# Anthony Weiner: douchebag extrordinaire **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 23, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335 "2013-07-23T23:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/81 "2013-07-24T15:27:17Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Because it shows he has piss poor judgment. If he doesn’t have any more sense than to send dick pics to women other than his wife, after already losing one elected position over it, he doesn’t have enough sense to be mayor. I don’t get where the generalization comes in, there. Having an issue with all things dick doesn’t equate with being stupid about everything. Call it a blind spot in his judgement if you want, not “a piss poor judgment”. And when it comes to the idiosynchrasies of the famous and powerful, “likes to show off the Little Congressman a little too much” is almost decent. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/82 "2013-07-24T15:37:38Z")
It’s not an issue with “things dick”. It’s an issue with broadcasting his issue with things dick. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/83 "2013-07-24T15:52:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s not an issue with “things dick”. It’s an issue with broadcasting his issue with things dick. And repeatedly lying to constituents about same. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/84 "2013-07-24T15:56:04Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > OK so the next time a candidate shows up to a news conference and his wife has dollar bills hanging out of her g-string , we can revisit this. > > The point is they virtually all sell the same image. Loving, devoted family man/woman/husband/wife. It’s as hyporcritical for one as the other. Still missing the point. It’s not about the infidelity. It’s that one of the people has made a conscious effort to go around saying that “People who do X are morally inferior, and you should vote for me because I’m against X” and then been caught doing X in a blatant and stupid fashion. It’s not just that they’re pretending to be pure; it’s that they’re condemning others from an alleged moral high ground and then doing exactly what they’ve condemned in others. The appropriate reaction is to condemn them by their own standards (hoist by their own petard and all that). Adultery may be a betrayal of one’s spouse, but the hypocrisy is a betrayal of the voters and you can’t blame them for hitting back. It doesn’t have to be sex - you could have an anti-drug campaigner caught with piles of pot (which happened not that long ago) or an environmental champion selling national parks to oil companies etc etc, but sex is the most common iteration of this problem. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/85 "2013-07-24T16:06:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Bodily integrity”? It is to laugh. The ranks of history’s great leaders is full of alcoholics, drug addicts, philanderers, and such. Great people have great appetites. So long as they’re not breaking the law or corrupt in their execution of their actual public duties, we should expect extraordinary people to have extraordinarily screwed up personal lives. > > I’d much prefer a sexually uncontrolled Anthony Weiner in office than a control freak like Bloomberg. And you are absolutely free to hold that opinion and to vote that way. But as a proud liberal Democrat, I will **never** be voting for Anthony Weiner, Elliot Spitzer or Bill Clinton to hold public office. I expect the people that I entrust to govern to be able to govern their own sexual appetites, and more importantly, I expect them to be honest. I guess the one thing that might be O.K. with me is a politician who stood up and said, “I like a lot of sex, and I sleep with a lot of different women.” Assuming that he was unmarried, or that his wife was fully on board with this approach, I could live with that. But as far as I’m concerned, these sleazy hypocrites are unfit to govern. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/86 "2013-07-24T16:08:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Still missing the point. It’s not about the infidelity. It’s that one of the people has made a conscious effort to go around saying that “People who do X are morally inferior, and you should vote for me because I’m against X” and then been caught doing X in a blatant and stupid fashion. That might be supportable, but I think that’s a more limited scenario that the one that was originally being discussed. > [@](#): > > It doesn’t have to be sex - you could have an anti-drug campaigner caught with piles of pot (which happened not that long ago) or an environmental champion selling national parks to oil companies etc etc, but sex is the most common iteration of this problem. For example, you could make a point of cracking down on prostitution as an attorney general, then become governor and get outed as a patron of expensive hookers. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/87 "2013-07-24T16:16:46Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Still missing the point. It’s not about the infidelity. It’s that one of the people has made a conscious effort to go around saying that “People who do X are morally inferior, and you should vote for me because I’m against X” and then been caught doing X in a blatant and stupid fashion. It’s not just that they’re pretending to be pure; it’s that they’re condemning others from an alleged moral high ground and then doing exactly what they’ve condemned in others. The appropriate reaction is to condemn them by their own standards (hoist by their own petard and all that). Adultery may be a betrayal of one’s spouse, but the hypocrisy is a betrayal of the voters and you can’t blame them for hitting back. > > It doesn’t have to be sex - you could have an anti-drug campaigner caught with piles of pot (which happened not that long ago) or an environmental champion selling national parks to oil companies etc etc, but sex is the most common iteration of this problem. …and again I submit that these men are presenting the same thing regardless of party. None of these guys are saying doinking high dollar hookers is a-ok or spamming my wang to random chicks is perfectly acceptable. None of them are standing up for their right to get a hummer from a zaftig intern. Whether it’s Vitter or Spitzer, Dem or Pub, they present themselves as devoted, loyal, honest, trustworthy, family men deserving of your trust in them as public servants. They go out do something completely stupid, get caught and then pull the ol’ Billy Swaggart routine and plead for forgiveness for their failings. It’s hypocritical no matter your registered politcal party because they are trying to stand out above the fray by the very image they are selling of the loyal, trustworthy, devoted pillars of society with stable high functioning family units. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/88 "2013-07-24T16:28:49Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Because it shows he has piss poor judgment. If he doesn’t have any more sense than to send dick pics to women other than his wife, after already losing one elected position over it, he doesn’t have enough sense to be mayor. That’s what does it for me. He was already caught once: he doesn’t get to say he didn’t think anyone would care (because he knows people do) or that he doesn’t think anyone would notice (because he should have known he’d be under particular scrutiny). Think Gary Hart: if he cheats on his wife, that’s between him and his wife. If he says “follow me around, you won’t see anything” and then cheats on his wife, that’s poor judgement. If Weiner wants to cyber, that’s on him; if he promises he won’t and then does it, well … ETA: The first time around, when he was in Congress, it was questionably consensual at best, and that is a public issue. > [@Bricker](#): > > Which party fought to enact the anti-slavery Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution? Which party fought against it? Neither and neither, respectively. The parties have largely changed in all but name since the 1860s (and party names are just labels – map, not territory – anyway) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/89 "2013-07-24T16:34:05Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Right. He’s a Democrat – “We Have No Values.” He’s covered on the hypocrisy front. Values that have little bearing on public service, you mean. But of course, you’re a conservative, so you have to either pretend Democrats have no values or they are also hypocrites, because the truth that Republicans are just such hypocritical liars and asshats as public servants cannot be considered by you :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/90 "2013-07-24T16:34:29Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s much safer to be a candidate that concedes he has no morals. No one can accuse the Democrats of hypocrisy on that score, I guess. I rather vote for candidates that think what they do with their dicks and what i do with mine is absolutely nobody elses business. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/91 "2013-07-24T16:40:49Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > But of course, you’re a conservative, so you have to either pretend Democrats have no values or they are also hypocrites, because the truth that Republicans are just such hypocritical liars and asshats as public servants cannot be considered by you :rolleyes: You’re not in the Pit, so don’t turn this into a personal argument. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/92 "2013-07-24T18:17:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s much safer to be a candidate that concedes he has no morals. No one can accuse the Democrats of hypocrisy on that score, I guess. Its safer not to make your superior morality a centerpeice of your platform if you have a mistress in South America or a list of prostitutes to choose from on Tuesday nights. > [@Renee\_RL](#): > > I agree…you have further to fall when you hold yourself to high standard. Well, they don’t really hold themselves to that standard, just others. > [@Bricker](#): > > Which party fought to enact the anti-slavery Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution? Which party fought against it? Yeah, right :rolleyes: The Republican party of today bears almost no resemblance to the Republican party of 30 years ago never mind 130 years ago. > [@Marley23](#): > > And repeatedly lying to constituents about same. I learned my lesson about caring when politicians lie about sex. I thought it mattered that Clinton cheated on his wife and lied about it, I thought it was a big deal…and then we invaded Iraq. I don’t give a shit about that sort of stuff anymore unless the guy lives in a glass house and is throwing stones. > [@DigitalC](#): > > I rather vote for candidates that think what they do with their dicks and what i do with mine is absolutely nobody elses business. I want to know but only so we can make fun of him and make him feel very uncomfortable when he shows up on the daily show. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/93 "2013-07-24T19:22:26Z")
> [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > Close. Very close. 😃 Would you say he’s tainted? ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/94 "2013-07-24T19:36:23Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Would you say he’s tainted? To be frank, yes. His pattern of behavior puts him in a pickle. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/95 "2013-07-24T19:43:40Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I expect the people that I entrust to govern to be able to govern their own sexual appetites, and more importantly, I expect them to be honest. I expect them to be honest about things that are my business. It’s simply not true that honesty about X necessarily indicates honesty about Y. That’s simply not how human beings are made. Or have you never told a white lie? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/96 "2013-07-24T20:47:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Which party fought to enact the anti-slavery Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution? None that now exists. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/97 "2013-07-24T20:55:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I expect them to be honest about things that are my business. Just as an exercise, who gets to decide which things are your business? You, or the politician who is asking for your vote and who has an incentive to cover up everything that doesn’t make him look great? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/98 "2013-07-24T21:10:43Z")
those of you in NYC will get to take part in his next erection. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/99 "2013-07-24T21:25:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I expect them to be honest about things that are my business. It’s simply not true that honesty about X necessarily indicates honesty about Y. That’s simply not how human beings are made. Or have you never told a white lie? I may have told a white lie, but I have never "described [my] actions as “dumb,” “destructive” and “deeply, deeply hurtful” or said “I have made terrible mistakes. I have not been honest with myself or my family. … I should not have done this, and I should not have done this particularly when I was married,” and then gone on to do the exact same thing, while still married, and expected people to vote for me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335/100 "2013-07-24T21:55:30Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > True. But we’re living in different times. The media is bigger now than it ever has been. You can’t even take a shit with out at least one blogger or news reporter taking notice. That’s exactly the point. In the past, it was covered up. Now, it can’t be covered up. So in conjunction with our technology and communications changing, our expectations about other people’s personal propriety should also change. > [@Marley23](#): > > Just as an exercise, who gets to decide which things are your business? You, or the politician who is asking for your vote and who has an incentive to cover up everything that doesn’t make him look great? I had to laugh out loud at the Bricker-ness of the depth and gravity of this utter confusion regarding human beings. Just as an exercise, we handle it how you handle human relationships every day. There are several levels of judgement that we as human being employ every day. One level is pure legality. We expect everyone to obey the law, so we expect officials to obey the law. Another level is whether the action represents a misuse of one’s office for personal gain or for public harm. Yet another is purely cultural judgment. This board has witnessed many arguments along the lines of “What happens in a person’s bedroom is not the business of the public.” Well, okay, just apply that to officials. And since we get to apply this standard on an individual, vote-by-vote basis, eventually a cultural norm is achieved. Such norms have changed before and they will change again. This is merely my opinion of roughly where that balance should come out. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I may have told a white lie, but I have never "described [my] actions as “dumb,” “destructive” and “deeply, deeply hurtful” or said “I have made terrible mistakes. I have not been honest with myself or my family. … I should not have done this, and I should not have done this particularly when I was married,” and then gone on to do the exact same thing, while still married, and expected people to vote for me. Eh, so what? We accept lies like that every day from politicians, if not about sex, then how much they care about X and intend to do something about it. Ultimately, if they have done a good enough job in office, then we overlook it. That’s being a grownup in society. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthony-weiner-douchebag-extrordinaire/664335.md?page=6)