Posted on 06/11/2011 12:44:05 PM PDT by Qbert
A defiant Rep. Anthony Weiner will not resign and will instead seek treatment even as a the top leaders of the Democratic Party abandoned him en masse Saturday after it was revealed that he had communicated online with a 17-year-old Delaware girl.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the party’s top campaign chiefs — Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) — all called on Weiner to resign in statements released within minutes of each other.
But Weiner has ignored those calls and announced Saturday afternoon that he’s seeking “professional treatment.”
“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” Weiner’s office said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “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.”
Weiner, a New York Democrat, admitted on Monday that he had sent sexually charged text messages and photographs to a series of six women over three years. On Friday, FOX News reported that Wilmington-area police had visited a Delaware teenager to discuss his back-and-forth with her.
Weiner and the girl’s family have told news outlets that there was no indecent communication, but the evidence that he carried on a discussion of any kind with a 17-year-old girl was clearly the final straw for Democratic leaders.
Pelosi and Israel only issued their statements after asking Weiner privately to call it quits, and when he refused, they issued their coordinated barrage on Saturday afternoon.
“They both called him this morning and said ‘you should resign,’ and he didn’t and they issued their statements,” a source familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. “The White House was engaged.”
Patrick Gaspard, the former White House political director, was the point man for the DNC, the source said.
“Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help,” Pelosi said Saturday. “I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress.”
A day earlier, Pelosi had declined to call for him to resign after inquiries to her office.
Israel and Wasserman Schultz were less generous in their assessment of their colleague.
“Anthony’s inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction to the House and our work for the American people. With a heavy heart, I call on Anthony to resign,” Israel said.
Calling the scandal a “sordid affair, Wasserman Schultz, who is a surrogate for President Barack Obama in her role as DNC chairman, said “the behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable.”
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the Budget Committee Chairman and former DCCC chairman, also joined the calls to resign on Saturday. “Anthony Weiner’s repeated violation of the public trust is unacceptable,” Van Hollen said. “He can best advance the issues he fought for by resigning immediately.”
Weiner’s spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment, but it’s now clear that Weiner has virtually no support in the upper echelons of the Democratic Party.
The Weiner scandal is now going into its third weekend after a picture of a man’s crotch was posted on his Twitter account. After spending a week denying that it was him, Weiner held an extraordinary press conference Monday in New York and revealed that he had not only sent that picture, but had conducted sexually charged online relationships with a half dozen women.
And while nobody can force Weiner to resign — short of a formal expulsion from the House, which is extremely rare — if he does return to the House on Monday after a week-long recess, he’ll basically be persona non grata in the Democratic Caucus.
Weiner has informed congressional leaders he plans to seek treatment, according to Democratic insiders, and that was a factor in their decision to urge him to resign, first privately and later publicly.
A “coordinated effort was kicked off once Weiner decided to seek treatment,” a senior Democratic aide told POLITICO. “Leaders have been talking to him all week. His decision to seek treatment, on top of pressure of Sunday shows and members coming back on Monday, all equaled the ultimate decision for the leaders to go today.”
It was also revealed this week that Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin is pregnant — and she’s currently traveling abroad as an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
If Weiner does succumb to pressure and resign, it’s clear that the contact with the 17-year-old girl was the end game.
The girl, whose name was withheld by Fox but who told the reporter she’s “doing OK,” left with her mother and the police, the network said, although it was unclear if there was a further conversation somewhere else.
A Weiner spokeswoman emailed a statement in response to the reports that confirmed his contact with the girl, but denied anything was amiss.
“According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent,” said the statement.
On Saturday morning, the New York Post and the New York Daily News reported that the New Castle cops had not found anything wrong in Weiner’s exchanges with the teen-ager.
The MSM has scores of “volunteers” helping comb through Palin’s e-mails, and won’t stop until they find something even remotely incriminating...
They supposedly look at Weiner’s Twitter correspondence with one (known) minor, and quickly conclude that there’s nothing there....
Where’s the media call for concerned citizens to go through Weiner’s communications??
They need to make this freak show into a reality series. Nobody would believe how sick this puppy is.
Who’s paying for this time away from it all, the Congressional health insurance taxpayers provide him?
Absolutemundo— shoot, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he takes a Bahamas cruise afterwards for a “relaxation treatment” all on the taxpayer dime.
If you’re the sort of scum that wants to rise to the stop and stay there, be a Democrat.
His actions make no sense. Had he resigned last week, the Dems would have taken care of him, found him a job somewheres after a few months. Now, he is causing them all sorts of problems by not resigning..doing this rehab thingee, and he has burnt his bridges with the party leaders.
How do you treat a sick weiner? Let me count the ways:
1. Mustard, relish, bologna on a toasted roll
2. Wrap it in duct-tape
3. Feed it to the dog
4. Hang it out in the sun
5. Put it in the closet with weird uncle Barney
6. Vote it out of congress
7. Promise it a job at Halloween
8. Give it a small part in “Night of the Living Dead, Part 20”
9. A bottle of Viagra
10. Send it to Frankfurt, Germany to recover among friends
11. Say prays for it, hoping that it won’t get Wurst.
12. Fire the little prick
Yup. Exactly what I was thinking, what ... treatment for low-down, filthy, cowardly lying? Forget the sexting — is therapy going to make an honest man of the spineless liar? That’s probably why Pelosi now wants him to resign. If he comes back honest and responsible, he’s as good as dead to the liberals.
.....And also the new “Willie Horton” come the 2012 Presidential/House/Senate elections.
The most troubling aspect of this story is that he’s seeking counsel from Bill and Hillary. ouch!!!
That’s like sending a chicken with a headache to Col.Sanders!
I hope he remains, as the poster child for Dimocrat immorality.
“These recent developments must be hard on Weiner. I hope they stiffen his resolve to firm up his position and does result in his withdrawal; as his recent activities are pregnant with potential issues.”
No doubt about it, he’s a stand-up guy. No comparison with the other old limp-wristed Congress critters.
Pelosi will add a new disease to be covered by OBAMACARE called “WEINER SYNDROME” where an egotistically loquacious married guy with a ‘little man’ complex attempts to snare other women with lewd pictures of himself, AND LIE ABOUT IT!!
We used to call these jerks — DIRTY OLD MEN, and PERVERTS!
I love how these people always become Ghandi AFTER they're caught.
The penile plethysmograph test
Lets see how he "measures up"
“Seeking Treatment” is Code for more bad internet chat revelations to come.
Reminds me of Don Adams on “Get Smart”..
The rehab dodge, “it’s an old gag, but it just might work...”
Bingo.
Its a Dem-Rat party ploy named after Patrick Kennedy !
New Castle, or New Castle County? It seems like New Castle County has cleaned up lots of its corruption. I don't think the same can be said for New Castle.
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