To the contrary, he appears to have presented the basis for all of his speculation.
Sorry about that. I received an email and didn’t check it out. Consider comment retracted.
Hell, Pelosi has made the same demand, but it’s not like either of them has any power to make it happen.
Personally, if I were a Dem, I’d be demanding that Weiner step down no later than five minutes after Sen. David Vitter’s resignation. And I’d also be saying that I’d look to GOP handling of Vitter’s committee assignments for the past several years as guidance for what to do about Wiener’s if he stays.
Every now and then you’ve gotta hit back, otherwise people are gonna think they can push you around. The GOP doesn’t want Vitter’s exploits in the limelight, along with a bunch of questions about why they put up with Diaper Dave and his prostitute-administered spankings when they find Weiner’s conduct so shocking.
But did he demand anything? A bunch of Googling was only able to turn up quotes like this: “House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that he also thought Weiner should resign.”
Actually, it does - the Constitution allows the House of Representatives to expel a member by a two-thirds vote. This was done in 2002 to James Traficant of Ohio.
I see nothing in this case that would call for this to be done, but it’s certainly allowed for.
No, he presented some uninteresting and innocuous facts which he then extropolated wildly from. He didn’t have the slightest justification for suggesting that Weiner had any kind of inapproriate relationship with this girl other than that she was a fan he sent tweets to.
Last I checked, the Democrats don’t control 2/3 of the House, so no, the Democrats can’t “make it happen.”
There is no basis to vote for expulsion anyway. Weiner didn’t do anything illegal.
Some Republicans might vote to expel him, too. Whether it ends up being 2/3rds, I don’t know. I suspect that if it got to that point, you’d have a lot of Democrats saying that expulsion was overkill. And I think that if they did kick him out, a lot of Representatives would leave the floor of the house and tell their mistresses “Don’t call me on my office phone anymore, OK?”
(Note what a change these line of argument are from “Democracy doesn’t work that way.”)
As Marley indicates, getting Pubs to vote with Dems on this might not be beyond the realm of possibility. And the Constitution’s provision for expulsion does not require that this be based on illegal acts.
Note that is probably is illegal to use a expired license plate on a car different from the one to which it was issued. (I make this point to counter the argument that he did nothing illegal - I don’t begin to think this calls for expulsion.)
He rather painstakingly established that Weiner sent private messages to this girl. He (and a good many others) feel that private messages from a congressman to a 17-year-old are inappropriate. You may well have a different idea of what “appropriate” covers - there is certainly not a universal standard for this.
The assertion was that the Democrats had to make Weiner resign (that’s what “make it happen” was in rerefernce to). Democracy doesn’t work that way.
Nobody actually feels this way. Politicians have been answering letters from children since time immemorial. It means nothing. No one is bothered by it. Some of you were just HOPING that Weiner was doing something inappropriate.
To be more accurate, you believed - apparently wrongly - that Boehner said this.
He was responding to someone who posted that Boehner said this, it’s not like DtC made it up himself.
Right. The problem is that it’s not going to get that far. Congress rarely expels expel people for out-and-out crimes or for major ethics violations. I mentioned William Jefferson earlier, and then there was Charlie Rangel, who cried over being censured, or Patrick Kennedy’s drinking and driving problem. Expulsions are rare and there’s not much pretext for one here.
This is becoming picayune. There was nothing illegal about any of the texts he sent, and those are what got him in hot water. This thing with his car is unrelated. If the DMV looks into that I think he’s looking at two citations for $65 each. I don’t think the claim was “Weiner has never had any tickets.” If you want to use the word illegal to cover anyone who has ever had a motor vehicle infraction, you’re living in a nation of criminals. 
I think your reading of this situation is naive. Few people would look askance at a Congressman sending a message to someone on Twitter. The conversations got coverage because of the implication that the Sex Fiend Congressman was having secretive conversations with a teenager, meaning he was probably sexting her. Except there’s no evidence that happened, so there is nothing to call inappropriate. He did despoil her virgin ears with the word “shit,” which is mildly rude, but it’s not inappropriate, let alone salacious or sexy.
The day after Weiner’s contact with the high-school girl was disclosed, several prominent Dems who had not yet done so called on him to resign. Here’s what Steve Israel (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman) had to say:
“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.”
I think WE are finished with Weiner, but I doubt that he is. Once an exhibitionist, always an exhibitionist.
Agreed. My point was made to counter Dio assertion that there’s no way to force a resignation.
I basically agree - the issues with his license plate are minor (though can well be taken as another sign that Weiner feels “entitled” and above the laws that apply to ordinary folk). As I think I made clear, this was noted to counter Dio’s contention that Weiner has done nothing illegal.
I may be naive, but I note that a good number of people do indeed seem to be looking askance (at the private messages, mind - not the others). The resignation calls from Pelosi, Wasserman-Schultz and Israel all came on the heels of this and are seen as linked to it by many observers including the NY Times.
Right - he didn’t make it up, but he did embrace it without checking.
How are they “another sign” he thinks he’s above the law? It’s the only law he appears to have broken at all.
The best case scenario is that you’re correct on a technicality that has nothing to do with the actual scandal. None of his texting behavior was illegal. This “illegal” behavior would get you a small traffic ticket.
Because that conversation looked bad in light of the other messages (and because they had nothing to gain by supporting him in light of his behavior and his lying). Certainly you don’t think they would have asked him to resign if he’d sent this girl some messages on Twitter and there were no sexting scandal.