Posted on 06/14/2011 6:11:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
To their credit, most Democratic Party leaders have (finally) called for New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's resignation. But among liberal commentators and millions of other Americans, there is a great deal of flawed thinking about whether Weiner should resign.
The two most common arguments offered against his resigning have been that (1) what Weiner did was not illegal and (2) it was not even as bad as an extramarital affair because he never met, let alone had physical contact with, any of the women to whom he sent naked and semi-naked photos of himself.
The argument's entirely beside the point.
The point -- the whole point -- is the effect of what he did on the United States House of Representatives and on the country as a whole, especially young people.
There is a simple way to prove this. Let us imagine that some congressman had walked onto the House floor in his underwear. I think it is fair to assume that just about every Democrat and Republican in the country would demand his resignation. But why? That action is not illegal, and it certainly does not constitute a form of infidelity to his wife.
The reason people would demand his resignation is that such behavior disgraced the House of Representatives.
That is the issue here. When a member of Congress sends pictures of his penis to women around the country, he has demeaned Congress.
And he has done so far more than any member of Congress whose extramarital affair was publicly disclosed.
Most Americans understand that Congress, like every other institution, including their local church and synagogue, is composed of sinners. While we might wish that every member of Congress were as upstanding as we hope our pastor, priest or rabbi would be, most of us live in the real world and do not believe that marital infidelity automatically disqualifies one either from running for, or from holding, public office.
Furthermore, we understand that marital infidelity can be solely a matter between a husband and wife, and is not necessarily the country's business.
But what Weiner did is the country's business because of its effect on the reputation of the House and because of its effect on young Americans.
If I were a member of Congress, I would not be livid at every one of my colleagues who had had an affair. But I would be livid at Weiner. Every day he remains a congressman, he makes every one of his colleagues look bad: You can send photos such as Weiner did to women around America and still remain a member of this institution.
And at least as destructive as his impact on the House of Representatives is his impact on young America. The message to young Americans is the same: A 46-year-old member of Congress can send photos such as this congressman did to women around the country and keep his seat.
To appreciate how terrible this looks to a young person, ask your teenage son or daughter if he or she would be more humiliated if it became known that Dad had had an affair or that Dad sent photos of his penis to young women he never met.
I cannot think of a single event that symbolizes the decline of American society -- and especially of its liberal elite -- as much as Weiner's actions and his retention of his seat in Congress.
It is almost surreal. The Weiner photos pervade the Internet, and people like Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., do not demand the congressman's resignation, and liberal commentators wonder whether the congressman violated any laws.
Salon's Joan Walsh on MSNBC: "You can't accuse him of hypocrisy; he's not a family values moralizer. You can't accuse him yet of breaking the law."
Los Angeles Times editorial, June 8: "We'd prefer to leave it to New York voters to decide Weiner's political future."
And surely the Los Angeles Times knows that a majority of New York City voters say Weiner should stay in office.
New York Times editorial, June 6: "Mr. Weiner says he will not resign, and there is no evidence yet that he broke the law or abused the resources of his office. He said the computer and BlackBerry that he used were his own, not issued by the government."
If you ever need to show someone how low liberalism has sunk in our lifetime, just show him this New York Times editorial. A congressman sends photos of his genitalia to women he doesn't know, and The New York Times doesn't think he should resign unless the BlackBerry he used was issued by the government
Put it this way: If Barney Frank didn’t resign after sodomizing his pages, Weiner has even less reason to.
This ^^^
I doubt his wife agrees with that.
From a PR perspective though it was, getting caught sending pics of your junk around is a lot more embarrassing than getting caught having an affair.
That’s is what I think, he is a pervert. He is in love with himself and his jewels and he’s drunk on power. He is a danger to America.
Some people on FR are totally over the top on this wiener BS. One: he sent pictures to women who most likely, judging from what the first "victim" said in her initial interviews(she called him her "boyfriend"),were consenting to whatever he sent to them. Consensual sex between adults doesn't make you a sex offender, especially when no laws were broken. I am glad the law doesn't apply the type of thinking to other laws that some FReepers want to apply to this non crime(but sleazy act).
The guy should resign, simply because if you are too stupid to keep your sex life out of the news you are too stupid to be one of the people in charge of running the country.
I think his wife might agree. When your husband uses other women, numerous women, to get himself off that is cheating. And apparently he confided in some of these women perhaps more then he did his wife. I don’t know about any of you gals out there but if my hubby did this, a jar of nuts comes to mind.
I’d feel otherwise if it were my 16 or 17 year old daughter.
Wiener is being used to take the heat off of Bozo and the Libya conflict and his poor performance in general. People have let this become a major distraction. This was essentially a non event that has been blown way out of proportion. Other Dimwit congressmen and senators have done far worse and kept their positions and have even been re-elected, so you have to ask yourself, "why all the fuss over this guy"?
He didn’t send any pictures to the 17 yo, maybe he would have but the fact remains he didn’t. This sh** about wiener is being blown way out of proportion in order to take the heat off of Bozo and it is working. He committed no crime and people keep losing sight of the fact he DID NOT send photos to the 17 yo, only to consenting adult women who now find it convenient to trash wiener.
This has yet to be determined.
We don't even know what happened as more and more is coming out every day about this guy. So I would refrain from calling it a non-event.
Secondly, why would you allow this protected class (politicians) not to get the scrutiny they deserve by accepting their outrageous behavior while on the taxpayer's dime?
Would a 17-yr old high school male student be allowed to come to school without any punishment had the teachers found him sending his penis picture to his female classmates?
From what I read his “wife” is unfaithful to him. She is married to her job.
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Nice. I gotcha, she ‘cheated’ first.
Hard to imagine that anyone would get that takeaway from this story.
If that was the case then Obami's approval rating would be going up, which it isn't.
They both cheated when they pretended to get married.
That something so obvious has to be stated means I no longer recognize the country I live in...
Any sane person of any political party who has listened to Anthony Weiner knows he is just an il-tempered punk with no particular value beyond his criticism of others. He had been of value as an attack dog with bad manners, but like any such creature, his utility is limited when the job calls for much more.
I thought Barney Frank's lover was running a male whorehouse out of his basement... you're saying pages were involved?
Anyone ask Barney how he feels about the Weiner - always fun to hear dem morally-bankrupt blather...
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