Lawmaker News

One of the more curious aspects of the Weiner situation — it might be called the Weiner phenomenon — is that it went on for so long and the messages got stranger and stranger. This morning’s Drudge headline: “New pictures show teen Weiner cross dressing and ‘oiled up’ … ”

He seemed to want to get caught. There is desperation to his behavior, like that of the Soviets at the end of empire or Kim Jong-il threatening the entire outside world with wilder and crazier schemes when he is virtually alone and crated in isolation.

What is it that makes us all think we can get away with it? And by all, I mean all men. It seems that across the board, and irrespective of political affiliation, men have failed at exhibiting the better part of valor when it comes to sex. The recent and devastating implosions of once-powerful men, whether Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) or former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) suggest a powerful connection between sex, power and the public eye.

Buffalo Bill’s defunct/who used to/ride a watersmooth-silver stallion/and break onetwothreefourfive  pigeonsjustlikethat . . . – E. E. Cummings

When Bill Clinton had a college student perform a submissive sex act on him in the Oval Office he became an adored cult figure to his generation. So why should Anthony Weiner resign?
Today, Bill Clinton, adored by millions, attends the soccer World Cup matches with Mick Jagger, who urged on fans to public intercourse in a cult movie with an unmentionable title. So why should Weiner resign?

Bill Clinton left public office in disgrace after pardoning a supporter whose wife had given the Clintons a million-dollar bribe. What did Clinton do then? He moved to New York. Within days, op-eds appeared in The New York Times and elsewhere asking, could Bill run for VP? Could they not change the Constitution so he could be president again? Could he not be president of the world via the U.N.? So why should Weiner resign?

Anthony Weiner will soon be gone. Next week will be one of the ugliest weeks in the history of the House of Representatives as Weiner sees, face to face, what his colleagues think of him. Like many characters in Mafia movies, Weiner will "do the right thing.” One liar will be gone, while many other liars will remain, disproving Mom’s words that crime does not pay. In truth, very often, it does.

There are various reasons for the national obsession with Anthony Weiner. One of them is this: There are many Anthony Weiners in American public life, American business and American media, who treat lying as an art form and way of life. There is an epidemic of lying in the upper strata of American life.

My take is that he needs the paycheck. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) understands it may be — uh — slightly difficult for him to find gainful employment should he resign as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives after being caught sending explicit photos of his genitalia to young women on Twitter.
 
Seriously — who would hire this guy?
 
I also find it rather implausible his pregnant wife, Huma, will stay married to him since their marriage is less than a year old and she is young. She will find someone else to marry and help raise her child after a bit of time passes and the glare of the media spotlight dims somewhat.

As a professional crisis manager, I believe there are certain immutable rules that simply cannot be broken. The most basic is a lesson learned during my White House service during the Clinton administration: “Tell it all, tell it early, tell it yourself.”

This rule is violated over and over again: by former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), by former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), by the most famous, worst crisis manager of all, Richard Nixon.

Obviously, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) violated this rule last week. He chose to lie and dissemble, for some reason believing that he could get away with it.

This strategy simply cannot work, especially in the age of the Internet. A 200-year-old example charts a better course: being proactive and pre-emptive in getting all the bad news out yourself.

Shocking revelations yesterday of lewd texts sent via Twitter by New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) can only point to one outcome — he must resign.

It’s the best move for him, but more importantly, it’s the best thing for his family, notably his young bride and his nascent marriage.

I felt Weiner did a fairly nice job at his press conference confronting his sins head on. But what undercut his entire effort was the part in his statement where he indicated he would not resign his post. It was as if he was saying, “I did something wrong, but it doesn’t rise to the level of my ending my political career.”

Kucinich’s anti-war resolution might be the moment on which the Democrats can regroup and even begin again. Last Wednesday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) made the following statement after his resolution, H. Con. Res. 51, to end the war in Libya was pulled from the floor calendar and postponed:

“I am disappointed that the president and leadership feel the need to buy even more time to shore up support for the war in Libya. It’s not surprising that some are now wondering if a preliminary vote count on my resolution came out in favor of defending the Constitution.”

My headline is a trick to get you to read another call for America to have a jobs program, which is what Rep. Weiner (D-N.Y.) has been fighting for, at a time when Americans are devastated by joblessness, which few in Washington, and few in the media, seem to care about as much as they care about Twitter accounts.

Here is the true story about Anthony Weiner:

He is a fighter for more jobs. He fights harder for more jobs than most members of Congress and for that he deserves great credit, which I give him here.

Anthony Weiner’s problem is that he is no longer a good fit for New York. It might be New York’s problem.

One absolutely Aquarian mystery arose in New York City in the real time of “Mad Men,” which was about when Weiner was born — the sudden appearance of Jews with long whiskers and black overcoats riding yellow school buses to the Diamond District.

When the orthodox Jews arrived from Russia, New Yorkers did not relate to Torah as a guide. In the time of “Mad Men,” Israel was a secular state, a socialist state, led by kibbutznik Golda Meir, born in Ukraine but raised in Milwaukee.