournal.com]

I watched him several times on Daily Show and he always impressed me as being a good guy, perhaps even potential presidential material. I don't want him to resign. I think he's valuable to us liberals but the Republicans are not going to let it go. Gah, why did he listen to the wrong head? Idiot!!

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Because he's male? They frequently do that. Sometimes to very ill effect.

[crevette.livejournal.com]

Well, you know I'm more middle of the road, but I'm so saddened that this guy was a hugely vocal supporter of women's rights and he's basically shot himself in the foot.

My issues:

1) People say that the adultery/cheating episodes doesn't matter, but if a person cannot keep a promise to the one person in his life he's supposed to above all others, how can you trust anything he does?

2) the lies. Stupid stupid lies. Although all politicians lie, he stupidly lied and then kept lying until he was forced to be honest.

3) the entire thing shows a striking lack of judgement and I'm unsure if someone who cannot figure out that sending pictures of your junk on THE INTERNET is a bad idea is really cut out for making decisions about the economy/defense etc of a country.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I'd say Kennedy would've done it if he'd had Twitter, but I'm one of the rare people who doesn't think Kennedy was all that anyway, so not the best example. X-P

Yep. It was a stupid thing to lie about. But as for the adultery/whatever-you-call-what-he-was-doing, I can't equate doing that with doing one's job. There are plenty of people in everyday business life who do a good job and treat their co-workers fine, who put their hoo-hoo into every bajingo they can find - and there are those who are perfectly faithful to their spouses who are massive assholes and embezzlers.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I think he's toast as a Congressman. He might find another line of work. Look at Elliot Spitzer? That still blows me away, but he seems to be working it like no one's business.

The second worst fight of my marriage was over John Edwards. I thought that a man who would do that to his dying wife was capable of more more egregious crimes. And, as it turns out, I was right. I think there are moral lines in the sand that once you cross them, you've crossed a Rubincon that changes your way of thinking permanently. That all of a sudden things that were written in stone are now written in pencil. I think that Edwards cheating on his dying wife and not even bothering to put a frigging condom on while banging his mistress is absolutely disgusting.

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Heard comments on a talk show today to this affect - that once these people in power get away with small mishaps of judgment, they continually commit more and more. They soon think they are invincible.

The lying is beyond the pale for me, but no politician these days seems to know how to say, "I'm sorry." That's all it takes. We'd still make jokes about his name, but we wouldn't be calling him a liar, would we?

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

The "I'm sorry" is only appropriate at the beginning of affairs like this. Coming clean right at the beginning. The repeated denials (shades of John Edwards) don't work for me. And, ew! Shades of creepy. I'm a staunch Democrat and I would have a hard time voting for him again. Just like I refused to vote for John Edwards even though he was a viable candidate on most of the issues.

It's Weinergate

[keechakatt.livejournal.com]

The guy just digs a deeper hole every day. Now he plays the sympathy card that is wife is pregnant. That makes his actions even more disgusting. Now if she was totally in on what he was tweeting, what goes on between consenting adults and all that.

The amount of denial that went into all of this I highly doubt she knew. I like many others don't care what he did as long as it was on his own time. From what it sounds like some of it was, and some of it wasn't.

I'm just annoyed that he lied about it, not once but many times. It just makes everything else he does suspect.

Now I don't think he is at John Edwards level of scum. Edwards lied, and denied his child, and then tried to cover it up. I would never believe anything Edwards had to say again politically. But who knows what else Weiner is hiding.

[bonnie-halfelvn.livejournal.com]

1 and 3. This.

I put up Colbert's take on this when it first came out (when he was denying it), then I moved on. I mean, honestly, there's a big difference to me between lying about this vs. lying about weapons in Iraq. Or espousing family values while cheating on your third wife. Or voting against gays while trying to solicit a transgender prostitute.

Clinton stayed in office. JFK - if Twitter had been around when he was President? Oy.

I think he's the scapegoat they're all using to hide their own sins.

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

Word.