I hadn't planned on opining about Weinergate until I read that MSNBC's Chris Matthews recently said the now-famous Weiner was in danger of losing his seat in Congress because “people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian conservative culturally - you can say backward if you want...don't like this kind of stuff" and House Democrats were under pressure to put Weiner over the side.
Hmm; rural, Christian, culturally conservative and backward, you know...morons, at least to the likes of Matthews. And since we are morons, Matthews and the rest of the phony intelligentsia couldn't be bothered to ask why we are bothered; they just assume that some kind of prejudice or regressive puritanism keeps us from enjoying the online hi-jinx of such free-spirits as Rep. Weiner and therefore they miss the real story: it's not so much the act, but the coverup that kills careers.
Americans are incredibly forgiving; for the most part they understand occasional weakness, stupidity or boorishness from just about anybody, but they don't like being lied to. Ask Richard Nixon. Ask John Edwards. Rep. Weiner's behavior, particularly for a married man and member of the House of Representatives, is both bizarre and reprehensible, but the fact that he lied, repeatedly about his culpability is what should and will get him tossed out of Congress.
The lying commenced shortly after the honorable gentleman from New York realized that he had posted a revealing picture of himself to his Twitter account on May 27. Weiner immediately took it down and said his account had been hacked. For the next three days the congressman maintained the hacker story through his spokesman, and, when it looked like his story wasn't getting any traction, he upped the ante and hired an attorney to advise him on prosecuting the fictitious hacker. June 1, while selling the hacker fiction on MSNBC, Weiner could neither confirm nor deny that the skivvy photos were his and immediately dove for cover where he remained for the next four days. Finally, under news blogger Andrew Brietbart's threat to release even more embarrassing photos, and it might be hard for many of you to imagine anything being more embarrassing, Weiner gave a press conference taken directly from the Clinton/Edwards playbook: a little blubbering, a little “I love my wife” and a little apologizing and its all supposed to go away. Well it won't.
Richard LeVick, who runs a crisis management firm in D.C., and yes, sadly, there are enough fill-in-the-blank-gates to make this a money making venture, says the most important factor in mitigating scandal is to quickly admit guilt. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was a success because, the day after he piloted his car into a Capitol Hill barricade under the influence of pain killers, he fessed up and trotted off to rehab. A loser, LeVick says, was Rep. Mark Foley who sent naughty texts to young boys. Foley's hobby was widely known to Republican Party operatives but unsuccessfully covered up. It was the delay that did in Foley; LeVick says the teary confession must come within the first 24 hours of news of one’s misbehavior breaking. Apparently remorse has a sell-by date and Weiner is well past his.
Whether you believe living a racy online life with someone other than your spouse is right or wrong is not an issue anymore. No matter what Matthews and his ilk believe, it is neither our faith nor our zip code that disgusts us, but the fact that Weiner is a liar.
He lied to his wife, he lied to the press, he lied to his constituents, he lied to his fellow elected officials and he lied to us. Daily, for over a week we were asked to take him at his word and sympathize with his victimhood. Sadly, for Weiner, sympathy is a card you only get to play once and despite being hustled off to rehab, the last resort of the shameless, his days are numbered.
Hmm; rural, Christian, culturally conservative and backward, you know...morons, at least to the likes of Matthews. And since we are morons, Matthews and the rest of the phony intelligentsia couldn't be bothered to ask why we are bothered; they just assume that some kind of prejudice or regressive puritanism keeps us from enjoying the online hi-jinx of such free-spirits as Rep. Weiner and therefore they miss the real story: it's not so much the act, but the coverup that kills careers.
Americans are incredibly forgiving; for the most part they understand occasional weakness, stupidity or boorishness from just about anybody, but they don't like being lied to. Ask Richard Nixon. Ask John Edwards. Rep. Weiner's behavior, particularly for a married man and member of the House of Representatives, is both bizarre and reprehensible, but the fact that he lied, repeatedly about his culpability is what should and will get him tossed out of Congress.
The lying commenced shortly after the honorable gentleman from New York realized that he had posted a revealing picture of himself to his Twitter account on May 27. Weiner immediately took it down and said his account had been hacked. For the next three days the congressman maintained the hacker story through his spokesman, and, when it looked like his story wasn't getting any traction, he upped the ante and hired an attorney to advise him on prosecuting the fictitious hacker. June 1, while selling the hacker fiction on MSNBC, Weiner could neither confirm nor deny that the skivvy photos were his and immediately dove for cover where he remained for the next four days. Finally, under news blogger Andrew Brietbart's threat to release even more embarrassing photos, and it might be hard for many of you to imagine anything being more embarrassing, Weiner gave a press conference taken directly from the Clinton/Edwards playbook: a little blubbering, a little “I love my wife” and a little apologizing and its all supposed to go away. Well it won't.
Richard LeVick, who runs a crisis management firm in D.C., and yes, sadly, there are enough fill-in-the-blank-gates to make this a money making venture, says the most important factor in mitigating scandal is to quickly admit guilt. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was a success because, the day after he piloted his car into a Capitol Hill barricade under the influence of pain killers, he fessed up and trotted off to rehab. A loser, LeVick says, was Rep. Mark Foley who sent naughty texts to young boys. Foley's hobby was widely known to Republican Party operatives but unsuccessfully covered up. It was the delay that did in Foley; LeVick says the teary confession must come within the first 24 hours of news of one’s misbehavior breaking. Apparently remorse has a sell-by date and Weiner is well past his.
Whether you believe living a racy online life with someone other than your spouse is right or wrong is not an issue anymore. No matter what Matthews and his ilk believe, it is neither our faith nor our zip code that disgusts us, but the fact that Weiner is a liar.
He lied to his wife, he lied to the press, he lied to his constituents, he lied to his fellow elected officials and he lied to us. Daily, for over a week we were asked to take him at his word and sympathize with his victimhood. Sadly, for Weiner, sympathy is a card you only get to play once and despite being hustled off to rehab, the last resort of the shameless, his days are numbered.
