Barking Dogs

[SoDesuKa]

Those Democratic "leaders" who continue to yammer on about the Weiner matter remind me of dogs that can't stop barking. If you've ever had the misfortune of living in a neighborhood where barking dogs set each other off, you know that it goes on all night.

Political leaders who refuse to stand up to sexual McCarthyism aren't really leaders, they are followers. They bark because they hear barking, that's all. What Weiner did is just not a big deal. If the press stopped talking about it, people would soon move on to more important issues.



Ah, Shaddap!

[catbyte]

1. AMEN!

[woo me with science]

2. Well said. nt

[Webster Green]

3. Yeah, I heard Pelosi yapping again about how Weiner should resign.

Pelosi is just fine with protecting rethuglican war-criminals though.

She is cowardly, and useless.

[pnwmom]

4. This has little to do with sex and nothing to do with McCarthyism.

This was a self-inflicted wound that Weiner suffered as a result of repeated, deliberate lying -- to Pelosi, to his supporters, to the world. He even went so far as to encourage at least one of the women lie for him, and to offer his "team" to help her lie.

If he had simply told the truth from that first conference -- as little or as much of it as he wanted, without lies -- and then said that he would answer only to the voters and to his wife, he could have been done with it.

It was the lying that doomed him, not the sex. The sex would have been nothing, in his progressive district. And Pelosi would have had no choice but to keep him on. Lying to her was the fatal mistake.

[leveymg]

5. I would like to hear you say, just once, "Indict Clarence Thomas."

If you do, I'll acknowledge that Weiner was a knucklehead, as was Bill Clinton for setting bad precedent by refusing to just refuse to answer questions that intruded into his private space. Ya, the private space between him and Monica, and him and Hillary.

If people in public life would just learn to resist the urge to answer stupid questions. The problem isn't lying . . . it's the inability to tell the media to "fuck off".

[pnwmom]

7. Indict Clarence Thomas. Of course. He deserves it.

(Although I have no idea what the legalities would be -- impeachment might be the only legal option.)

Weiner was a strong voice in that battle, until he shot himself in the balls. What a waste.

[leveymg]

9. Thank you. Weiner brought this on himself because of his oversized ego and slightly kinky

exhibitionism. Those are dangerous character deficiencies for Congressmen, particularly in the Internet Age. Not in spite of it. Weiner is wrong - it's not "normal". Not something one should be forced to resign over, but not good for one's leadership potential (or marriage).

If you're going to lead the charge in politics, you don't have to be a saint -- that would be disqualifying -- just don't take pictures of yourself in locker room mirrors, post them on Twitter, and expect people to take you seriously again.

Yes, he shot himself in the balls. Weiner wasted himself.

That having been said, the reason this has become a cause celebre and dragged on as long as it has is because the GOP Right want him destroyed. They want him branded as a pervert. They want to make an example of the guy, hang him upside down and let his rotting carcass serve as a warning to others who might dare to defy the rule that has, so far, protected Clarence Thomas from his day of reckoning. They aren't the only people who are really angry at Weiner. The Democratic leadership, who have calculated that they don't have the votes to impeach Thomas in the House, have burned Anthony as an apostate. So, everyone on both sides, don't even bring Clarence Thomas up, or else. Look at what happened to Rep. Anthony Weiner.

The fact is, though, Clarence Thomas has not merely committed an impeachable offense, he has violated criminal laws. 5 USC App. 104, False Statement, imposes a year in prison and a $50,000 fine. Each count. Clarence and Virginia did it five years running. There are some other felony charges that can be leveled, as well, if the AG wanted to do it. For that, Thomas can be Indicted, arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to Club Fed. It really doesn't matter if he's impeached or not. Judicial Immunity doesn't extend to non-judicial acts, like filling out false federal reports. He's already one foot in jail, and could never hear another case in the Supreme Court if they just indicted and arrested him. Do it on camera as he walks to his car. The others will never let him back in the side door of the Supreme Court Building and sit on the same bench with him if Clarence is arrested for a federal crime.

There is no rule that says they can't indict, arrest, and try sitting federal judges.

So, it really boils down to the political will to just get on with it. Indict Clarence Thomas. Arrest Clarence Thomas. The rest will follow.

And, yes, Anthony Weiner is a putz.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. "Although I have no idea what the legalities would be"

Maybe you could educate yourself instead of haunting every Weiner thread telling us how important it is a strong liberal Democrat resign.

[truth2power]

12. The process I've seen on this board and elsewhere in the media

is that it was all about the sex, until more and more people got wise and realized that what amounted to "phone sex" has been going on forever and wasn't that big a deal.** And yes, I realize it was Twitter or whatever, and all that that implies about lack of privacy blah blah.

When that meme seemed to be losing traction (ho-hum) then it became about "the lying" and how "Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!" everyone was that Weiner lied to Nancy Pelosi. Not that Nancy hasn't lied or committed even more egregious breaches of her duty to the American people by taking impeachment of war criminal Bush off the table.

And since we're talking about lying, I would respectfully request that Pres. Obama quit talking about "reducing our dependence on foreign oil". It's annlying.


**Yes, what Weiner did was stupid. Stupid. Especially because he should have known the Repuke trolls were laying for him. But if stupidity were cause for resignation from Congress, there'd be damn few Repulicans left in that institution.

[LadyHawkAZ]

16. +1

[smirkymonkey]

6. Thank YOU!

They are too ineffective and cowardly to tackle any real problems so they keep dragging out this Weiner thing. In fact, it's making me hate them and like Weiner better.

[KurtNYC]

8. It is empty posturing

Someone said recently "what passes for a leader now is someone who sees a parade and jumps in front of it."

For elected officials, spanking Wiener is risk free and a chance to look moral. I'm surprised more aren't jumping in.

[kenfrequed]

10. Feh

The dogs barking are either the Blue variety and have been on the wrong side of most of the issues that progressives care about, or they don't know any of the details at all.

[PeaceNikki]

11. I understand why the party leaders don't want the brand being associated with this shit.

He sent lewd pictures and communicated with not one, not two, not three, but SIX random women he didn't know at ALL on the internet. People he didn't know and couldn't even come close to trusting. Now it's an issue and it's the ONLY thing we're talking about. And we wouldn't be if he hadn't been such a fucking fool. His credibility is shot. He clearly has ZERO sense of judgement if he thought his actions would not get out. Fucking idiot. How did you think this would end, Weiner? I really thought you were a smart man.

He reflects poorly on our "brand". We are Democrats. He used the same account for public communication as he used to tweet his peeper. That's weird and wrong. If any of us had an account on Twitter or Facebook that we used for our high-profile jobs, then used it to find customers/potential customers who liked us to troll for people we could "cyber" with THEN used the SAME said account to do that, we'd quite understandably be toast.

And further, my party is facing a very difficult and very important fight here in Wisconsin right now. While Weiner is not from WI, any damage to the party directly hurts me and us. Again, I understand.

[SoDesuKa]

17. Bishops Denounce CyberSex as "Inherently Disordered" and a "Gateway to Serious Sin"

It's hard to defend cybersex except as a harmless giggle that people do late at night. To stand up for it is to accuse yourself of participating in it. Frankly, I'd rather be caught with a blow-up sex doll.

But in fact it isn't a big deal. It isn't even messy! You cruise around till you encounter a likely partner, then you say, Hey, wanna cyber? I can imagine the embarrassment of having the transcript released to the Bill Maher show, he'd read it out loud. And the photographs! As you say, they are quite lewd.

I think I'll shut up now, before somebody calls me a perv merely for knowing what cybersex is. Good thing I'm not in Congress with actual enemies stalking me.



Inherently Disordered

[PeaceNikki]

18. Cybersex is fine. It can be fun. But people with a lick of common sense do it

with people they know and trust... or anonymously.

[SoDesuKa]

19. Echoes of the Clinton Impeachment

Imagine a politician caught doing something other people consider inherently disordered and a gateway to serious sin. It sorta reminds me of the Lewinsky blowjob. He shoulda known better! He disgraced the Oval Office!

I remember wishing that the prudes who thought a blowjob was grounds to impeach the president would get over themselves. I have the same attitude toward people who think cybersex is so perverted that its merits cannot even be addressed.

Yeah, it would be so much better if Weiner hadn't hit the button that sent the cyber pix off to his 50,000 official followers. But lets deal with the facts on the ground. He didn't do anything terrible in itself, and being caught at it hardly makes it the disgrace and shame that Weiner's opponents claim it is.



Close Your Eyes, Think of Something Else

[PeaceNikki]

20. lol, you keep replying to me as though I take issue with the acts themselves.

I don't. I could give a shit about bishops or sin or gateways. I expect this level of stupidity from them, not us. Especially from an otherwise brilliant man who has been a wonderful spokesperson for issues I hold dearly. Fucking idiotic move, Weiner.

[truth2power]

13. I like that analogy. thanks. eom

[Raine]

15. I'm not really sympathetic to Weiner because he brought it on himself with his stupidity BUT

I am seeing that he's wanted out badly to silence the liberals (once again). The Democratic "leaders" that are going after him are nothing but repug enablers and blue dogs. It's really pissing me off. :mad: