Weiner Resigns

[royster]

That about zips up HIS career.

[st33med]

Never really cared. Public overreacts because sextting is morally wrong in plenty of society. He apologized, no one cared, democrats put pressure on him as does the press and public, and he resigns.

[Le Roi]

Originally Posted by st33med

Never really cared. Public overreacts because sextting is morally wrong in plenty of society. He apologized, no one cared, democrats put pressure on him as does the press and public, and he resigns.

I didn't care about the sexting. I cared that he lied so blatantly about it for a good while. I don't like those in power to lie so blatantly. For that blatant lying to the public, I strongly wanted him to resigned.

However, the Democrats in power wanted him to resign, not because they felt like he did something wrong in lying to the world, but because it distracted the media from focusing on attacking the republicans. That whole logic for the Democrats in power to go after him also feels wrong to me.

But now that he has resigned, I do feel sorry for him. I'm compassionate like that.

[taylor]

I was hoping for him to stay, just because it's stupid to quit a job over junior high nonsense.

I'm actually hoping for a politician to just go "Oh well." and not even apologize because his personal life is irrelevant.

[Mariana Trench]

Originally Posted by taylor

I'm actually hoping for a politician to just go "Oh well." and not even apologize because his personal life is irrelevant.

Wouldn't that be great?

[Le Roi]

Originally Posted by taylor

I'm actually hoping for a politician to just go "Oh well." and not even apologize because his personal life is irrelevant.

Exactly. If had had owned up to it in the first place, I'd have seen nothing wrong. But to have lied about to everyone as his first instinct, leads me to wonder what else did he so easily lie about, things that truly mattered. So for that lying to the public, I wanted him out.

[Mariana Trench]

Originally Posted by Le Roi

Exactly. If had had owned up to it in the first place, I'd have seen nothing wrong. But to have lied about to everyone as his first instinct, leads me to wonder what else did he so easily lie about, things that truly mattered. So for that lying to the public, I wanted him out.

Yeah, this makes plenty of sense. I just long for the day when our politicians sex lives are not a factor in the elections! (And terminations, for that matter.)

[ZephyrusX]

Didn't Sarkozy do something like this? Or may be he just walked out on an interview because they kept asking him personal questions.

Originally Posted by taylor

I was hoping for him to stay, just because it's stupid to quit a job over junior high nonsense.

I'm actually hoping for a politician to just go "Oh well." and not even apologize because his personal life is irrelevant.

[Piercetheveil]

Shoulda resigned in the first place or not at all.

"I am a dog that likes to play with women."

or

"Boy, I ****ing blew that, huh? Women make me salivate and I make poor choices. Not to worry, women in congress are not really women."

That woulda taken care of everything.

[royster]

Well, it's about time someone blew the Oscar~Meyer Weiner Whistle on him!

On a serious note...honest politicians are few and far between. If Paul Wellstone is any indication, it could be hazardous to your health to be honest.

But God Bless 'em for trying!

[Brutha]

I didn't care about the sexting. I cared that he lied so blatantly about it for a good while. I don't like those in power to lie so blatantly. For that blatant lying to the public, I strongly wanted him to resigned.

How does his lie compare to Obama claim that whatever the US military engaging in Libya isn't hostilities or a war?

Yeah, this makes plenty of sense. I just long for the day when our politicians sex lives are not a factor in the elections! (And terminations, for that matter.)

It just takes an intercontinental flight. In Europe few people get into trouble for consensual sex.
In the last month a French politician named Dominique Strauss-Kahn got into trouble for sexual assault but that's a crime that's worthy of destroying a political career.

Berlusconi survives all his sexual indecencies. From Wikipedia:
At the end of April 2009, Veronica Lario wrote an open letter expressing her anger at Berlusconi's choice of young, attractive female candidates—some with little or no political experience—to represent the party in the 2009 European Parliament elections. Berlusconi demanded a public apology, claiming that for the third time his wife had "done this to me in the middle of an election campaign", and stated that there was little prospect of his marriage continuing.[...]
In November 2010, teenage Moroccan belly dancer and alleged prostitute Karima El Mahroug (better known as "Ruby Rubacuori") claimed to have been given $10,000 by Berlusconi at parties at his private villas. The girl told prosecutors in Milan that these events were like orgies where Berlusconi and 20 young women performed an African-style ritual known as the "bunga bunga" in the nude.[...]
The investigation of Berlusconi for extortion (it:concussione) and child prostitution regarding Karima El Mahroug has been referred to as "Rubygate".[142] MP Gaetano Pecorella proposed to lower the age of majority in Italy to solve the case.

[Le Roi]

Originally Posted by Brutha

How does his lie compare to Obama claim that whatever the US military engaging in Libya isn't hostilities or a war?

I don't think Obama is really lying there even though I disagree with what he is doing. He is more trying to reframe what is happening than denying what is going on. If Obama said "We aren't bombing Libya with drones" when we do, that's more of a lie on the lever of what Weiner did.

I still think that Obama is wrong and it's dangerous what he is doing. However, everyone has access to the Libyan facts so they can judge whether Obama's reframe can be accepted or not. That wasn't the case with Weiner when he was trying to hide the facts and lying about it.

[Brutha]

If Obama said "We aren't bombing Libya with drones" when we do, that's more of a lie on the lever of what Weiner did.

A while ago he did say:
We aren't bombing Yemen with drones. Does that count?

But let's go to Libya: At the beginning he did claim that the goal of the "humanitarian intervention" wasn't regime change.

However, everyone has access to the Libyan facts

You are naive. Those guys wage a war. You don't have access to accurate facts about the situation.

You think that just because you know a few horrible things you have full information.

Take the Afghan war. There are American that oppose it but they are still silent over the most serious US war crimes.
Few American realize that the US military put Uranium into the Afghan water supply. Collateral damage. It's too bad to talk about it in mainstream media.

He succeeded in selling you the lie that you are fully informed about what goes on in Libya.

He tells them all. The straight "we aren't bombing"-lies and more complex ones.

[cacheborn]

I find it interesting that American system allows the politicians to lie about everything else, but when they do it about their personal lives, they are severely punished. The irony is no one really gets affected when the politician lies about his own affairs. So Clinton goes to the brink of impeachment for one lie while nothing happens to Bush and his gang for lying consistently to the American public for many years.

Didn't Sarkozy do something like this? Or may be he just walked out on an interview because they kept asking him personal questions.

I read once that the French expect their president to have at least one affair.

[beast]

Affairs are one thing, but sending dick-shots to strangers over teh interwebz who have nothing to lose? That shows an appalling lack of good judgment. Frankly, I'm scratching my head trying to imagine how he ever could have expected not to get caught. Was he so narcissistic, so self-involved, that he truly believed it wouldn't catch up with him?

And look - I dig his politics, man. And I genuinely liked him before all this went down. And I generally agree that politicians' personal lives shouldn't be public fodder - unless they're running on a family values platform, in which case it's totally fair game.

But, really. How dumb can someone be?!

[James81]

Originally Posted by beast

Affairs are one thing, but sending dick-shots to strangers over teh interwebz who have nothing to lose? That shows an appalling lack of good judgment. Frankly, I'm scratching my head trying to imagine how he ever could have expected not to get caught. Was he so narcissistic, so self-involved, that he truly believed it wouldn't catch up with him?

And look - I dig his politics, man. And I genuinely liked him before all this went down. And I generally agree that politicians' personal lives shouldn't be public fodder - unless they're running on a family values platform, in which case it's totally fair game.

But, really. How dumb can someone be?!

When you phrase it like that, it adds a whole boatload of validity to his claims that this account was hacked, dontcha think?

At the end of the day? Do people really care about this? I mean, REALLY care? I mean, it's great fuel to hate on someone you already hate if you want it, but aside from that, what is the real "crime" here? The man received so much heat for this that he actually felt compelled to resign. I think that's utterly ridiculous.

[beast]

Originally Posted by James81

When you phrase it like that, it adds a whole boatload of validity to his claims that this account was hacked, dontcha think?

At the end of the day? Do people really care about this? I mean, REALLY care? I mean, it's great fuel to hate on someone you already hate if you want it, but aside from that, what is the real "crime" here? The man received so much heat for this that he actually felt compelled to resign. I think that's utterly ridiculous.

I didn't hate him before - I quite liked him. And I don't think what he did was a crime, but it was stratospherically stupid, and it absolutely makes me question his judgment.

Also, it's just a lame way to have an affair. It's just an epic fail all around.

[Johnnymc]

So personal integrity shouldn't come into play with someone in the political arena unless they had previously stated that they practiced personal integrity????

Stuff like this (banging a fat chic in the oval office with a cigar, sending weiner pics, toe-tapping in the men's room) is bigger than we think.

Has it ever occured to anyone that people like this leave themselves open to being blackmailed? Even this two-bit, loud-mouthed little man is in possession of information that could jeopardize our national security if he were blackmailed by someone who has "dirt" on him.

I know that 18-20-something, pot smoking video playing crowd think that its cool when this stuff happens (I guess it makes these idiots seem more human in their eyes?) but keep in mind, or maybe write it down and re-read it when the buzz wears off, personal integrity isn't just some Neo-con campaign slogan spouted off by a flag waving, uniform wearing republican. there's a reason these guys should be held to a higher standard....

[Johnnymc]

Brutha..
Your posts are well thought out and very well written but...
I hope like hell that we never, ever, ever turn into France and any memeber of congress who is stupid enough to do what he did and then try and cover it up in my opinion would have done ANYTHING to cover his own but...including allowing himself to be blackmailed. Blackmailed by whom...women, drug dealers, felons, foriegn governments..That was also my biggest issue with Clinton. I don't care what he does..until his out of control personal life starts to influence his political life AND our National Security. This really isn't a "reach" when you think about it...

[Brutha]

I hope like hell that we never, ever, ever turn into France and any memeber of congress who is stupid enough to do what he did and then try and cover it up in my opinion would have done ANYTHING to cover his own but...including allowing himself to be blackmailed.

You can only blackmail him because it's career ending to make this public.
Nobody can blackmail Berlusconi by threatening to reveal that Berlusconi has extramarital sex.

Treating Weiner this way makes it more likely that you can successfully blackmail an US politician by revealing his sex life.

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by beast

Affairs are one thing, but sending dick-shots to strangers over teh interwebz who have nothing to lose? That shows an appalling lack of good judgment. Frankly, I'm scratching my head trying to imagine how he ever could have expected not to get caught. Was he so narcissistic, so self-involved, that he truly believed it wouldn't catch up with him?

I don't know the particulars of this case so maybe few people were affected here. (Bur hardly comparable to war/loss of innocent lives etc.) What is amazing is the inconsistency of the system to deal with politicians who lie on a much grander scale and the utter failure to do anything about it.

[beast]

Originally Posted by cacheborn

I don't know the particulars of this case so maybe few people were affected here. (Bur hardly comparable to war/loss of innocent lives etc.) What is amazing is the inconsistency of the system to deal with politicians who lie on a much grander scale and the utter failure to do anything about it.

I agree with this, absolutely. I still think he showed an appalling lack of judgment here.

[Mounds]

Yahoo! had a headline a week ago...

"New racy photo's of Weiner surface on internet"

I almost didn't go to work that day, I was so embarrassed.

[James81]

Originally Posted by beast

I didn't hate him before - I quite liked him. And I don't think what he did was a crime, but it was stratospherically stupid, and it absolutely makes me question his judgment.

Also, it's just a lame way to have an affair. It's just an epic fail all around.

Yeah, its an epic fail on the part of a society that would expect their leaders to not be sexual. Or a society that thinks a leaders ability to lead is based on how faithful he is to his marriage. Bill Clinto was a fantastic leader but he was like a puppy dog with his little thing humping everything in site. Bush was fantastically faithful and he completely sucked as a leader.

This kind of thing is not news. Its gossip.

[Flying Shadow]

Originally Posted by James81

Yeah, its an epic fail on the part of a society that would expect their leaders to not be sexual. Or a society that thinks a leaders ability to lead is based on how faithful he is to his marriage. Bill Clinto was a fantastic leader but he was like a puppy dog with his little thing humping everything in site. Bush was fantastically faithful and he completely sucked as a leader.

This kind of thing is not news. Its gossip.

[Johnnymc]

Originally Posted by Brutha

You can only blackmail him because it's career ending to make this public.
Nobody can blackmail Berlusconi by threatening to reveal that Berlusconi has extramarital sex.

Treating Weiner this way makes it more likely that you can successfully blackmail an US politician by revealing his sex life.

So you're saying that if nothing is considered "out of bounds" or "over the top" then they cannot be blackmailed? I'm not even being sarcastic with that question...I'd just never thought of it in those terms. Interesting.

Lets face it though...he did violate the cardinal rule...don't get caught trying to manipulate the liberal media in this country. Had he just admitted his obvious sexual addiction to the public...it would have been over in 3 days. The fact that he dragged it out by holding his own party hostage did him in. When he knew the jig was up he tried trading his resignation for a high paying consulting job within the party. When they balked...he dragged it out even longer.

I must admit in sitting back and enjoying the sight of Liberals eating their own...although the thought of Nancy Pelosi actually calling for an ethics investigations was a bit ironic after the stunt that perpetraded with the passage of health care "reform". (which will soon be over-turned)

[180]

Originally Posted by cacheborn

I find it interesting that American system allows the politicians to lie about everything else, but when they do it about their personal lives, they are severely punished. The irony is no one really gets affected when the politician lies about his own affairs. So Clinton goes to the brink of impeachment for one lie while nothing happens to Bush and his gang for lying consistently to the American public for many years.



I read once that the French expect their president to have at least one affair.

Your logic is logical.

The American public seems to only wield power over inconsequential matters such as "personal morality" in the eyes of the media, but seem to have absolutely no weight in dictating foreign policy. A huge ****ing loop hole of our American system where it seems that the one and only major power the president holds is the ability to conduct foreign policy any way he/she sees fit. Or rather, maybe America cares more about a internet photos than the death and war of innocent people over million year aged dinosaur sap?

I have no love the American value system, government, and political governors. Especially when we continually elect the least qualified candidates in favor for glib and pretty lies.

A question needs to be begged why a country as large and diverse as America cannot elect someone as intelligent or capable as PM Tony Blair? Why is our elected officials incompetent as Bush who clearly has speech and thinking impediments? Really the best we could rustle up was a guy who's favorite line is "Everything's bigger in Texas"?

We need people governing our government. I only see crumbling in America's future. Good day sir.

[beast]

Originally Posted by James81

Yeah, its an epic fail on the part of a society that would expect their leaders to not be sexual. Or a society that thinks a leaders ability to lead is based on how faithful he is to his marriage. Bill Clinto was a fantastic leader but he was like a puppy dog with his little thing humping everything in site. Bush was fantastically faithful and he completely sucked as a leader.

This kind of thing is not news. Its gossip.

I agree with everything you said.

Still an epic fail on Weiner's part to think that he would not suffer from American prudishness, and to lie about it for days afterwards and claim he was "not certain" if the pictures were his.

[Lioness]

Originally Posted by Johnnymc

Had he just admitted his obvious sexual addiction to the public...it would have been over in 3 days.

I don't think so, for a couple of reasons. Most Americans want at least the illusion of personal morality and respectablilty from their representatives. And even more so than the public or his constituents, the powers-that-be wanted him gone. I doubt that confessing an "addiction" would have garnered any support from Pelosi & company. Also, the story still wouldn't have died. More women and more pics kept coming out. It still would have been a prolonged distraction and enbarrassment that the Democrats couldn't put up with.

I have mixed feelings about this. If you are a public figure, unfortunately, your private life becomes fair game. What Weiner did was foolish, but see article below for why smart leaders will continue to be sexually and internetally stupid. Do private infidelities reflect one's integrity as a public servant? Will leadership ultimately be left to a squeaky-clean mediocrity?

Dr. Jim Taylor: Bad Decision Making 2.0

[Brutha]

So you're saying that if nothing is considered "out of bounds" or "over the top" then they cannot be blackmailed? I'm not even being sarcastic with that question...I'd just never thought of it in those terms. Interesting.

Yes, something being out of bounds in the reason that you can blackmail people with it.

The American public seems to only wield power over inconsequential matters such as "personal morality" in the eyes of the media, but seem to have absolutely no weight in dictating foreign policy.

Bread and games.