The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Rule 5 Sunday: Power Hour

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 4 Comments

Soylent Green begins the (NSFW) week by upping the ante and doubling our pleasure with double the Monday Motivationators, follows up with some Argentine tool time, something cool to quench your thirst on Thursday, some Natalya Vodyanova on Friday, Sabado Snoochitas, and some tactical motivation for this Monday. “Go! Drink! Grill! Watch Sports!” he says. Since the Phillies are coming to town tomorrow, I think I’ll avert my eyes and go swimming instead. 🙁

Eye Of Polyphemus settles on Kristin Cavallari this week, Fishersville Mike nominates Arantxa Rus as the bloggers’ favorite in the French Open, but the POH Diaries is holding out for Maria Sharapova. Constitutional Crusader crosses the Meggie Mac/Rule 5 streams, and the Rio Norte Line offers a portfolio of beauties from Joss Whedon’s various shows. Mmmm, Eliza Dushku. Proof Positive feeds our heroine addiction a little more with Olga Kurylenko before going vintage with Christie Brinkley and helping spread the word about the natural awesomeness of Christina Hendricks.
Over at Randy’s Roundtable, it’s Tamara Witner and Eva Longoria, while At The Point Of A Gun reminds us that pretty girls get things for free.

Little Miss Attila climbs on the Rule 5 train this week with Kelly Hu, and is joined by Dustbury who offers Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Tamera Mellon, who is all about the Choos. Three Beers Later returns after a week off to bring us some early Juliana Moreira.

Meanwhile, at the Camp of the Saints, there’s Nell McAndrew, Lorrie Menconi, Christina Hendricks, and THE Rule 5 News.

This week’s DaleyBabes from the DaleyGator include Ashley Gellar, Taylor Cole, Shakira, Serinda Swan, Daniela Ruah, Rachelle Leah, Mickie James, and, of course, Christina Hendricks.

Thanks to all for their Rule 5 linkagery! To be included in next week’s roundup, send your links to Rule 5 Wombat by June 4.

Category: Rule 5

#WeinerGate Victim Gennette Cordova Issues Statement: ‘I Cannot Answer the Questions That I Do Not Have the Answers To’; Describes Her Reaction

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 104 Comments

Posted at the New York Daily News:

Friday evening I logged onto Twitter to find that I had about a dozen new mentions in less than an hour, which is a rare occurrence. When I checked one of the posts that I had been tagged in I saw that it was a picture that had supposedly been tweeted to me by Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The account that these tweets were sent from was familiar to me; this person had harassed me many times after the Congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago. Since I had dealt with this person and his cohorts before I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the Congressman and harassing his supporters.

Annoyed, I responded with something along the lines of “are you f***ing kidding me?” and “I’ve never seen this. You people are sick.” I blocked their accounts, made my page private, and let the matter drop, expecting them to eventually do the same.

Within about an hour, however, I realized that I had grossly underestimated the severity of the situation that I had somehow become a part of.

The last 36 hours have been the most confusing, anxiety-ridden hours of my life. I’ve watched in sheer disbelief as my name, age, location, links to any social networking site I’ve ever used, my old phone numbers and pictures have been passed along from stranger to stranger.

My friends have received phone calls from people claiming to be old friends of mine, attempting to obtain my contact information. My siblings have received tweets that are similar in nature. I began taking steps, though not quickly enough, to remove as much personal information from the Internet as possible.

Not because I “was exposed as Weiner’s mistress” or because I “was responsible for the hack,” as Gawker has suggested. I removed my information because I, believe it or not, do not enjoy being harassed or being the reason that my loved ones are targets of harassment.

I have seen myself labeled as the “Femme Fatale of Weinergate,” “Anthony Weiner’s 21-year-old coed mistress” and “the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner.”

All of this is so outlandish that I don’t know whether to be pissed off or amused, quite frankly. This is the reality of sharing information online in the 21st century. Things that I never imagined people would care about are now being plastered all over blog sites, including pictures of me from when I was 17 and tweets that have been taken completely out of context. I tweeted once (it was reported that I said it twice) that “I wonder what my boyfriend @RepWeiner is up to.”

I am a 21-year-old college student from Seattle. I have never met Congressman Weiner, though I am a fan. I go to school in Bellingham where I spend all of my time; I’ve never been to New York or to DC. The point I am trying to make is that, contrary to the impression that I apparently gave from my tweet, I am not his girlfriend. Nor am I the wife, girlfriend or mistress of Barack Obama, Ray Allen or Cristiano Ronaldo, despite the fact that I have made similar assertions about them via Twitter.

There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me. I cannot answer the questions that I do not have the answers to. I am not sure whether or not this letter will alleviate any future harassment. I also do not have a clear understanding as to how or why exactly I am involved in this fiasco. I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations. My reputation has been called into question by those who lack the character to report the facts.

UPDATE: In its story about Cordova’s statement, The Daily News says she “backed his contention they’re both victims of online pranksters.” But she doesn’t say that at all. In fact, she seems to be agnostic as to how or why the photo was sent.

One of my Twitter friends noted that Cordova’s statement was released “36 hours after the fact and with plenty of time for a congressional staff to get to her.” There is also no adequate explanation of why Cordova (or someone else?) spent a lot of effort trying to scrub her name off the Internet.

UPDATE II: The “Femme Fatale” label that Cordova finds objectionable? That was applied by Velvet Hammer of Ironic Surrealism, who updates.

UPDATE III: Some people are understandably confused by Cordova’s statement, which begins with her logging on to Twitter on Friday to find herself mentioned in a bunch of hostile Tweets from someone who she says had previously harassed her.

She is not — not — describing someone who “hacked” Weiner’s Twitter account, a subject about which she expresses no special knowledge.

Also, this: “There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself.”

All righty then: Define “inappropriate,” Ms. Cordova.

By your own admission, you publicly described a married congressman as your “boyfriend,” which some people might consider inappropriate.

We have no idea what sort of DM “exchanges” took place between you and Weiner, Ms. Cordova. What we do know is that a penis photo was sent to you from Weiner’s Twitter account. And that still requires an explanation more plausible than Weiner’s dubious claim that his accounts were “hacked.”

Please feel free to clarify in the comments, Ms. Cordova. It was I who, in my first post on this story, suggested that Weiner needed to clarify this before the media scrum descended on you.

UPDATE IV: Dan Collins has a “Memorial Day Big Wiener Round-Up and Roast.”

UPDATE V: Now a Memeorandum thread, and John at Verum Serum comments:

Her entire statement avoids all of the incriminating facts. No mention of the fact that Weiner followed her on Twitter or that she noticed and retweeted his tweet about the time in Seattle just 30 minutes before the underwear photo appeared. Was that directed at her? Of course not. It’s not even worth mentioning. Fuggetabout it.

Similar skepticism, as expressed in Ace’s headline:

The Comely Coed: I’m Not His Mistress (I Didn’t Suspect You Were), We Never Met (I Didn’t Say You Had), And I Am The Victim of a Prank (Yeah, Aren’t We All?)

UPDATE VI: It’s now past 2 a.m. Monday, and I ought to be in bed, but I’d promised “futher updates,” and must provide them.

Doug Ross poses some questions for Ms. Cordova and Rep. Weiner.

This New York Times story about the scandal contains an unusually large number of laughable errors, even by New York Times standards.

Ben Smith observes that Ms. Cordova’s “statement doesn’t say whether she’s been in touch with Weiner amid the recent fuss.” Good question.

Donald Douglas at American Power rounds up recent developments.

RightKlik decides to ‘fess up as the mysterious Tweet-hacker. But more seriously, the person actually accused of the hacking, has denied it.

And, at last, we’ve found the real victim in this scandal: Would-be black farmer Dan Collins.

Sunday, my son Bob graduated from high school — the third graduation in my family in the past week — and I still haven’t had time to post Bob’s graduation photos. The extra traffic has been great, but you really should hit my tip jar, you know.

UPDATE VII: Oh, Lord, help me! Gennette Cordova is going to be the death of me. These two Tweets are game-changers:


It’s now nearly 3 a.m., and Ms. Cordova has just rebutted the erroneous interpretation that both the NY Daily News and NY Times made of her statement. And here’s a new Ace of Spades headline:

Number One “Suspect” In Hacking Says No Police Have Contacted Him In “Hacking” Case

So now the story has taken another turn, and I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open. Remember, I’m still recovering from pneumonia. Please, dear readers: Hit the freaking tip jar!

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Anthony Weiner, Congress, New York, Scandal

T-Paw Gets the Kiss of Death

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 21 Comments

David Brooks lumps Tim Pawlenty in with Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney and says, “I think it’s going to be one of those three.”

You noticed whom Brooks didn’t mention, right? Herman Cain.

Category: David Brooks Fisking Day, Election 2012, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, Video

MSM Starting to Cover ‘WeinerGate’ UPDATE: More Details Now Emerging UPDATE: Weiner DM’d a Porn Star?

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 106 Comments

8 p.m. ET: GENETTE CORDOVA ISSUES STATEMENT

* * 4:10 p.m. ET: RE-BUMPED FOR UPDATE BELOW * *

* * 1:10 p.m. ET: BUMPED FOR UPDATE BELOW * * 

Genette Nicole Cordova, the 21-year-old college student to whom the photo was sent.

About 10 p.m. last night, I figured we had enough facts that I should put together a “Joe Friday”-style straight-news version of the WeinerGate saga, which I posted at The American Spectator:

The Internet was abuzz Saturday after it was reported that Rep. Anthony Weiner had apparently sent a lewd photo to a Seattle-area college student.
The New York Democrat quickly asserted that his online accounts had been “hacked” after Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com reported that Weiner’s Twitter account was used to send the photo, which shows the pelvic area of a man in gray undershorts with his tumescent penis bulging. . . .

Read the whole thing. By the time I got that story finished and online, Jonathan Allen and Ben Smith of Politico had this: “Weiner’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether he has contacted federal authorities to report the alleged cyber-attack, which could fall under laws prohibiting cyberhacking and impersonating federal officials.”

That’s crucial. By claiming that his accounts had been “hacked,” Weiner was asserting that he was the victim of a crime, which he would obviously want to report to the proper authorities. And Weiner’s claim is now a matter of public record, reported by the New York Post:

“Anthony’s accounts on both Facebook and Twitter were hacked,” said spokesman Dave Arnold.
The photo does not belong to the Democrat and wasn’t taken by him, Arnold added.

OK, then, let the crime be reported to the FBI so that the mysterious malefactor can be appehended and brought to justice. But the facts of the case are just starting to look very strange. Read more

Category: Anthony Weiner, Congress, New York, Scandal, Sex, Washington State

FMJRA 2.0: Conga

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 4 Comments

Comedy Gold: Meghan McCain Blames Her Lousy Dating Life on Sarah Palin

Not News? Columbia Professor and Huffington Post Contributor David Epstein Pleads Guilty in Incest Case

Weiner’s Wiener?
UPDATE: Who Is ‘Gennette Nicole’?
UPDATE: Questions Piling Up

Mitch Daniels Won’t Run in 2012; Cites ‘Overwhelming’ Herman Cain Momentum

FMJRA 2.0: Take Me Back To You

Because Life Is Beautiful

    Ace of Spades Gets It

    Rule 5 Sunday: Shotgun Girl

        Obama’s Smear Machine

        ‘That’s Not a Poll That’s Psy-Ops!’

          Sully: Israelis ‘Got Their US Media Mouthpieces’ to Criticize Obama’s Speech

            Did National Magazine Award Winner Scott Horton Spin a Guantanamo Myth?

            Tornado Destroys Joplin, Missouri

            My Kids: Smart and Good-Looking

            NY-26 UPDATE: Are 13 Percent of Voters Really Going to Vote for Crazy Jack?

              Everybody’s Talking 2012

              “LIVE AT FIVE – 05.24.11 ”

              Christina Hendricks Talks About Her Breasts: ‘They’re So Obviously Real …’

              Never Burn a Source

                News From the HuffPo ‘Veal Pen’

                NY-26 Election Day: Are Crazy Jack’s Supporters Breaking Toward Democrat?

                NY-26 ELECTION NIGHT HQ
                UPDATE: Democrat Hochul Wins

                “LIVE AT FIVE – 05.25.11 ”

                Oh, My: Hearing Turns Ugly

                Media Psy-Ops in NY-26

                Ed Schultz Calls Laura Ingraham ‘Slut’; Feminist Outrage at MSNBC in 3, 2, 1 …

                Obamanomics: The Predictable Suckage

                Leave the Em Dash Alone!

                Sex, Jokes and Politics: Why $15 Million Won’t Buy Traffic Like Ace of Spades

                Ed Schultz Suspended for Being Fat and Ugly and Calling Laura Ingraham a ‘Slut’

                “LIVE AT FIVE – 05.26.11 ”

                Look on the Bright Side

                  Beating Women Drivers?

                  Is Governor Palin Running in 2012?

                  Dave Weigel: ‘Hey, You Know Who’s Doing Pretty Good? Herman Cain.’

                    Holy Freaking Crap! High School Seniors Suspended, Accused of ‘White Supremacy’ for Wearing White T-Shirts to School

                      David Williams, Rand Paul and the Kentucky Tea Party Movement

                      Nate Silver: ‘Hey, You Know, Maybe We Should Take Herman Cain Seriously’

                        So, Sarah Palin Is Not Running. . .
                        A Traditional Campaign

                        Awesome Fireworks Videos

                        Pacifism and Historical Ignorance

                          Clearly our fellow bloggers want more of the Meggie Mac/Sarah Palin hotness. Eighteen links, not including bots? Whoa.

                          Top linkers for this week:

                          1. The Pro From Poca (10)
                          2. The Lonely Conservative (8)
                          3. Da Tech Guy (6)

                          Thanks to all for the linky love! Blogspot bloggers, if you want to be included in next week’s FMJRA, please e-mail your links to Wombat-socho with “FMJRA” or “Shameless Blogwhoring” in the subject line. You have our gratitude!

                          Category: FMJRA Award

                          If You’re Deployed, And Can’t Have A Proper Parade, ‘Memorial Day’ By
                          Chris Cassone Is The Next Best Thing

                          Posted on | May 29, 2011 | 6 Comments

                          by Smitty

                          An immortal piece from Chris Cassone:

                          Forced to choose between this and Claustrophobic Blues, I would say: ‘Why are you forcing me?’

                          Category: Chris Cassone

                          Weiner’s Wiener?
                          UPDATE: Who Is ‘Gennette Nicole’?
                          UPDATE: Questions Piling Up

                          Posted on | May 28, 2011 | 93 Comments

                          New York Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner allegedly sent an alleged photo of his alleged penis to an alleged woman via Twitter.

                          The photo shows a man in gray undershorts with a bulging erection. Weiner is claiming he was the victim of Internet hackers, and I think we should believe him.

                          Because his penis is probably much smaller than that.

                          Via Memeorandum, with blog commentary by Patterico’s Pontifications, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, No Sheeples Here, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers and American Power.

                          UPDATE: Velvet Hammer at Ironic Surrealism examines “Gennette Nicole,” the self-described “progressive” journalism student in Seattle to whom Weiner allegedly sent the photo, and who had previously described the married congressman as her “boyfriend.” Her Twitter account has now disappeared down the memory hole.

                          UPDATE II: Gennette Nicole Cordova is a student at Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, Wash., where she is a reporter for the student newspaper, Horizon.

                          Hat tip to “ThoughtsAloud” on Twitter for the original ID and photo.

                          It must be emphasized that at this point we have no idea whether Ms. Cordova actually knows Rep. Weiner, whether her Twitter claim of him being her “boyfriend” was just a joke, or whether Rep. Weiner actually communicated with Ms. Cordova.

                          Let’s hope Rep. Weiner will clarify this confusion, before the media scrum descends on Ms. Cordova.

                          UPDATE III: Jesse LaGreca at Daily Kos is trying to turn this into a story about Andrew Breitbart, which is ridiculous. We seem to have actual facts here, facts which require some plausible explanation.

                          Very simple questions: Was Rep. Weiner exchanging online messages with Ms. Cordova? If so, why? If this is all just a misunderstanding — if Rep. Weiner was the victim of hackers — why was Ms. Cordova the recipient of that message? Why would a hacker randomly select a student journalist in Washington State to send that to?

                          The congressman’s office can either answer those questions — and answer them PDQ — or else wait until every political reporter on the West Coast is camped out in front of Ms. Cordova’s house.

                          UPDATE IV: I just got off the phone with Andrew Breitbart, who denies any insinuation of wrongdoing on his part in reporting the story now known by the Twitter hashtag #WeinerGate.

                          Frances Martel at Mediaite writes that the story is “a reminder that Andrew Breitbart’s editors and writers do not aim to abide by accepted journalistic standards.” Exactly how the hell “accepted journalistic standards” should be applied to a congressman (apparently) Tweeting a picture of his penis to a college student, I’m not sure.

                          But here is a question Breitbart posed during our phone conversation: If someone hacked Rep. Weiner’s online accounts, isn’t that a crime? Isn’t it, indeed, a national security threat?

                          OK, so has Rep. Weiner reported this crime to the police? Is the FBI investigating? When will we have a press conference at which Rep. Weiner vows to get to bottom of this crime against him, and bring the perpetrators to justice?

                          There is a dog there, you see. And as Sherlock Holmes might point out, that dog is not barking.

                          RB at the Right Sphere doesn’t think the hacking story holds water.

                          UPDATE V: Ace of Spades reminds us that Weiner is Meghan McCain’s favorite Democrat. Some jokes just write themselves, don’t they?

                          UPDATE VI: “Anthony Weiner’s Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend is a 21-Year Old Coed, only 25 Years Younger Than the Married Congressman.” But who are we to judge?

                          UPDATE VII: Thanks to Soren Kay in the comments for linking this useful collection of online WeinerGate resources.

                          UPDATE VIII: WeinerGate has been at the top of the Memeorandum aggregation for hours, and yet it appears that no traditional news organization finds it newsworthy. Da Tech Guy decided to do some reporting:

                          I took the liberty of calling congressman Weiner’s office, the recorded messaged referred me to a press number to call after hours. I called the number and the gentleman named Joe who answered claimed I had the wrong number so I called back the congressman’s office to confirm the number in question (it was correct) and called the press number again. It now goes directly to voice mail. I left my name and home and cell numbers at both locations, and I’ll let you know if anything pans out, but I found that reaction…interesting.

                          Weiner’s press secretary dodging phone calls? Perhaps more reporters ought to call 202-225-6616 and try to get some answers, because the questions keep piling up out here. Dan Riehl asks, “Why Would Rep Weiner Care What Time It Was In Seattle?”

                          Liz Benjamin notices something else: “The woman to whom the picture was sent has since deleted both her Facebook and Twitter accounts. Very odd.”

                          Indeed, it is very odd. If Ms. Cordova was merely the victim of a hacker’s hoax, why would she delete her accounts?

                          Linked by Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative, Fire Andrea Mitchell and Pundit Press — thanks!

                          UPDATE IX: Linked by Gateway Pundit and No Sheeples Here — thanks!

                          UPDATE X: Linked by Joe at Valley of the Shadow, who grew up in Weiner’s district.

                          UPDATE XI: Neil Stevens at Red State observes that Ace of Spades hilariously eviscerated Weiner’s “I was hacked” explanation. I’d imagine the congressman spent most of Saturday evening trying to come up with a plausible defense.

                          UPDATE XII: Linked by Moe Lane, who notes that somebody spent a lot of time Sarturday trying to scrub the name “Gennette Cordova” off the Internet — even having her byline removed from articles she wrote for her college newspaper!


                          Category: Congress, Democrats, New York, Scandal

                          Another Reminder That the Academic Elite Are Your Moral Superiors

                          Posted on | May 28, 2011 | 44 Comments

                          Michael Schultz is associate vice president for development and alumni affairs at the University of Vermont, and wrote his 2009 Ph.D. thesis on a very interesting subject: “Elucidating the Role of the Presidential Spouse in Development and Alumni Relations.”

                          The role of the university president’s spouse in alumni relations is a subject Schultz knows intimately, as it turns out that he spent several years (allegedly) boinking Rachel Kahn-Fogel, the wife of University of Vermont president Daniel Fogel. The president’s wife worked as a volunteer events planner for the university’s development office, where Schultz also worked.

                          Schultz, whose salary is more than $150,000 a year, has denied boinking the university president’s wife. He made those denials during divorce proceedings after Schultz’s wife, Pauline Manning found a packet of letters addressed to Schultz in care of a post office box that she didn’t know her husband had. Schultz admitted that he took out the P.O. box specifically so that he could receive love letters from Kahn-Fogel.

                          In the letters, Kahn-Fogel addressed Schultz as “my darling” and expressed such sentiments as, “I love you so, so much. I’m yours. . . . I’m feeling all of you with all of me right now. Kiss me, my sweetheart . . . Taste me, take me, make love with me forever.”

                          Kahn-Fogel also sent Schultz long e-mails, including one in which she described a November 2004 romantic dinner followed by hugs and kissed. However, Schultz insisted under oath:  “I was very clear . . . no sexual, no anything . . . was going to happen here.”

                          His wife evidently did not believe Schultz’s sworn denial of having boinked Kahn-Fogel, whose husband the university president declared in an official statement: “Rachel has asked me to let it be known that she has long been in treatment for serious mental health issues with which she has struggled throughout her life.”

                          So Kahn-Fogel has always been crazy, according to her husband, and maybe these letters to Schultz were all some kind of crazy fantasy, symptoms of her persistent derangement. Perhaps no actual boinking occurred. Yet Kahn-Fogel’s letters were enough to cause Schultz’s wife to file for divorce after she found the letters in March 2010.

                          It is perhaps worth noting that both the university president and his crazy love-letter-writing wife are second-generation academics. President Fogel’s father was an English professor at Cornell University, where Kahn-Fogel’s father was an economics professor, and the couple first dated while in high school in Ithaca, N.Y.

                          Whether Rachel Kahn-Fogel was crazy or adulterous, whether Daniel Fogel was cuckolded by Michael Schultz or not, is incidental to the larger point. These people are all part of the academic elite, which makes them better than you, because you’ve never gotten a Ph.D. or written a dissertation on “Elucidating the Role of the Presidential Spouse in Development and Alumni Relations.” And you don’t have a taxpayer-funded salary of more than $150,000.

                          SOURCES:

                          UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!


                          Category: Education, Intellectuals, Scandal, Sex, Vermont
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