Year: 2011

VIDEO: Wasserman-Schultz Discusses Weiner Scandal on ‘Meet the Press’

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From the NBC transcript:

MR. GREGORY: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, let me start with you.
REP. SCHULTZ: Sure.
MR. GREGORY: What, what led to the change? Why now call for him to resign?
REP. SCHULTZ: Well, I think that since this story broke we were giving Congressman Weiner some breathing room to be able to be, be circumspect, do the right thing, make a — you know, reach the conclusion that, that he needed to step back and step down on his own. And as of yesterday, when that didn’t happen, it was important to, to weigh in.
MR. GREGORY: But before his actual admission, you spoke about this during an interview, and this is what you said.

(Videotape, June 2, 2011)
REP. SCHULTZ: Anthony Weiner is dealing with a personal matter, and it should be left as a personal matter.
(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: When did it become less a personal matter and more an issue of public trust?
REP. SCHULTZ: Well, I made that statement before it had been revealed that Anthony had not been truthful, and that, that, that he was engaged in the conduct that he had been denying at the time. And once he crossed that threshold, acknowledged that, that he’d been lying, had engaged in conduct that is, you know, completely unacceptable and indefensible…
MR. PRIEBUS: Well, here’s the problem, David.
REP. SCHULTZ: …that’s where I thought that the — that’s where I thought the line was crossed.
MR. GREGORY: Well, I’ll come to you in just a second.
But is this enough that he seeks treatment, or would you still like him to straight out resign?
REP. SCHULTZ: The statement I made speaks for itself yesterday. I think Anthony Weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his family, focus on his own well-being, and make sure that…
MR. GREGORY: So there’s going to be more pressure from top Democrats to say this is not quite enough, leave of absence is not enough, he should step down completely.
REP. SCHULTZ: I think Leader Pelosi, Steve Israel, myself, we all came together yesterday…
MR. GREGORY: Well, what, what is it you can do? I mean, he’s obviously not listening to the admonitions of his colleagues.
REP. SCHULTZ: Well, at, at the end of the day, you know, a member of Congress makes their own decision, and that, that’s certainly going to be up to Anthony Weiner. But we have made clear that he needs to resign, he needs to focus on, on getting his, his own personal issues in order…
MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.
REP. SCHULTZ: …focus on his family and, and do the right thing…
MR. GREGORY: From your, from your…
REP. SCHULTZ: …by his constituents.

Politico notes Wasserman-Schultz’s admission that Democrats are powerless to force Weiner’s resignation.

Under House rules, a vote to expel Weiner could only come after a full Ethics Committee investigation, which would take months, and thus probably extend the scandal into 2012.

UPDATE: Linked by Donald Douglas at American Power — thanks!

UPDATE II: Linked by Don Surber — thanks!

PREVIOUSLY:


Report: Weiner Sent Woman Photos of Himself Posing in Congressional Gym

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TMZ released photos this morning showing Rep. Anthony Weiner posing bare-chested in the congressional gym in the basement of the Rayburn House Office Building. The married congressman reportedly sent the photos to at least one of the women with whom he had what he called “online relationships.”

The photos, which TMZ said were taken using gym mirrors and the camera on Weiner’s Blackberry cell phone, offer further evidence contradicting the Brooklyn Democrat’s previous assertion that he did not use congressional resources in his cybersex activities.

The latest revelation came just hours before Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, renewed their calls for Weiner’s resignation in separate appearances on NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’s Face the Nation.

UPDATE: Last year, Weiner was himself unwilling to defend three scandal-plagued New York Democrats,  Gov. David Paterson, Rep. Eric Massa and Rep. Charles Rangel:

Allahpundit says:

Think of Weiner’s resignation calculus as a scale: How many public indignities have to pile up on one side to move the weight of his ego in being a congressman on the other side? If you believe KP, the number is basically infinite, so presumably there are still many, many more indignities to come.

The idea that Weiner can stubbornly stay in Congress, even while every ranking member of his own party calls for him to resign, seems extraordinary. But this entire scandal is extraordinary, and normal expectations may not apply to such a raging narcissist.

And the really “mindblowing” part of the scandal is that it was all brought about by the simple error whereby Weiner sent that May 27 crotch-shot photo as a public Twitter message when he meant to send it as a DM, as Ace of Spades says:

The Typo From Hell. Possibly the worst typo in the history of politics.
Not saying he doesn’t deserve it — he does — but consider that but for a single clumsy move by an errant left forefinger, none of this happens.
The smallest error of a fingertip, and a man is wholly undone.

VIDEO: ‘Tipping Point’ for Weiner?

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Here is last night’s ABC News report:

Weiner’s stratagem — taking a leave of absence and seeking “treatment” — has the advantage of ensuring that he isn’t available to answer questions on Capitol Hill when Congress re-convenes on Monday.

When Pelosi and other Democrats are asked about the scandal, all they have to say is, “Well, we called on him to resign,” and pretend that’s all they can do. Weiner remains a member of Congress in good standing, yet Democrats pretend they’ve dealt responsibly with the problem, and the media can “move on.”

So at least for now, it appears to be a stalemate.

UPDATE: New scandalous developments — this thing just never stops, does it?

World’s Youngest Blogger Reacts To News Of Ridiculous, Irresponsible Government That Molests His Future

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by Unborn Son of Smitty (who likes Instapundit but was nonplussed by his recent Full Sherman)

Look: I wasn’t born yesterday, and may not be born tomorrow, but I have every confidence that I will be born Real Soon Now. Mother grows impatient, and threatens to eject me from the ‘house’, so to speak.
And to face what? I have not learned to count yet, and the same seems true of the government. How is it that purportedly adult people can spend more than a trillion dollars that does not exist, for the third straight year? Aside: what is straight and true about gaily, cheerfully destroying my future?

Vice President Joseph Biden and congressional leaders will meet several times next week to discuss a way to tackle the burdensome debt and increase the $14.3 trillion debt limit before Aug. 2, when the Treasury says the U.S will default. 

Oh, wait: ‘BFD’ Biden is on the case. Problem solved, for completely broken values of ‘solved’. Is it bad when even a -5 week old can see that absolutely nothing of value will come of this?
It is blatantly obvious to even the unborn observer that the Progressive Era of the last century has all the life of an abortion clinic. Biden is a ‘dead ideas’ man walking. The problem is beyond minor tweaking of the existing system. Time for the birth of a new era, America.

Because Sunday Is Father’s Day …

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. . . you should hit the tip jar.

That is my wife and me with our oldest son Bob (Robert Stacy McCain Jr.) who graduated from high school May 29.

Bob’s twin brother Jim (James William McCain) graduated high school May 20 (the twins attended different private Christian academies), and their older sister Kennedy graduated from college summa cum laude on May 21. Here are all three of our recent graduates together:

Readers will recall that when Jim and Kennedy graduated, I immediately posted their photos. That didn’t happen when Bob graduated, because the WeinerGate scandal broke on May 28, and I’ve spent the past two weeks struggling to keep pace with constantly breaking developments in the story. The only break was when we took our three youngest children to a baseball game last Sunday.

Not that I should complain. In part because of the WeinerGate traffic surge, May was our best month ever (nearly 400,000 page-views) and we’ve already gotten more than 180,000 page views in the first 11 days of June. But traffic is one thing, and income is another, so I’m rattling the tip jar in hope that readers feel that two weeks of all-Weiner, all-the-time, has been worth a little something extra. And speaking of “a little something extra” . . . Continue reading Because Sunday Is Father’s Day … →

VIDEO: ‘Neither Explicit Nor Indecent’ Also, How Not to Get Banned at AOSHQ

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Here is an Associated Press video report about WeinerGate:

Keep in mind that Anthony Weiner spent the first 10 days of this scandal telling lie after lie after lie, until Andrew Breitbart finally started publishing the pictures Weiner had sent to Meagan Broussard.

And even in his Monday press conference confession, Weiner continued telling lies, among other things saying that he’d never used his office to communicate with his cybersex partners.

Anthony Weiner is a liar. Why should we believe him now?

Well, Delaware police say they have ended their investigation of Weiner’s communications with the 17-year-old girl, even though it was reported “much of the conversations between Weiner and the high schooler had been deleted from the girl’s computer.”

So we are left to wonder exactly what Weiner and the girl were chatting about. The award-winning Ace of Spades says:

A guy who sometimes sends [obscene photos of himself] to admirers should not be cultivating an online relationship with a 17 year old girl. Period.

By the way, Ace is now banning commenters who engage in unwarranted speculation about “Weiner’s Wilmington Lolita” (as certain irresponsible people have called her). Whatever you do, don’t go over to the award-winning Ace of Spades HQ blog and suggest that this “sultry jailbait vixen” (to cite another unfair label) was anything other than an innocent victim of Weiner’s perverse online predations.

Calling her a “hot-to-trot teen temptress“? Yeah, Ace would ban you in a heartbeart for that. And don’t be linking any “suggestive videos,” either.

UPDATE: So far as I know, Dan Collins is not yet banned at AOSHQ, even though Dan seems to be speculating on a connection between WeinerGate and “Slutwalk.” And since we’re engaging in unwarranted speculation here — trying to fill the niche left open by by Ace’s banhammer threat, as it were — let’s just go all-in, why don’t we?

How is it that feminists nowadays are so adamantly “pro-sex,” encouraging young women toward “sexual empowerment” by dressing (or rather, undressing) as trashy as Madonna circa 1992 and acting as whorish as one of Charlie Sheen’s porn-star “goddesses” and yet — and yet! — should one of these completely empowered feminists get herself mixed up with some sort of highly public sexual wrongdoing, she must be treated with such deference that no one even dare identify her, at peril of being accused of “blaming the victim”? Continue reading VIDEO: ‘Neither Explicit Nor Indecent’ Also, How Not to Get Banned at AOSHQ →

Weiner’s Liberal Support Collapses as Three Top Dems Call for Resignation

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The latest revelations appear to have finally tipped the balance against the cybersexing New York congressman:

Three weighty Democratic voices – including Nancy Pelosi – on Saturday called for the resignation of embattled U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to inappropriate communications with women online.
The House Minority Leader, and the chairmen of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in separate statements called for Weiner to step down.

Just 24 hours ago, Pelosi had refused to speak out. But after police began investigating Weiner’s communications with a 17-year-old Delaware girl, Weiner announced he would “seek treatment” — effectively admitting that he is psychologically disturbed — and then the Democrat leadership said, “Hey, Anthony, you see this bus here?”

Democratic leaders had hoped Weiner would resign on his own, but he refused.
A senior Democratic aide said party leaders have been talking with him throughout the week, and that the coordinated effort to push him out began when he told the Democratic leadership he had decided to seek treatment. The aide said Weiner was informed that the leaders would be issuing a public call for his resignation.
The aide said the statements were released on Saturday to get ahead of the Sunday shows and the return of lawmakers on Monday.

Yeah: In their colleague’s hour of need, his liberal friends were chiefly concerned about . . . working the news cycle.

As Darleen Click says, they’re all “moral fascists” now.

UPDATE: New York Times:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner planned to check himself into a treatment center on Saturday after House Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, called on him to resign and suggested he needed psychiatric counseling. . . .
“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” said the spokeswoman, Risa Heller. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.
“Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents.”

Want a textbook definition of “hubris”? Politician admits he is mentally ill, yet doesn’t see mental illness as a disqualification for public office.

Democrats always think themselves fit to govern, even when they’re nuts, zany, daft, bonkers and cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

UPDATE II: “Ah, the old ‘sex addiction’ excuse.” Beyond the “moral fascist” outrage — which Lisa Graas examines — aren’t we entitled to ask whether a man who succumbs to a dangerous sexual compulsion is fit for high public office? One may be entirely sympathetic to people suffering from mental disorders without believing that we should be governed by them.

Meanwhile, look at the top of the latest Memeorandum aggregation:

The New York Times, CNN, Politico, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, National Review and, further down the page, we find the Associated Press, the Washington Post, etc.

Now, go back and look at the Memeorandum aggregation at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, May 28. Notice something?

When this story was first broken by Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, all these major media organizations weren’t exactly chomping at the bit to be first with the exclusive scoop. In fact, you might say, they seemed rather determined to ignore the story.

And two weeks later, they don’t even make mention of the insignificant right-wing bloggers who beat them to the story.

UPDATE III: Linked by POH Diaries and by Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints — thanks!