…and that all his previos statements were lies.
I hope his wife has lined up a good divorce lawyer-and takes him to the cleaners.
I could not think of any examples where a Republican politician was stupid enough to try to cover up his own misdeeds by claiming that they were due to a crime committed against him. That is why I said I would accept as proof of your lack of bias any instance of you courteously accepting a Republican politician’s denial as the truth (on any topic), when he was later proven wrong.
I contend there are no such examples, though of course with 52,000 posts to your name over 9 years I cannot feasibly prove it. However, you can easily prove me wrong by producing just one example.
So, your position in this thread is that politicians lie all the time, should not be expected to be truthful, and yet if they say the magic words “I am a victim of a crime” when denying some scandalous allegations, you will for the sake of decency take them at their word and viciously defend them against any attempts by the media to determine the truth (as you did in this thread)?
That makes no sense. So there are two possibilities here: either you’re a gullible, irrational moron (which I doubt highly), or you were a little too willing to jump to Weiner’s defense, are unwilling to admit it, and are trying to retroactively describe some kind of twisted, contorted logical/moral framework under which it was rational and unbiased for you to vociferously jump to Weiner’s defense based on his word alone (and overlook the obvious irregularities in his statements), while it was never in the past decade justified to extend the same courtesy to any Republican.
I’ll start us off. Weiner’s weiner is sent to the cleaners.
Let me add that I am perfectly willing to admit that I’m biased. In general, I think Democrat politicians are more trustworthy than Republicans, not to mention better-educated and generally smarter (whether that leads to better political decisions is a different question).
I believed Weiner’s story about a hack, until he made that ridiculous statement that he couldn’t be sure if it was his own crotch.
At that point, it became clear to all involved that something more was going on. And yet you, blind to anything but the D next to his name, swooped in and absolutely attacked anyone and anything remotely questioning his bullshit story. I mean, seriously, a reporter who showed up at his office looking for an interview should have been tazed? What the fuck is wrong with you?
I’ve always respected your opinions even if I didn’t agree with them. Perhaps that’s because I rarely spend enough time on the SDMB to follow these multi-page political threads. But you have absolutely zero credibility left at this point.
Fellow Dopers, PLEASE! Why are we fighting among ourselves like this when there is a politician who is a) dumb and b) a liar who we can all heap scorn upon!!!
I’m about as Left-leaning Liberal as they come, and I predict Weiner will either not run again or he’ll be soundly defeated in a Primary election.
I’ve known since 2008 that this guy was a tool, when, in his support of Hillary Clinton, he alleged that Barack Obama’s use of the option to vote ‘Present’ was an effort to “not have a clear record going forward.” It was, at a minimum, a gross distortion of reality, if not an outright knowing lie, and I know he knew it at the time. We should hold our Representatives to better standards of honesty than what’s been evidenced by this wiener.
Who’s going to primary a six-term Congressman just because he’s guilty of thinking with his dick (but didn’t actually have sex with anyone)? I can see the campaign ad now: “Sure Anthony Weiner has been a strong advocate for your interests in Congress and brought home the bacon for a decade, which is going to end if you elect me because I won’t have any seniority, but on the other hand, he tweeted some shirtless pictures! Say no to Weiner. Vote Johnson in '12.”
Weiner probably still thinks he can become mayor. If he thought his career was over he’d have just quit, but he evidently believes that he’s embarrassed himself but can ride this out. And honestly, assuming nothing else comes out, there’s a pretty good chance he’s right. The voters can decide if he deserves to lose his job and his wife can decide what’s to become of their marriage, but compared to some other scandals, he doesn’t look that bad. The election is almost 18 months off and 2012 may be a tough year for the Democrats as is. Anybody who wants to challenge Weiner will probably be encouraged to take a hike.
I can’t believe he’s politically tone deaf enough to admit this on a Monday, instead of a Friday at 4 pm eastern.
I also can’t believe **Dio **is unwilling to admit his overzealous, misguided blind support of somebody because he has a (D) next to his name.
It was his use of the option to not be on record for something he’d get slammed for. That has nothing to do with Weiner’s penis.
(Sorry. I had to say ‘weiner’s penis’.)
For a bit more zing, remove “tweeted some shirtless pictures” and insert “hadn’t the guts to avow his acts, so he stood up in front of the world and lied like a rug to try to save his cowardly ass” - that would probably have a bit more traction in your hypothetical campaign.
How in the fuck is lying about your sex life worse than lying to your wife?
This is about as stupid as Clinton ‘not having sexual relations with that woman’.
Who cares?! I don’t! I don’t care if Republicans are playing footsie in the men’s bathroom and I don’t care who’s sending crotch shots.
I really, really don’t.
Anyway, Clinton got a blow job by a Jewess on Easter (probably while eating pizza, too) and he seems to be doing just fine.
shrug
I agree with whomever said that all the new weiner jokes were worth it, though.
You wouldn’t lie to save your job and your marriage?
I would.
So I figure out how to take a photo with my phone and I send it to some random woman on the net. What fun is that? Why even bother?
Yes, he lied about sending the shirtless/engorged photos. And now we’re firmly into Clinton territory. He’s not my Congressman; I’m just saying he’s shown no indications he’s going to go away and it’s not a guarantee he’ll be weak enough to challenge in 2012. Even if that might be the right thing to do.
We have no idea how long it has been since Weiner has had actual sex. It could have been a while.
Obligatory <sting>
Fine - probably many people would. But if you’re a public figure and your lies are exposed, you’d have to be 17 kinds of naive to imagine people will soon forget, or that the press and your political opponents would ever let them.
I don’t begin to say his career is over. But this will be remembered against him for a long time.
Oh, gosh, maybe Assemblywoman Michele Titus, Assemblyman Alan Maisel, Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, I don’t know, pick a name.
I’d imagine all he’s thinking about right now is saving his hide with his wife and hoping his career isn’t destroyed by his gross dishonesty. This isn’t a sliding-scale matter compared to other scandals, it’s only about whether Weiner’s constituents have lost faith in him. Weiner’s District is so heavily Democratic that there’s not a chance in hell any Republican could reasonably win it in 2012, whether they’re running against Weiner or any other Democrat.
This is just as flat out wrong now as it was when Weiner flung the allegation 3 years ago. And at least Weiner is smart enough to know better. You, I have no idea. But both you and Weiner are wrong in this characterization.
And the voters will be persuaded because of what? Because they hate infidelity so much? Giuliani cheated on his wife for years, got re-elected, and served out his term. Being a cheat or an embarrassment does not always cost you your job in politics (or anyplace else).
I’m sure he realized people would not soon forget and that’s why he lied in the first place. 
“Present” is akin to “pleading the 5th”. You don’t incriminate yourself. He was an elected official who abstained from voting.
There’s no ‘allegation’ about it. No one wants to vote for something before they vote against it.