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
That's like disgracing a whore house.
Except that whore houses serve a useful purpose, at least.
Let's stop with the euphemisms and call it what it is.
Yup....and I bet those working girls do a better job of managing their ‘resources’ and $$$ than the clowns we send to DC!!
Weiner essentially “flashed” women. He should have to register as a Sex Offender.
As opposed to to their legislative agenda which makes mockery of the constitution, rewards the indolent at the expense of the hard working, disarms the law abiding, forces motorists to burn ethanol at an enormous cost to the economy (and to the benefit of a few ethanol producers), gives "stimulus" money from our pockets to the politically faithful, etc. They could all walk in naked and have sex with farm animals on the floor and it wouldn't be a tithe of the disgrace that they already are.
Adultery..yes. His wife didn’t deserve this, and the nation didn’t deserve this. The fact that he was in his office when he did his dirty deeds reflects on all of us. He should leave but his arrogance won’t let him. I still don’t think we’ve heard it all. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I agree. An IRS audit is in order as well because of all of the lies, him not registering his vehicle, not paying DNV fees, etc... I bet his taxes are a mess as well.
Thanks for posting. I sent this to my Congressman and asked (again) that Weiner be expelled.
Weiner is a sex offender and should ware the label in public.
The destructive aspect of this is similar to the pernicious destructiveness of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. In making excuses for Clinton, our society concluded that oral sex was not really sex at all. Now oral sex is commonplace amongst a ever younger portion of the population, and it is just accepted. Similarly, the phenomenon of “sexting” is getting very popular amongst teenagers, even as young as the Eighth Grade. If we excuse Anthony Weiner’s behavior, we will wind up condoning this behavior amongst schoolchildren.
Dis - Graced
I have never seen a clip of Weiner, DOING HIS JOB, where he was acting with grace.
From what I read his “wife” is unfaithful to him. She is married to her job.
I expect a congressman to be good enough at it so that his lies last more than a few days or hours. But THIS guy lied about his actions, was caught in his lies, and admitted to his lies all in the space of little more than a week.
He is a disgrace to the proud prevaricating practices of his party and his office. I mean, if he is not capable of generating lies that can 'stand' for more than a week then he is truly not fit to be in congress.
Look at Charlie Rangel, for instance. He got away with his lies about tax evasion and improper benefits for YEARS. And even after he was caught, investigated and slapped on the wrist by a congressional ethics committee he STILL can't think of anything he did wrong. He still stands behind his lies. Now THERE is a man who knows how to be a congressman!
The democrats have good reason to be ashamed of this Weiner...
People expect a shred of dignity from the legislative body that facilitates the murder of unborn children? I’d say that horse has been out of the barn for a while.
Weiner is just symptomatic of a political system that stopped representing “The People” years ago. The whole body is a disgrace.
The most important factor about Anthony Wiener is that he lied. It is not important that you lied to me, the important thing is that I can never believe you again.
Revelation number two is the fact that he owes between 10K and 15k on his credit card. How can we possibly expect a sitting member of congress that is in debt to this degree at the highest possible interest rate (unless as a congressman he gets a special deal) to make a meaningful contribution toward solving our deficit problem? Can’t happen and won’t happen! He doesn’t have a clue. He needs to go.
At the risk of sounding cynical and jaded, I suspect that a majority (yes, greater than 50%) of our congress critters are reluctant to condemn the sleaze and deceit of their fellows, lest their own sleaze and deceit be exposed.
It could be that $10K-15K is merely his monthly balance, and he is using the credit card for convenience, not as a continuing line of credit. He is a pretty high-income person, and monthly expenses of that level are not out of the question.
“People expect a shred of dignity from the legislative body that facilitates the murder of unborn children? I’d say that horse has been out of the barn for a while.
Weiner is just symptomatic of a political system that stopped representing “The People” years ago. The whole body is a disgrace.”
Unfortunately our elected officials are a mirror image of our society as a whole.
This is what you get when one member of Congress (Charlie Schumer) invents the career of and annoints a new member of Congress. Weiner is beholden to no one except Charlie Schumer - and has always acted that way.
Why does Congress have it’s own gym ? What would the Founders have to say about that ?
Our economy has gone of the rails because we have morally and ethically wandered far off the right path.
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