Weiner -- What did he do wrong?

[JDPriestly]

Weiner did not have an affair. He sent virtual messages to virtual friends pretending he had sexual relationships with them. Weiner was fantasizing.

That's what lots of people do although most don't do it on the internet.

There is a huge difference between writing a novel in which you are a sexual hero and actually having sex with numerous women.

Weiner was doing the equivalent of writing a fantasy about his sex life. That is all he was doing.

Good heavens. Get some perspective.

Sit down and have a nice little daydream about your favorite movie star.

Now tell me, why do you think Americans are so fascinated by the latest antics of Hollywood's stars? Because those who are fascinated imagine in some small corner of themselves that they actually know and have a relationship with these amazing people. And those imaginary relationships are so much more satisfying than the reality, the mundane reality in which we all live.

Men watch porn. The extremely successful and famous may even get responses to their e-mails to porn stars.

Women read romances. In those romances, the woman is always beautiful. There are always obstacles to finding the true love of her life. And then the story ends with the heroine in the arms of the hero. Just what happens next is more or less explicit, more or less left to the imagination of the reader.

And then we all watch movies -- which have become increasingly explicit over the years. It's just imagination.

Let's put on our socks and shoes when we go into the real world, but let's allow ourselves fantasy and imagination also.

The whole thing about Weiner is just way out of bounds. He embarrassed himself by taking his fantasies one step too far, almost but not quite into the real world. That is all he did.

He only embarrassed himself. He is not risking disease or an illegitimate child. He was just imagining things he could not really have. We all do that. No one is exempt. For some it is sex. For some it is beautiful cars or houses, but we all have fantasies.

Leave Weiner to his personal problems. As far as we know at this time, he hurt absolutely no one.

[brooklynite]

1. There's a word missing from your analysis...

The word is 'lie'.

He went out of his way to lie about who was responsible for days, until he was about to come face to face with more embarrassing evidence.

Some people here say: "all politicians lie". I say, that's not an excuse for him.

[MineralMan]

3. +10

A basic character flaw which, when exposed, is a fatal one. Some people never learn.

[rfranklin]

4. He lied about something that was personal...

It was none of Breitbart's business or ours. would you publicly confess to all your sexual predilections on national TV. I certainly wouldn't. Republicans count on the confusion. Anyone who takes the bait is a sucker.

[leveymg]

46. Clarence Thomas lied on sworn records. What does that make him? Indictable. Indict Clarence.

Enough lewd gawking at Weiner, already.

[rfranklin]

67. that's it...crimes deserve our attention...

not penis pictures.

[NYCGirl]

5. And another word…

STUPID.

A person in the public eye, using his real name, and sexting and sending pics of his junk to women on FB who admired his politics. And either thinking that no one would find out, or doing it as a cry for help.

STUPID.

[JDPriestly]

25. Stupid, yes, and conceited, yes. But he really sticks up for ordinary people

and it is partly because he is a bit conceited.

[NYCGirl]

33. But no one is going to take him seriously for a LONG TIME.

Because he was so STUPID.

[aquart]

80. Like Bill Clinton? Like Teddy Kennedy?

Would Cuomo be governor if Spitzer hadn't panicked and quit?

Your argument is crap on a crap cracker.

[NYCGirl]

85. He doesn't have half the personality of Bill Clinton, and

Ted Kennedy could never run for higher office.

Weiner has made himself a joke.

[aquart]

104. Ted was relieved not to have to run for president.

You'll notice that he didn't groom any of his children or nephews and nieces to do it either.

And Weiner is a Jewish man with a Muslim wife. That's a demo that goes nowhere in this country. (Or any country I can think of.) He might have had a shot at mayor but I like him and I didn't want him to leave the House.

So it really doesn't matter about ambition. He's House bound. His district likes him. The question is, what will be left of his district and will he run as challenger in the combined district? In that case, keeping vocal and active matters.

[orion007]

96. And Clinton 's escapades brought us Bush... n/t

[aquart]

103. Uh, no. A treasonous Supreme Court brought us Bush.

And Jeb Bush being the very corrupt governor of Florida brought us Bush.

Really, such naivete is unbecoming.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. He went so far as to hire a lawyer when he claimed he was hacked.

Wonder if that lawyer has been released yet...

[JDPriestly]

54. How do you know that is what he hired a lawyer for?

Maybe he hired a lawyer because the lawyer was the one person in whom he could confide without anyone every knowing what he said. Maybe he hired the lawyer for advice.

People think they know why others hire lawyers. But there is this thing called the attorney/client privilege and this other thing, this ethical obligation required of every lawyer -- the duty of confidentiality.

Whatever was said about why Weiner hired a lawyer is nobody's business. Weiner has a confidential relationship with his lawyer, and when he talks to his lawyer, he might as well be talking to his dog.

[Dreamer Tatum]

58. Because he said so. nt

[JDPriestly]

68. He does not have to tell the truth about why he hired a lawyer.

People often don't really know why they hire a lawyer. They have a problem. Sometimes the lawyer has to explain to them that the problem they thought they had isn't the real problem. Could have been the case here.

[Dreamer Tatum]

70. Evidently he doesn't have to tell the truth about anything. nt

[JDPriestly]

95. About the personal aspects of his life, he does not have to tell the truth.

He did not steal any money from anyone. He did not foreclose on any families and make them homeless.

He did not declare a war or send planes into another country to bomb people. He simply sent text messages involving sex to apparently willing recipients.

[Dreamer Tatum]

71. Although your avatar definitely clarifies why you'd trouble following ethical arguments. nt

[orion007]

97. LOL,,,that was a good one!

[aquart]

81. He got really crappy advice. Hope he fired the guy.

[aquart]

12. EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO LIE ABOUT SEX.

You know why? Because everyone DOES lie about sex.

Where you have gone completely off the rails is imagining that private, legal communication is any of your fucking business.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. So if everyone does it, that confers a "right?"

You are several shades of dead solid wrong on this topic.

[aquart]

79. If everyone does it, it better be.

Everyone breathes. Everyone eats. Everyone drinks. Everyone defecates. Everyone lies about sex.

Don't plan on labeling any of these non-rights anytime soon.

[pnwmom]

19. Everyone doesn't have the right to suggest their staffers will help

someone else prepare written statements consisting of lies.

This is what his June 2nd email suggests.

[DevonRex]

21. That's one major question I'd like the answer to. Nt

[aquart]

78. Wow. You found a suspect SENTENCE.

Because there was no crime, and lying about no crime is not a crime, NOW YOU'VE FOUND A SENTENCE!!!!!!

WOW! Maybe you've managed to manufacture a..........slap on the wrist.

Frankly, all you and your prurient, peeping Tom pals have managed to prove is that Weiner is a liberal even in his sex fantasies. Watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report while doing it doggy style with a stranger? Oh, yeah!

[JDPriestly]

30. Thank you. And I'll bet that 95% of the men/women on DU

lie when their significant other or spouse asks them if they were flirting with that guy/woman at the party.

95% I bet you. Very few people want to bother about arguing over flirtation.

Yet flirtation is an integral part of our social lives. We cannot help flirting.

[NYCGirl]

34. And I'll bet that 95% of the men/women on DU are not in the

public eye daily and have newspaper reporters and/or bloggers following them.

[JDPriestly]

52. My point precisely. Thank you.

If we did have people following us around, they could probably find all kinds of ugly things to report about us.

Some of us eat too much, smoke too much, drink too much, hoard too much, gossip too much -- we all have personal flaws.

Weiner is not bought by the lobbyists, but I'm sure there is a replacement in the wings who can be easily bought. Isn't that what this is really about?

Just scour a person's life until you find something that will cause outrage and then get that person out of Congress.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger sat in Sacramento for eight years knowing full well he had a huge secret that would have ruined his political career. Now how is it possible that no one noticed a ten-year-old child? How did the press miss that one?

It's no coincidence when one gets caught at some ridiculous behavior while another gets by with a huge mistake for years and years. Depends on who owns or does not own you.

[NYCGirl]

84. You don't seem to get that when one is in the public eye,

one cannot be INCREDIBLY STUPID and text strangers using your real name and real pictures. Weiner can do whatever he wants in his private life, but when he starts being INCREDIBLY STUPID, it's time to stop.

And who DIDN'T know that Arnold had a sex problem? That was being reported years ago. Don't you remember? The people who elected him didn't care.

P.S. That guy you have as your icon was INCREDIBLY STUPID too. Much worse than Weiner.

[Starboard Tack]

36. Apparently it isn't private when you hit the wrong button

Everyone has the right to lie about anything, but exercising that right doesn't do much for one's credibility.
Stupid is as stupid does!

[JDPriestly]

24. Lying about virtual sex. We used to lie about the fact that we were

reading Lady Chatterly's Lover of Fanny Hill. Shame on us. That was probably before your time. Did you know that the first version of Lady Chatterly's Lover that was published in the US in 1928 was heavily censored? Now, that's virtue for you.

Weiner did not hurt anyone.

[seabeyond]

31. Weiner did not hurt anyone.

blatant. lol. wow. amazing how you can free your brain enough of thinking to come up with this so purely. truely. i am impressed.

[JDPriestly]

28. Do you tell your wife or significant other about every fantasy you have

of the beautiful women you see? If she asks you whether you are looking at that blonde over there, do you tell her "Yes, I can't keep my eyes off her?" Or do you lie and say, "No, I only have eyes for you."?

Just asking.

[Zoeisright]

Oh for Christ's sake, every single person on the face of this earth lies.

Including YOU. Since when is lying about something PRIVATE a deadly sin?

Americans need to grow the fuck up and quit getting their panties in a bunch over something so trivial, when the country is DYING.

[smirkymonkey]

66. +1000

[aquart]

82. Precisely.

[HereSince1628]

55. Well, not really just a lie, politicians actually lie all the time

so that isn't really enough.

It's either the specific type of lies or that as well as something else.

[mrmpa]

64. There are different types of lies.......

There are lies that are told in order to gain something and then there are
lies told out of embarassment or shame. His lies were of the latter type and should be
treated and understood as such.

[aquart]

105. Yes, he has earned a lifetime of ribald humor as his expense.

Like Clinton.

[backscatter712]

102. Everybody would have lied under similar circumstances.

So excuse me for being only moderately annoyed at Weiner's lies.

He didn't lie under oath, so no crime was committed.

And trust me, if you'd been caught in an affair, you would have lied too. I would have. There aren't many people who would instantly come clean the instant a whiff of a rumor came out about his or her indiscretions. Clinton lied. We got over it. He survived the right-wing shitstorm and finished his term.

At best, the only rules he's broken is maybe using a government Blackberry and government Internet connection for his hanky-panky, and the correct remedy for that is for Weiner to fork over a few hundred bucks to reimburse the government for the phone bill and Internet bill.

Besides, I want Weiner to stay in office if only to give the middle-finger to scandal-slut Breitbart.

[alc]

2. he put himself (and his votes) in a compromising position

He was obviously very embarrassed about what he did and would go to great lengths to cover it up. What if the Koch brothers had found the women/pics instead of Brietbart? Brietbart wanted publicity. What would the Kochs have wanted and how far would Weiner go to keep the details secret? Not sponsor a bill? Add an exception? Vote against it?

I don't care what congressmen/women do in private, but they better be willing to come clean immediately if they are caught.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rebubula]

6. Couple of points...

...1st - I find your defense of his actions amusing considering your avatar.

2nd - It is not what he did per se - it is because he was obviously lying to his wife. If this man will lie to the most important person in his world - his soulmate and future mother of his kids - why the hell would I ever think that he would be honest with anyone else.


All these gymnastics to defend his actions continues to amuse me.

He fucked up. I could not care less about the sex - it is the same as with Clinton - if he lies to his wife, how can I trust him?

[JDPriestly]

37. Next time you go to a party and spend quite a bit of enjoyable time

talking with a nice man or woman you meet, I want you to go home and tell your wife/husband/girl-or-boyfriend all about how much fun you had talking to this person. Be sure to describe how he/she put her hand on your arm and laughed at your jokes. Just make a big deal of it. Admit you were flirting. See what a lovely night you have.

Of course, you will not do that. And if your significant other chides you about flirting with that person at that party, you will get in a huff and deny it. It is an animal instinct. We all have it. Talk about lying -- We all lie in this way. Some of us admit it and some don't.

[Rebubula]

53. Fair enough..

...however, I am not out asking people to trust me with the biggest decisions in the land.

This is not about sex. This is about trust. If your soulmate cannot trust you - how can I?

[KittyWampus]

7. He used govt. resources to engage in sexting & possibly to cover up his behavior. He sent pix

unsolicited to at least one woman. He doesn't know if he sexted with underage girls.

[HipChick]

10. and you know that for sure? How?

Unless they have a recording of the call, time and date stamped - you have nada than hearsay...
Are there IP headers with the history of the emails, logs of the chat?

I wonder how many people per day, use their employee resources to get on DU? The Employer would need to collaborate that with the times the employee was working, and have logs or recordings...not just have an fellow employee saying they saw DU splashed up on the screen

[pnwmom]

20. Suppose Nancy gets all that in an investigation? Will that matter to you?

I doubt it.

[HipChick]

23. Will it matter to you?

I doubt it.

But that's is what is needed. With computer forensics and data calls, that's what has to be done...that's the purpose of the investigation..

[pnwmom]

50. When this first happened, he was obviously prevaricating,

and I just wanted him to come clean, dispose of the issue, and move on. I still think he could have, if he had done so then.

But now after all those press conferences, and all that lying, and -- according to his June 2nd email, which he isn't disavowing -- urging other(s) to lie, I think he's dug his own political grave. I don't think he should drag the Democrats and the country and his wife through any more months of this. He had his chance and he blew it. It's time to move on.

[HipChick]

65. They all lied

Ted Kennedy
Bill Clinton


and went on to be very successful..

[pnwmom]

76. They didn't have pictures of their escapades on the Internet.

Also, Bill Clinton was President. He was far more critical to the party than Weiner is.

And Ted Kennedy had a huge sympathy factor, after the assassinations of both of his brothers.

Weiner is not critical to the party and he's alienated a lot of people. He's dispensable.

[JDPriestly]

39. Just think. He could have spent that time texting about campaign

contributions to lobbyists. Wouldn't that have been perfectly OK?

Not to me.

Get your priorities right.

With all the corruption going on in Congress, sex texting is one of the least objectionable ways that members of Congress can spend their time.

[KittyWampus]

8. Further, he obviously became addicted to sexting- until he admits he has a problem

he's essentially the equivalent of a dry drunk.

[DevonRex]

22. Yes. He has to do the work and accept the consequences

of his actions.

[JDPriestly]

40. He does have a problem, but then so did Bill Clinton.

So do many, many people.

But that problem does not make him a bad congressman.

He needs help for his addiction, but then his addiction is not nearly as debilitating as the alcoholism that I will bet is the addiction of many other members of Congress.

[former9thward]

11. "He only embarrassed himself"

His wife might disagree with you. As well as Democrats in Congress. As well as many of his supporters. Whenever he speaks in the future people will be thinking about this episode and smirking. He no longer has any credibility.

Would you be so cavalier about this if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had done this? How about General Petraeus? How about President Obama? Would it be ok for any of them to send pictures of their dicks around the internet?

[JDPriestly]

41. My point is that he did nothing. He fantasized and put his fantasies

on paper. That is all he did.

[DevonRex]

51. Um, did you somehow miss the naked erect penis pic?

He didn't just compose some erotic literature for his personal pleasure. Hell, if he did that and published it I'd defend his right to free expression.

[JDPriestly]

69. Go into a popular bookstore in most parts of the country, and you

will find all sorts of pictures.

Nudity in all forms and sizes is quite commonly displayed.

Here in Los Angeles, if you go down Wilshire Blvd., you will see the building that porn built. It's huge. It belongs to Larry Flynt's enterprises.

I do not watch porn or sextext, but I am realistic about the fact that many other people do. Some of them no doubt serve in Congress. That's just life. Get used to it.

One of the things I like about Weiner is that he is willing to go out on a limb and offend for causes that he supports. Just so happens that I (and probably you) benefit from his in your face attitude.

He has had to contend with jokes about his name all his life. I don't know, but I think it is possible that he has a huge hang-up (pun intended) about the jokes about his name. Maybe this is the way he deals with it. It's stupid. I wish he hadn't done this, but I am much more worried about the folks in Congress who are texting with lobbyists and doing the lobbyists' bidding. That is what is harming our country, not Weiner's sex texting.

[DevonRex]

74. I agree with some of what you're saying.

I'll tell you my concerns:

1. Did he use his position to troll for girls to sext to?

2. Did he attempt to use official resources to cover this up?

3. Did he use due diligence to ensure the images and explicit texts went only to adults?

4. Did he use govt computers, phones etc to carry on this activity?

As a rule I don't even think about other people's sex lives. I hope they all have healthy and fun sex lives. I believe it is the responsibility of the individual to do everything they can to safeguard their own privacy. I believe that the individual gives up their right to keep information private as soon as they post that information in any public domain. I believe that a person can lie about anything but when caught in the lie other people have the right to doubt that person's veracity. I believe that a person's life should be judged in it's totality and not just on one aspect.

So far I haven't seen anything that would make Weiner have to resign. I hope all my questions will be answered and that his sex life did not involve his official life. I also believe we have the right to discuss this and to form our own opinions on his behavior. For me, even though I will not yet say he should resign (and won't unless there are actual ethics violations) his behavior is troubling and icky for lack of a better word.

[JDPriestly]

94. Even if he texted on official equipment, I would not care.

I'd much rather he be texting his fantasy girlfriends than selling his services to lobbyists. I feel very strongly that the backdoor deals with lobbyists on taxpayer time with taxpayer equipment and staff are far more damaging to out country than Weiner's infantile texting.

[seabeyond]

14. you are consistent anyway. always excusing away the behavior.

and a point. i dont advocate he quit. but i dont try and defend, excuse, validate stupid.

[JDPriestly]

45. It was stupid. It is stupid to admit to others your sexual fantasies.

That is very stupid. I agree. But then, I know some magazine publishers and writers and film makers who have become very wealthy putting their fantasies on paper or video.

We all have a love/hate relationship with our sexual fantasies.

The people who condemn Weiner for his e-mails need to ask themselves about their own use of their own time for fantasizing about sex.

Often, the very people who condemn such things are the most compulsively drawn to them.

I once knew a woman who just could not stop herself from sitting in her car outside the home of a man she had met by chance -- once and seen several times after that. He had to get a restraining order against her.

The fact that we make fantasizing about sex into such a shameful thing actually encourages people to act out the things they are so ashamed of wanting to do.

I'm so sick of all the sex scandals blinding everyone from looking at the real issues that we face.

[seabeyond]

49. then there is reality. and that is where we are. not fantasy. why ignore the reality?

reality is he is a grown man. reality is he is a public figure. reality is many people are countng on him, including the wife "he didnt hurt". reality is this behavior was going to cause a whole lot of mess. and reality is... the grown up, the responsible, the mature forgo a "fantasy" in order to meet their adult responsibilities.

and he failed.

[meow mix]

15. creating fantastic tales of hacking and espionage?

went way over the line.. even went on rachel maddow to advance his story.

[DevonRex]

16. He tweeted his peeper to random strangers. He has no reasonable

expectation of privacy in regard to the peeper tweeting. had he not tweeted his peeper it's absolutely a fact that nobody here or anywhere would be discussing his penis.

I haven't called for him to resign. Neither have I said he should remain. If he is cleared of ethical wrongdoing by the ethics committee I'd say he might as well serve his term.

Mostly I don't automatically believe pols anymore when they deny wrongdoing. And in this case there are many unanswered questions and since he lied we can't trust his answers. Those are the consequences of his actions.

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. K&R For perspective

sorely lacking on this. It's distasteful, but still and all, a tempest in a teapot.

I don't trust people who blow things out of proportion. Or people who move in gangs with a gang mentality. Or kick someone when he's down, especially someone who has stood up for their intests so much in the past.

AW had my back on issues that matter a lot to me; I'll have his now... unless "underage" or "illegal" comes up. Even then I won't throw him under the bus as a person. Credit where credit's due - he did a lot of good, and that matters. This is nowhere near as much weight, not by a long shot.

[JDPriestly]

48. Absolutely, and if underage and illegal come up, I will be rather surprised.

Most underage girls are not interested in politicians who look like Anthony Weiner.

Weiner has a problem. There is no doubt about that. But then so do a lot of other people in Congress.

One of the most common problems of people in Congress is their texting with lobbyists -- and partying and being bought by lobbyists.

I'm worried about the lobbyist fetishes more than about the penis fetishes.

[dkf]

26. Personal embarrassment is one thing. If I got a pic like that from you I would be pretty appalled.

[PeaceNikki]

27. He used his position as a hook to troll for chicks online.

He sought out his supporters via Facebook and Twitter. He didn't create an anonymous account to get his rocks off. He didn't TRY to be careful and discreet. No, in fact, he sent pics with his face, his name, photos of his family in the background with this egotistical "LOOKIT ME, I'M ANTHONY WEINER, HERE'S MY WEINER!!" shit. To anonymous people. Coulda been Breitbart, Chris Hanson, a minor.

[DevonRex]

29. Perfect answer. Nt

[orion007]

99. Excellent how you summed up him and his situation . n/t

[Raine]

101. EXACTLY! nt

[deacon]

108. That about sums it up. n/t

[madmom]

32. All he has to do is come out and say..

he made his peace with god and all will be good. Hey it worked for all the repugs!:shrug:

[Lizzie Poppet]

35. Lied through his teeth for more than a week.

Next...?

[bpj62]

38. He lied to the press.

Had he just admitted in the beginning that the photo was his and that when he was single he did some dumb things this would have been all over. There is not a person on this board was has not done something stupid in their life and then hope that they never get caught. Anthony Wiener exercised poor judgment in texting those photos. I do not excuse what he did but I do not think he should resign over it either. Let the voters in the 9th District decide his fate in 2012. One final note, why are we as americans so hung up about other peoples sex lives. I can guarantee you that many of the people who are asking for his resignations have taken or had pictures/videos taken of them in compromising positions. He is an adult and so are the women that he was texting/tweeting with.

[ChrisBorg]

42. We was stupid enough to give black-mailable material to strangers.

Black-mailable material being material that you are willing to do almost anything to keep hidden. Obviously we have evidence that these pictures qualify.

At the very least he should have his security clearance removed.

[Renew Deal]

43. The Edwards avatar makes this post priceless!

}(

[DevonRex]

47. OMG.

:rofl:

[Dr. Strange]

63. !

:thumbsup:

[AtomicKitten]

72. lol

[mrcheerful]

44. You know since the religious right hi jacked the GOP and forced this moral

superiority crap on the country it is almost like people forget just how many of our founding fathers raped black women and got them pregnant, even worse they often sold their off spring. Oh that is just the way it was back in the good old days is the excuse we hear when we point out that our leaders have been less then the perfect beings we are told they were. Human instinct when we are caught in wrong doing is lie, we learned lying served a purpose when we were growing up, it saved us from punishment for our wrong doings. Our parents lied to us about Santa, the Easter bunny, the sand man, the tooth fairy and where babies came from.

Then there is the lies we were told about our great God, who impregnated a virgin and got another guy to raise the child, Gods a dead beat dad, yet we are told different by our parents and religious leaders. I'm sorry but humans do dumb things no matter how old they are and they will continue doing the dumb thing until either they get caught or they suffer discomfort from the dumb thing. I for one don't hold others to a higher standard them myself. Anyone who points fingers and says well I never, is either lying or is a Saint and I doubt there are very many pure humans, in fact I bet more then likely they just haven't been caught doing what they do, so in their mind they are perfect.

[JDPriestly]

56. Thank you, mrcheerful. You are one honest man.

[mazzarro]

59. Yea - all these prudes who are harping for Wiener's head

have never ever lied to anyone of substance. They will also claim that they are not in public office and thus cannot be held to that standard. Well, as far as I know, lying is lying whether or not you are in public office.

[hakko936]

57. What did he do wrong?

He is an idiot. He didn't do this with some made up internet name to play a "fantasy". He used his position to facilitate his "fantasy". He abused the public trust by setting up an maintaining his lies to cover it up. He offered to use his PR people to help people fabricate their own lies to cover it up. THAT is what he did wrong.

If he had been outed for using a fake name, having a little internet "fantasy", and simply owned it and stated it was between him and his wife, I don't have a problem with him. If his wife is good with it, it is none of my business.

It is the way this all came down that bothers me. What else is out there? What could be used against him to "buy" his vote? Sorry, I can't trust him because he has proven himself to be an idiot. The public in general is very forgiving if you shoot them straight from the start.

[HereSince1628]

61. After winning our hearts, he disappointed us and made us feel uncomfortable

to be associated with the things that he had done. It would have been just 2 strikes against him and he'd have another chance, but this ain't baseball heroes don't get three chances to be perfect.

He had won our hearts and we counted him among us, we wished to be counted as those along with him...

And then it turned out that he had this risky sexting thing going on with some of the folks who followed his twitter feed.

It wasn't the lying to avoid consequences. At the bottom line it's mostly about the degree of collective disappointment that a heroic figure was up to not very heroic pastimes.

[Bluenorthwest]

60. Just so you understand

The liar in your avatar slandered gay people and declared his marriage to be a God made Union which he saw in a traditional Baptist way, one man, one woman, Sanctified by God for all time. He said these views were 'just a part of me' and told all about his deacon Daddy, and how he just could not cross that bridge, because marriage was so infinitely important to him. He said this while he and his wife both knew of his child generating affair and financial pay offs and full tilt lies. Just understand that when he compared others to himself in order to hold us up as immoral and unworthy, he did a terrible, terrible thing. He bore false witness against a minority group in the political square to advance his own agenda. Do you really feel that everyone does that? That such things are alright to do? Not to just 'lie about flirting' but to lie about baby making, in part by calling other people unworthy sinners? Is that sort of a hipster cool thing to do?

[cherish44]

62. The more I learn about it, the more I think the guy has a problem but hopefully will stop now

He knew the behavior could potentially ruin his career and his marriage but he didn't stop. Obviously taking dirty with strangers and sending racy pics triggers something pretty satisfying in his mind and he just couldn't help himself (well he probably COULD but like a lot of us, we do it until it causes destructive consequences just because we think we'll keep getting away with it). If the women he was communicating with were willing participants (and it seems like for the most part the ones that engaged him were) and his wife as forgiven him and he STOPS DOING IT (if for anything out of respect for his wife) then I'm all forgiving and moving on...

[Tx4obama]

73. K & R n/t

[George Wythe]

75. Your words match your avatar perfectly.

[Fla_Democrat]

77. Ouch

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

but, still, ouch.





:smoke:

[markpkessinger]

83. Well said! Thank you. ...

As I asked in another thread, who among us (particularly among us men) can honestly say he has never done something stupid/ill-advised/potentially self-destructive or humiliating and/or embarrassing if discovered, in pursuit of, or driven by the desire for, sex? And to those who insist it isn't about the sex, but about the fact that he lied about it, I would ask this: who can honestly say that he/she has never, under any circumstances, lied about something (even if only in a small way and even if only to one person) in order to try to shield himself/herself from embarrassment? Mr. Weiner's initial denials were an all too human response to the situation in which he found himself. Considering that many of the same Democrats who are now calling for Weiner's resignation voiced on such hue and cry in the wake of Bill Clinton's far more egregious Monica Lewinsky scandal, I find their calls for Weiner's resignation to be the height of hypocrisy.

[dionysus]

86. like smoove johnny, he tried to sell people who trusted and believed in him a pack of lies. it's not

the stupid chats and pictures that are wrong (well, to people other than his wife), it's being a bald faced liar.

[DevonRex]

87. Yep. And showing everybody how stupid he is.

Imagine him trying to talk about real issues, trying to convince people on any topic, and all they can think about is that he's a
Stupid liar. It's just not helpful.

[cali]

88. he lied his butt off to the leadership. have you any idea what a big no no that is?

he sent a picture of his erect cock to a woman he didn't know and couldn't trust. do you have any idea how stupid that is? And what it says about his judgment? He may have used government owned property to do this shit.

[crazyjoe]

89. what did he do wrong? really? Let's see, he is a popular sitting congressman

who took a picture of his erection in his BVD's and tweeted it to 45,000 followers. At some point he took a picture of his exposed dick and sent it to someone on the "fuckin internet".
He did this to himself.

[deacon]

109. +1

[Name removed]

90. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Texasgal]

91. I stoppped at

"women read romances"

:eyes:

[DevonRex]

93. Seriously.

I rolled my eyes at that.

[seabeyond]

100. and not a mention of the hunky hot men.... lol. nt

[WinkyDink]

92. Now you tell me why mainstream movies do not show male full-frontal nudity.

Because it is NOT ACCEPTABLE in OUR culture.

So yada yada Puritan yada up-tight yada yada prudish yada yada.

It's okay to mock American values but not, say, Arabic ones.

[Raine]

98. My problem with him is that he's STUPID. Any Democrat

with a lick of sense KNOWS that the other side is out to get them and KNOWS there is a double standard where scandal is concern. Any Democrat who ignores that is a STUPID beyond belief.

[Honeycombe8]

106. He wasn't "watching porn." He WAS the porn himself. Big difference.

If he were just any old guy, it wouldn't matter to the public. But he's not just any old guy. He's in a political leadership position and has a national presence, being a particularly strong speaker for a national political party on matters that directly affect people's lives.

Of those leaders, we expect a little more than an old guy who shoots pornographic pics of his genitals to people he doesn't know, and calls it lighthearted bantering. He is in denial. He has a problem.

I don't know if he should step down. But it would be hard to take him seriously on serious matters in the future. I mean, when everyone looks at him now, they'll picture his photo of his erect penis that he was sending college coeds that he didn't know (and who didn't ask for those pics). Would anyone be able to focus on what he's saying about health care under those circumstances? Every time I see him on TV now, I wonder just how stupid and arrogant and full of himself, and how sicko, he must really be inside that head that seemed so smart just a few weeks ago.

It's up to his constituents, in the end, though. And they seem to be supporting him.

[SoDesuKa]

107. He Made a Mistake While Using Poorly Designed Software

It could have happened to anybody, but it happened to him. If he'd lost his life over a preventable mistake, nobody would hesitate to press for a full investigation. But since he's only losing his career, everybody's willing to give the systems guys a pass.

Systems guys hardly ever own up to anything. The biggest boondoggles in the world are blamed on the politicians who sign the contracts, but never on the systems guys charged with carrying out the design.