RSSShould Republicans Be Roasting Weiner?
June 14, 2011
kosmo - See all 763 of my articles
Frankly, Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner is in a lot of hot water these days. He sent racy photos (of his, well … use your imagination) to several women over the internet and lied about it when he was confronted. (His acting was definitely not Oscar-worthy.) When he finally came clean, it turns out that he was having online relationships with six women.
The media frenzy around the scandal has reached a boil, and many inside the Washington power circle are attempting the skewer the congressman. The Republicans are relishing this opportunity, pushing Weiner to resign. Members of Weiner’s own party are turning against him, joining the Republicans in the chorus, in an attempt to distance themselves from the congressman.
The most likely situation is that Weiner will resign, a special election will be held, and the democratic candidate will win. The Democrats will continue to represent New York’s 9th congressional district. They’ll lose Weiner’s seniority, but also distance themselves a bit from Weinergate. It’s possible that a Republican can would, but it would be an uphill climb in the left-leaning 9th district.
My question is this: why are the Republicans in such a hurry to see him go? Time and time again, the opposition party tries to force someone to resign when they become embroiled in ethical issues. Wouldn’t it be better to allow Weiner to keep his seat?
Here’s my logic. If Weiner resigns and is replaced, the scandal will eventually fade, another Democrat will be elected to represent New York’s 9th congressional district, and the country will forget about Anthony Weiner (since the vast majority never knew he existed before this scandal). The lasting impact will be minimal.
However … if Weiner stays in office, the Republicans have an albatross to hang around the neck of President Obama and the rest of the Democrats. Find a photo of Democratic Senator John Doe giving Weiner a high five and use it in a commercial to support Doe’s opponent – painting Doe as a friend of Weiner, and painting the Democrats as the Weiner party.
The best plan for the GOP: keep Weiner in the House!
Jun 15, 2011 @ 06:48:56
Kos, I see where you’re going and you make a good point. Now there’s even a criminal investigation launched against him because he contacted a high school student that he spoke with. Hopefully he didn’t send pix of his roasted weiner to her too, but we’ll see.
Only thing I disagree with is that the republicans are the ones pushing weiner to resign more than his democratic colleagues. When asked the R’s are giving their honest assessment but Pelosi aned Obama seem to be pushing him proactively. It’s pretty smart on their part and I think the republicans probably should take your advise and just let his hole get deeper on it’s own.
This thing isn’t going away unless “The Weiner” runs for the hills. Even then his problems will be far from over. He just won’t be in the spotlight which seems to be a much better option.
Jun 15, 2011 @ 14:34:26
Yeah, the contact with the high school kid would be a huge problem. Hopefully he wasn’t stupid enough to send her pictures.
My memory is that I first heard GOPers call for his resignation, than later the Dems. I may be wrong about that. In any case, it’s definitely a smart move for the Dems to break any ties with Weiner and try to force him out. If this was a heavily contested district, there might be hand wringing over the possibility of losing the seat in a general election … but it’s a virtual certainty than anyone with a D after their name will win the special election.
Jun 15, 2011 @ 17:08:12
What was bad for “The Weiner” just got worse. There is now a former porn star turned night club entertainer coming forward. She is claiming that weiner had contact with her. He apparently turned it sexually but she never reciprocated.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110615/ap_on_re_us/us_weiner_twitter_photos
Chick is hot so I’m not sure what weiner was thinking, he’s about 35,000 feet out of his league.
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Former-porn-actress-Ginger-Lee-left–and-attorney-Gloria/photo//110615/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_a9a1e8d159cd485b8a8f69732333cf13//s:/ap/20110615/ap_on_re_us/us_weiner_twitter_photos
I think you’re on to something Kos. Sit back and let Weiner’s castle crumble around him. I feel bad for his wife and unborn child though. Dude hasn’t even been married a year and has already wreaked this much havoc? What a shit head.
Everytime Obummer gets off teleprompter and tries to tell a joke he says the wrong thing. I do love watching that too.
Jun 15, 2011 @ 17:09:16
Oh…and I forgot to mention that Slick Willy Clinton presided over their wedding. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophesy.