What does it profit a man ~

[sabrina 1]

What did Democrats gain from the position they took on Rep. Weiner?

So, as predicted, Rep. Anthony Weiner's seat went to a Republican. An historic event since it hasn't happened in that District for decades.

One thing Washington Politicians should have learned after the politically motivated, hypocritical, puritanical, witch hunt over the private sex life of a US President was that the American people like sexual witch hunts less than they like judgemental moralists peeking in the windows of public figures.

The Party of the Moral Majority made a huge mistake when they went after Clinton, at least in their assessment of what the reaction of the American people would be.

Apparently few who live in the DC bubble have much connection with the real world, where people have a lot more to worry about than the personal sex lives of public figures. If an elected official is doing his or her best to represent them, that is the number one priority for most Americans.

Rep. Weiner retained the support of his constituents throughout the witch hunt by Andrew Breitbart and his band of dirty tricksters on Twitter. If the Democratic Leadership had made it clear that he had not done anything illegal and the 'affair' was his and his wife's business, so therefore they had no comment, that would have resonated with most people.

Instead, they chose to put on the mantle of moral authoritarians which they seem to think will get them brownie points from Republicans, and like Mother Superiors in a Catholic High School, expressed their displeasure with the 'behavior' of a grown man regarding his sex life.

It wasn't Democrats they were worried about. We are not the hypocrites who judge people on their personal sex lives. Nor was it his chances of reelection, which seemed not to be affected.

So, why did the Leadership take to the airwaves on a weekend, when under normal circumstances we rarely see them, to let it be known they wanted Anthony Weiner to resign? What were they hoping to gain from this?

Have Republicans praised them for their 'moral stand' in favor of Family Values?

Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, ACORN, Anthony Weiner, all targets of Andrew Breitbart, all gone before even waiting to get the facts as soon Breitbart targeted them.

Do they think that by jumping every time Breitbart tells them to, he will stop?

Breitbart probably expected his job as a destroyer of Liberal Democrats to be a lot harder than it has been, I think he even said he was surprised at what happened to Weiner. His party doesn't cave so easily when one of theirs is caught in a sex 'scandal'.

I wonder who will be next on his list. And what 'crime' will the next Liberal Democrat have committed?

What did the Democratic Party gain by going after one of their own?

All I see right now is a lost Congressional Seat. And a great voice for the people silenced.

I don't see Republicans applauding Democrats for their 'morality' either.

Priorities

What the Anthony Weiner affair made clear to me was what the priorities of the Democratic Party Leadership are.



War Criminals? ~ Shhhh, we cannot look backwards, it's important that we just move forward right now

I have heard no words of condemnation for the torturers. No weekend taking to the airwaves to demand accountability from those guys!



A Liberal Democrat engaging in Cyber Sex? We can't get to the microphone fast enough to register our disapproval and to make it clear that such a person does not belong in Congress.




But one man is grateful to the Dem Leadership. How much have we heard about his transgressions since Rep. Weiner left Congress?

Is it just me, or are war crimes and the law breaking and conflicts of interest of a SC Justice far more important issues than the sex life of a US Congressman?

Because I have yet to hear a word of disapproval from the Party Leadership for Clarence Thomas or for the Bush war criminals and even if it is just me, until I do, I cannot take their outrage over a sex scandal seriously.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Damn well said!

I agree completely.

Recommended.

[hifiguy]

2. More than happy to rec, sabrina!!

As is usual for you, this kicks butt!
:hi:

[Motown_Johnny]

3. You lost me at "huge mistake when they went after Clinton"

Do you honestly think W could have gotten elected without shoving Clinton's indiscretions down out throats (so to speak) for years?



Gore was damaged simply for being in the same administration.

[sabrina 1]

5. Maybe, but clearly they failed to

remove him from office. That was the goal, it was an attempted coup and the people said 'no' so, they failed.

I don't think Gore was affected by his association with Clinton, he won the election. And he should have had Clinton around more. He distanced himself from Clinton, so we'll never know.

[Motown_Johnny]

21. No, the Senate said no when they found him not guilty. The People had no say

at all.



Gore distanced himself from Clinton because he was affected by the association. We do know.

[Bunny]

48. They said no because the American public was overwhelmingly

disgusted by the whole procedure. Believe me, if the public had been screaming for Clinton's head, the Senate would have served it up on a platter. But they knew they couldn't remove Clinton without paying dearly for it so, in a way, the People did decide that case.

[Motown_Johnny]

78. Yes we were all disgusted by it

but the idea that it didn't benefit the (R)s in the next election is not valid IMO, and that is what the OP seems to be missing.

[sabrina 1]

50. The Senate had little choice. Even my Repub Congressman

at the time on LI, told the press the calls were running overwhelmingly against him voting for Impeachment, but he did so anyhow, and lost the next election. And he has never returned to politics. The people were disgusted by the whole process and viewed it as something we should not even have known about.

The Senate knew if they wanted to hold their seats, especially after their own hypocrisy was revealed by Larry Flynt, they better not go ahead with trying to remove a president over his personal sexual behavior. The whole thing was ludicrous, as was the issue with Weiner. And it looks like dems have paid for their moral purity in removing someone whose constituents did not want him removed.

[Honeycombe8]

82. Being held accountable for lying under oath is never ludicrous, ESPECIALLY

when it's a person in a position of authority. The idea in America being that no one is above the law.

They didn't have to seek impeachment, though. That was beyong the pale, and cost a lot of money besides. We had a lot more important things going on in the country to mess with that. Still, it was Clinton's own actions that caused the sequence of events. He was not blameless.

Weiner - he made his own decision. Weiner had gone wacko. He had to leave Congress to get professional help and try to salvage whatever would be left of his life. His image forever will be cross-imaged with a pic of penis for millions of Americans, which means nothing else he did, or may ever do, may matter much in comparison. It's tragic. He ruined his career. But HE did it to himself.

Elect women. They focus on the job, not getting admiration for their genitals.

[avaistheone1]

4. I am totally with you,

:kick:

[JoePhilly]

6. Dems did not go after Weiner.

Personally, I think he should have stayed in office. But he did this to himself.

I remember when Clinton was on TV and said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman ...." ... my wife and I both screamed ... OH CRAP!!

If Clinton was not President, he'd have had to step down. replacing a President over a BJ is silly.

A Congressman has no such hold on his/her office.

Weiner was dumb. There is no one else to blame.

I think what he plans to do is take a few years off, and then return to politics. He'll be contrite, and say he screwed up.

And move on.

[sabrina 1]

7. Well, it would have been better if he had just said 'so what' I suppose

but what human being has ever done that when they are caught cheating on their spouses? The instinct is to worry first about what your wife/husband is going to think and to deny it as the first line of defense. That is merely human. People understand that.

I think he should have stayed, but once the Leadership took to the airwaves to basically tell him to go, he had no alternative. So, they did drive him out.

[JoePhilly]

8. No ... he went on TV right away, before anyone knew the truth and he LIED.

He made that decision. From the start HE said he was being set up. And when it became clear that he was lying .. THAT is when the leadership backed away.

And I'm sorry, but how does a grown man not think that, sending pictures of his dick to women he has never actually met, is a good idea.

If you want to lose the support of the average American ... THAT is a great way to do it. Guys who CHEAT know that you leave no trail of evidence.

I think he ended up out because of how STUPID his actions were ... not the sex part, just the stupid part. He became a joke.

I'd have been happy of he stayed, I would have preferred that. But if I was asked if he was an idiot, I would have to say YES.

And so would each an every one of his colleagues. They did not put HIM in and awkward position, he put THEM in an awkward position.

[sabrina 1]

10. Sorry, I just don't get the outrage, now when we live in a country

that allows 44,000 of its citizens to die for lack of access to HC and someone like Weiner fights to change that, for the people. So, he likes cyber sex, he was being pursued by a gang of rightwing dirty tricksters, he lied about it. But he didn't lie about torture or letting Americans die for greed or anything that I consider important, in the scheme of things.

I would love to see the Leadership take as much time to go after criminals as they did to go after him. I would like them to care a lot more about dying Americans than a Congressman who embarrassed himself. Just can't see the outrage, when we have so much else to be outraged over. Including REpublicans still in Congress whose sexual escapades were a lot worse considering the hypocrisy involved.

[JoePhilly]

47. What outrage are you talking about?

The liberal media covered it ENDLESSLY ... my favorite example ... Ed Schultz.

Obama goes to a battle ground state to visit a green jobs company. Obama talks JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.

On Ed the same night ... Ed takes about 1 minute to mention that Obama had a town hall. He shows no video, shows no quotes.

Then, Ed spends 20 minutes on Weiner's junk.

After that, Ed spends 10 minutes screaming that Obama isn't talking about jobs enough.

[sabrina 1]

54. Ed would have shut up about it if the leadership had

simply stated that a person's personal lives are the business of their families and constituents. He was taking the Party's lead. That's what the liberal media does, same as the rightwing media. Which is why I'm not crazy about partisan media and would prefer just plain journalism.

[JoePhilly]

55. No, Ed knew that ratings go UP when you talk about a Congressman

tweeting pics of his JUNK.

The media lives on the sensational ... they live on inflaming the debate ... building the controversy ... anger.

That's what Ed did.

[sabrina 1]

56. And for how long could have continued to do that if it became

clear that the Dem Party was not on board with bringing down a Democratic Congressman? It never worried the Republicans when the media covered their guys sexual exploits, we cave so easily! Not only did they ignore it, they defended them and issued the kind of statements Dems should have, 'it is up to his constituents'. And they were reelected, showing that supporters, ordinary people, no matter how much the media dwells on these things, can and often do think for themselves. Weiner had won his Dist 17 times, and most likely would have won again.

As for the photos, who cares for crying out loud, we are DEMOCRATS, not fundie, religious Republicans!

[AverageJoe90]

70. I agree with that one, Sabrina. n/t

[truebrit71]

46. Wasserman-Shulz couldn't WAIT to get him out of congress...

Don't give me that bullcrap...

[JoePhilly]

49. Well, that argument convinced me!!!!

[ooglymoogly]

75. Bull shit...plain and simple. nwat

[Raine]

9. You're correct. I'm just sorry I didn't

see where this whole thing was going sooner. I would've been supportive of Weiner from the get-go. :-(

[sabrina 1]

11. What bothers me is there is never a fight on our side.

when the rightwing terrorists go after one of our own, They are dropped right away, which only emboldens them to keep on doing it.

Vitter and Craig were not forced out of Congress and they, unlike Weiner, are hypocrites besides. But their leadership did not immediately run to the microphone to ask them to quit. And I don't see them having any of the problems we are told Weiner would have had. If Democrats fought back, no one would be bothering them over a sexual exploit, they would know that we would give it right back and would be silenced by that knowledge considering the list of sexual scandals they have to worry about.

I think his constituents, who remained supportive of him, were just disgusted that they did not get to make the decision.

I just wish they'd fight for something worthwhile just once in a while :-)

[datasuspect]

12. the ownership class don't take no guff from the hired help

weiner was a bit too insolent

[sabrina 1]

15. He went after one of their most important

operatives on the SC. What I don't understand is why the Democrats helped them.

[datasuspect]

18. D or R, they are hired help to owners regardless of party affiliation

money transcends partisanship.

tons of money that make certain people obscenely wealthy and powerful.

[LaydeeBug]

13. Preach! I called it "crotch-sniffing" and I meant it...

because it will not stop until we make them see how repugnant it is.

[Claudia Jones]

14. k and r

First rate post. Well done.

[sabrina 1]

16. Thank you, Claudia ~

[Octafish]

17. We the People get the shaft and the BFEE gets the gold.

Slappy Clarence the Koch Whore fell right off the media radar. And Mr. Weiner left Congress with one fewer voice of reason, truth and sanity.

"What the Anthony Weiner affair made clear to me was what the priorities of the Democratic Party Leadership are."

By allowing members of the BFEE to be above the law, the party leadership demonstrates, again, that they seem to be are more interested in saving their own little sliver of a chance for survival.

Going by recent history, the rest of us are left to fend off a fate worse than the loss of a job. When the cannibal days come, the masses will be left to pray for Doomsday.

[sabrina 1]

19. It's so disheartening.

It seems that every person who has the people's interests at heart, don't last very long.

Even more discouraging is how people on both sides, follow the Party Leadership. I am certain that if Weiner had been caught doing exactly the same thing, but had been a supporter of the power structure, that 'incident' would have gone away.

Like Timmy Geithner's tax cheating, and Thomas' also. And if Weiner had been caught doing what either of them did, he would have been driven out. What is tells us is that no one is fighting for the American people.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. I am really sick of Democrats who act as if Job One is not to offend the Republicans

and to scurry around appeasing them when they go into one of their fake outrage snits.

The one that I'm still angry about is the reaction to Paul Wellstone's memorial service.

The Republicans acted "offended," and instead of saying, "How DARE you criticize a memorial service? Next time one of us dies, we'll put on an even more political event, nya-nya-nya-nya," the Democrats APOLOGIZED.

By apologizing all the time, the Dems tell the public that the Republican framing is correct.

[sabrina 1]

22. I couldn't agree more. I am sick to death of the moralizing here too.

'He was a disgrace'!! Give me a break. We have a party that has gone out of its way to defend and protect from prosecution, war criminals, but that same leadership drives a Liberal Democrat whose 'sin' is he had a little cyber sex out of office. I am beginning to rethink what I am doing in this party. Not once in nearly ten years now have they stood up and fought for anything, and then we have armies of apologists enabling them as they bend over for Republican lunatics every chance they get.

Thank you for your post, at least there are a few people who get it. :-)

[coalition_unwilling]

23. Emphatic K&R! The Democratic Party no longer represents

the working class, I'm sorry to say. Dems now represent the rentier class, the same class that bankrolls the Repukes.

[sabrina 1]

24. Yes, I remember at first when we read that some of Bush's

former donors were backing Obama in the 2008 election, I thought it was a rejection of Republican policies. I didn't realize what it really meant. How wrong I was.

I couldn't agree more with what you said and have no clue what can be done about it.

[coalition_unwilling]

25. I plan to vote Demcratic Socialist at the top of the ticket and for

some down-ticket races also. I have not decided whether I will spend time and money on the Dem Socialist effort, since it's pretty much considered a 'lost cause'.

[sabrina 1]

26. I think the focus should be on Congress

this time. I am hoping the Unions will put their money, as they have said they are considering doing, behind 'labor friendly' candidates, and we support all progressive candidates who are not taking money from Corporate America, maybe we could begin to start turning this around. It should almost be a requirement for any Democratic candidate who wants our votes, that they refuse money from Corporations. That money is bribery imo. But it will take a lot of time and effort and money to do that.

A labor movement seems to be growing and I think that is not only a good thing, but so necessary right now.

But things cannot go on the way they are. Something has to change.

[SmileyRose]

27. kick

[truth2power]

28. I said it then and I'll say it now. The Dems did Breitbart's work for him....

Furthermore, they encouraged him to target someone else at the first opportunity. Because he's nothing but a two-bit bully who got exactly what he wanted.

And those who want to get all exercised over this particular lie can peddle it somewhere else. There are lies and there are LIES. "we cannot look backwards, it's important that we just move forward right now" is a LIE. Deals were made. Political expediency was at work. The effects of this latter will be felt for generations.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. This line offends me to the core:

"We are not the hypocrites who judge people on their personal sex lives."

Really? Then why does the President shout about my relationship lacking the 'sanctity of God' and shit?
If you do not judge me, how come you allow the President to do so?
It is a joke and a half that in a nation where most of the States allow people to be fired simply for being gay or being thought to be, to hear wails over this liar who RESIGNED. He was not fired, as gay people are every day.
Where are the posts, even one, about the fact that in more than 30 States,people are fired, denied housing, evicted and not hired because they are glb or especially T? Those are working people who did not resign, did not lie. Why all the energy for rich old Tony? Why not a whit of either for the thousands your community mistreats daily, weekly, constantly?
Oh, but Democrats are not hypocrites who judge sex lives, no, most of you just let the President do that for you. "I'm a Christian, so I believe marriage is for one man and one woman, Sanctified by God" That is what YOU support with your silence. To feign concern over Tony is as hypocritical as it gets.
Pick an ethos and stick with it, why don't you?

[sabrina 1]

31. Why should it offend you to the core?

It was meant to be tongue in cheek. Clearly the Dem Party, which I thought I made clear, can no longer make that claim.

Tony is a liar? But no one else in DC ever lies? Or do you think lies about sex are more important than, say, lies about war or about SS?

And as far as gay rights, there was no one Congress with a better record on Gay rights than Rep. Weiner. He of all people not only did not judge people's sex lives, he fought for the rights of everyone especially gays.

As for the rest of your post, I don't know really what it means. Maybe if you clarify it. But I can assure you I am not 'feigning' concern over Weiner, I AM concerned every time a real Liberal Democrat is run out of politics, especially by the Dem. Party.

[seabeyond]

35. yes. you are right. we pick and chose. and then lecture and call names. nt

[sabrina 1]

38. True, we do pick and choose, and it's too bad that

we always seem to be more outraged over people's personal sex lives than the rape, torture and murder of detainees and the conintuing slaughter of men women, women and children in countries we don't belong in, but no one in the Dem Party's leadership seems too concerned about those lies.

They had an obligation to go after those war criminals, but instead they go after someone who engaged in a perfectly legal act. I wish some day since they are picking and choosing, they would choose more wisely for the sake of this country.

I'm still waiting to hear from the leadership about the bill in Congress to make it necessary for SC court justices to recuse themselves from cases in which they have a conflict of interest. Thomas role in Citizens United has devasted the election process in this country, but not a word from the Leadership about that. If they have to pick and choose, maybe they do so on behalf of the American people.

[seabeyond]

40. once again throwing out apples and oranges to dodge the subject

because all issues are not taken care of, we take care of none. what an imbecile sense of logic.

[sabrina 1]

41. We are talking about the Democratic Leadership.

Their actions affect all of us. When they take the trouble to go back to work on a weekend to help remove a Democratic Congressman because they do not approve of his behavior, reasonable people have a right to ask and wonder what their priorities are.

I have yet to see them put even a fraction of this effort into removing Clarence Thomas from the SC. Or into even mentioning the lies and crimes of anyone in the Bush administration.

QED, we know now what their priorities are. No apples and oranges. They represent the people, their neglect, no worse, their stated commitment NOT to do to Republicans what they did to Weiner for something that is minor by comparison, has been and will be commented on. It is all apples because all of it affects US.

[midnight]

30. It really concerned me that "the agenda" in Washington got

Anthony Weiner to resign instead of a criminal judge... Washington has to get "its agenda" straightened out.

[suffragette]

32. As we discussed before: Breitbart, Murdoch, Drudge and Issa

The propelled this and were not countered:

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1275112#1275283

I find that whole situation of the Murdoch crews arriving before police even more interesting after what we have since learned of the Murdoch connections to police in the UK.

[sabrina 1]

37. Hi sufragette, thanks for reminding of that.

It is even more interesting now that we know about the hacking scandal and the connection of Murdoch to the police in the US, and while we don't know yet, maybe to the police here.

It is very possible that Murdoch's goons were watching Weiner, but regardless, since the family did not call the police, or the press, someone did. Too bad no one followed up on that part of the story.

Thank you for the reminder. My guess is either Fox itself, or one of Breitbart's thugs. Interesting how the press never bothers with these details.

Btw, not sure if you knew, but the DSK timeline shrunk to approx. 5 to 7 minutes. We were right that he may have made phone-calls, he made one to his daughter at 12.13 so, not much time left for the rest of that story. :-)

[suffragette]

67. After the UK revelations, the question may become did Fox

call the police OR did the police call Fox?

Follow-up to that could potentially get very interesting, indeed.
Thanks for the update on DSK. Been swamped here.

[bvar22]

33. It has become frightfully clear...

...that the "Centrists" and their Rich Corporate Owners would rather see seats go to Republicans than to real Pro-Working Class/Pro-Consumer "Democrats".
Their financial interests are only threatened by actual Democrats.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[sabrina 1]

36. Yes, they prefer a Republican, and this is isn't the first time

When the leadership came out and basically told him to go, Wasserman and Pelosi, it was not hard to guess the seat would go to a Republican, but it didn't seem to bother them.

[COLGATE4]

34. Artfully put, a very hard truth that many on DU will find hard to take,

bur necessary. Unfortunately we Democrats have an absolute gift for shooting both our feet off just as we're supposed to start a 100-yard dash.

[sabrina 1]

44. I don't think it would be so hard a truth though

if the Republican leadership had been responsible for ousting him. Which raises, for me anyhow, were we just fighting Republicans during Bush's eight years, because I see so many things the left doesn't seem to care about so much anymore. And I am convinced they would have been united in trying to help Weiner keep his seat and to keep going after Thomas, who actually is doing tremendous harm to this country.

[Jakes Progress]

39. K&R And not the first time.

I believe that Gore, a candidate I worked for heavily and supported mightily, helped himself lose the election when he put on the "mantle of moral authoritarians" by more or less shunning Clinton in his campaign. There was the not to faint smell of self-sanctity regarding Clinton during his campaign. He could have used the crowds and popular appeal of the big dog. Instead, he remained above it all and picked the asswipe prude prune lieberman for his running mate. Gore is a good guy, but that bit was a bad move.

[sabrina 1]

57. I agree with that. I think Gore was badly advised.

Clinton left office a very popular president, I think Gore should have used him more. And I wonder whose idea it was to pick Liebermann for VP? I did not know him then, but it scares me to death to think he could have ended up in the WH.

[Dragonfli]

42. The Puritanical ideal is all about making sure no pagans are dancing naked in the woods while

The town leaders take the lands of simple midwives and farmers unmolested.

I suppose the only thing that has improved is they no longer burn us while stealing our lands.
They prefer instead the ritual burning of a thousand tweeted condemnations to brand "the witch" burned politically.


They always consider human behavior that does no harm the greatest of sin while those that steal and lie and burn those they find inconvenient the greatest of saints, the problem is always the God they create in their image, in this case the God is called Corporation with many priests devoted to business as usual, business that takes from the many to give to the few.

They will always invent a God to do the bidding of the wealthy and make heretics of those that would oppose them. The names change the paradigm remains the same.

It is always a ploy to steal from the people while remaining the holiest of men in their own eyes.

[sabrina 1]

45. We laughed at Ashcroft for covering up the bosoms

on the statue of Justice. Now, we are no better. Reaching for the smelling salts because a man engaged in cyber sex. The goal posts moved so often on this, 'it's about the sex, no, it's about the cheating, wait, it's about the lies' etc. each time one of the arguments was shot down. So you have to believe someone wanted him gone badly. And it's not hard to figure out who.

The difficult part is why the Democrats insist on helping the other side, almost without fail. Unless of course it's Timmy Geithner who was caught cheating on his taxes, a far worse and actual crime, than anything Weiner did. Yet, Timmy is still around, screwing up the economy, so I agree with your post.

Timmy Geithner = Tax Cheat. Works for Wall St. No problem.

Anthony Weiner = Gets caught having cyber sex, works for the people. BIG PROBLEM.

It's sickening really.

[WinkyDink]

61. Your point would be stronger if you deleted "and lie."

[Dragonfli]

62. No actually, they lie often and about almost anything, even when there is no reason to.

[jannyk]

43. K&R!

[saras]

51. +(10^100)^(10^100)

If you aren't having sex with them, their sex life is none of your business. Period.

That's MY bottom line as a Democrat.

Consent is an entirely different issue, and is best dealt with by separating consent issues from sexual issues (i.e rape is a crime of force and coerced 'consent', not a crime of sex, any more than a gang of muggers beating you up with a baseball bat is a crime of baseball.)

[sabrina 1]

53. I always thought that was the position of most Democrats, saras.

The Republicans remained fairly quiet on Weiner's problems because they are no longer in a position to make the personal sexual lives of elected officials an issue. We had a golden opportunity to remove this 'weapon' from the political arsenal of Republicans. All the leadership had to do was to say it was not their business, it was his family's and constituents business and end the conversation.

[11 Bravo]

52. Sorry I can only rec this once.

[rasputinkhlyst]

58. Don't be silly...

The Corporate Parties--the ReDems-- flushed out another liberal. Does anyone think given that rule by our one corporate party with two names is an election choice in Amerika? Open your eyes folks!

[sabrina 1]

64. They do seem to be blending into one don't they?

But there is some hope in the Dem Party. I've been thinking that maybe we should be doing what they did, infiltrating the Republican Party. Have to think of every way to get things back to some form of sanity. Maybe we can even take over the Republican Party if we work hard enough at it.

Don't mind me, I'm just thoroughly frustrated ~ welcome to DU, btw :-)

[Honeycombe8]

81. What if John Boehner had sent your mother pics, thru the internet, of his penis...

without her asking for them, or without them ever meeting? Let's say she sent him an email through his official Facebook page.

Would that be okie dokie? Normal? Something someone with good judgment and ability to control his actions would do? Then he started taking beef pics of himself in the House of Representatives locker room...the one that Democrats use, as well, and sending them unsolicited to college coeds he's never met. That's okie dokie?

I suspect you'd be screaming for him to be drummed out of Congress.

If an action shows the person is wacko, then it is what it is. Doesn't matter what political party he belongs to.

Weiner had gone wacko. He made the right decision to withdraw from Congress, seek professional help, and try to salvage whatever is left of his life.

[sabrina 1]

85. What are you talking about?

He did not send anyone's elderly mother any photos. He had a cyber sexual relationship with grown women and they were not upset by the photos. So these women who engage in cyber sex and send photos of themselves naked to men online, are they also wacko? If so, there are an awful lot of wacko people in this world.

I see the problem now. Dems are as puritanical as Republicans after all. They are shocked by any kind of sex that is not the missionary position. I think you need to move into the present, times and technology have changed the nature of sexual behavior, and it's here to stay. Weiner was acting like a good majority of red-blooded American men these days.

How about paying a prostitute to put you in diapers? Is that too wacko for Congress?? Apparently not, that member of Congress was reelected and as far as I know, is still serving.

Seriously, you sound like someone from the fifties. :eyes:

[Art_from_Ark]

59. Once again you've nailed it

I'm too late to recommend this excellent essay, but I'd recommend it a thousand times if I could.

[Luminous Animal]

60. I love this post. Thank you! (n/t)

[OwnedByFerrets]

63. k and r

[blackspade]

65. Right on!

I feel the same way.

They went after Weiner right after the Clarence Thomas scandal broke.

It's just great how Weiner's dong is so much more important to the DC media than a corrupt SC justice.

fucking pathetic.

[Harmony Blue]

66. This sums it up

Never forget. I will never forget this injustice.

[sabrina 1]

71. Me neither, I will not forget it.

[TheKentuckian]

68. Too late to rec but fuckin' A!

[blkmusclmachine]

69. "Justice," if you can AFFORD it:

Everybody else gets the shaft.

[radhika]

72. I recall TV Pundits saying how much Weiner was hated...

in his own Party. He wasn't a team player, or some such rot. I suspect he was just too open in his contempt for the thugs that Pelosi and her Dems tolerate so easily.

Nancy et al - this is on YOU!!!

[sabrina 1]

77. Yes, and we need many more like him then he won't stand out

so much doing what should be viewed as normal considering the insanity that is going on in this country.

But since the Dem party has been taken over by the DLC/Third Wayers, there are fewer and fewer like him. We need to change that, imho.

[crim son]

73. Morality doesn't require applause.

Personally, I couldn't care less about Weiner's pics, however I despised him for lying about them. What did it profit us? I wish our representative had considered that before making his privates public.

[sabrina 1]

76. Except he didn't make them public. So I don't know why

this keeps getting repeated.

Andrew Breitbart and his mob of far right stalkers are responsible for that. And every time they attempt to take down a Democrat, the Dem party helps them out.

What was lost here was not only a good Liberal Congressman who had been elected 17 times by his constituents and would have been again, we lost the opportunity, once again and it's sickening really, to bring down Breitbart by revealing the slimy, whisper and stalking campaign and political dirty tricks he and his freeper lackies were engaged in to try to uncover something, anything in a US Congressman's personal life, to bring him down. If the public knew what they were doing for months before the silly incident with the photo, I know what would have disgusted them more.

FAR worse than what Weiner was doing, was that whole campaign which involved Daryl Issa and exposed orgs that the media SHOULD have covered and people probably should have been investigated because that kind of campaign against a US Congressman, which involved someone like Issa's office also, is a threat to our country. But the story, uncovered by bloggers and the Smoking Gun, was allowed to die and some Cyber Sex which was legal, was the story.

This is why we keep losing. They know we won't fight them. Weiner did, but by now I guess he realizes that when you take on the real enemies of this country, don't expect your party to be with you in the fox hole.

[ooglymoogly]

74. Excellent post....thanx for saying what many of us are feeling

and have felt since Anthony was thrown under the bus...that includes you Pap. Fortunately we have a good record of who you all are....DLC, Bluedogs and Dino's. Rahm and the "0" set the stage when they openly recruited pugthugs to run as Democrats, which tells you all you need to know about DLC, and the "0"; now morphed into the magic disappearing cloak called the Third Way.

[Honeycombe8]

79. He wouldn't have won re-election, anyway. Besides, sometimes you have to do the right thing...

even if it hurts your side down the road. It's possible that at least part of the reason for the election loss in that district was a backlash against Weiner. People fed up with one party, and that just added to it.

It would've hurt the Democrats even more, possibly, to defend Weiner. I and millions of others thought his actions were indefensible. What he did was not just have an affair or something cliche. He did something that was totally bizarre, possibly indicative of a mental problem, something he could've been blackmailed over, and was something most people found disgusting.

He was photographing his genitals and sending them out over the internet to people who didn't ask for them and whom he hadn't even met or was having a relationship with. He wasn't "sexting" a gf. He was married with a pregnant wife who worked, no less, in the State Dept.

He didn't stop there. He made it worse by lying about it repeatedly, after a couple of Democrats had defended him against allegations that hadn't been proven. So he added "betrayal of Congressional comrades" to his list of actions. Oh, and let's not forget...he had also started taking beef pics of himself in the House of Representatives locker room. Trading on his position, I guess. Would he have started taking pics of other representatives without their knowledge?

I really think he wasn't fit to be in Congress. We could forgive that in the human being sense, and we could forgive it of crazy cousin Bob. But that's not something that leads to confidence in a political leader. If he's that bad at making judgments and controlling himself, he shouldn't be in a position of authority. Besides, no one could look at him and hear him talk seriously on a topic without thinking about his penis.

He was no longer a spokesman for any issue. Voters couldn't take him seriously, anymore. He did that to himself.

Just because you like someone or agree with him politically doesn't mean you defend their indefensible actions.

Weiner made his own decision, resulting from his own actions. It's no one else's fault. He had to confess to it all once the pics (suprise!) were released. All of this happening just a few short months after another Congressman had been walked out of Congress after getting caught sending much milder beef pics over the internet. Weiner has some serious issues.

People don't respect your stand on anything, if you don't stand by SOMEthing. If not this, then where do you draw the line? Sending nakes pics of any part of your body to anyone is okay? As long as he votes the way you want? Quid pro quo? What if he'd been Republican? Would that make it bizarre, but because he was a Democrat, not bizarre?

Justice Thomas...there are no pics of his naked penis on the internet. Even if there were, didn't your mom tell you that two wrongs don't make a right? You don't get to keep Weiner just because you think some Republican is a perv. We all wish he hadn't turned out to be mental. But what happened, happened. He made his own decision. It doesn't help trying to blame someone else. He did it.

[sabrina 1]

83. So much is wrong in your post, and all of it has been adressed

many times. But the most important error you made was that he would not have been reelected. That is completely false. His constituents do not share your rather old-fashioned views, maybe because they are NYers, and polls showed even after the photos were released by Breitbart and his Freeper stalkers, they were still behind him.

So, he would have been reelected according to the polls, and his constituents were not at all happy with politicians from other states, interfering in their district and removing someone who had served them so well for 17 years.

You are making the same mistake Democrats always make. Run from the bullies, do what they want and maybe they'll stop taking your lunch one day, and all you do is give credence to their claims. Just once, I would like Democrats stand up and fight.

The fight here should have been against Breitbart and the vile, vicious and possibly illegal campaign he and his freeper cohorts, and the trial led all the way to Issa's office, conducted against a member of Congress for one purpose only, to save Clarence Thomas from Anthony Weiner who correctly was attempting to stop him from destroying this country.

It's stunning to me that you think a photo of a penis sent to grown women is a more egregious offense than a SC Justice who has multiple conflicts of interests and will not recuse himself from cases where they exist, resulting in laws being passed that will be detrimental to this country for decades to come.

Not only that, he was caught cheating on his taxes and the only one attempting to hold him accountable was Anthony Weiner.

Sorry, I just can't bring myself to judge sexual exploits, not even actual sex, as something anyone needs to apologize for or be embarrassed about unless you live back in the dark ages. The only person who had any right to be upset over that, was his wife. Everyone else should just mind their own business.

Oh, and if you were to know the sexual preferences ordinary people have, if you are shocked by what Weiner did, it's best you keep your eyes closed as I doubt you could handle the sex secrets of the average American :-)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

80. Kick nt

[ProgressoDem]

84. Good point.

I thought Dems threw Weiner under the bus because he was harming our interest. Looks like we got smoked.

[sabrina 1]

86. He had been publicly demanded that Clarence Thomas

recuse himself from votes such as Citizens United, he was angry when he found out that Thomas had received tens of thousands of dollars from that group to help get him on the SC and therefore should never have cast a vote on that decision.

He was helping to get a bill before Congress to make it a law for SC Justices to recuse themselves when they had a conflict of interest and he was getting a lot of attention for his campaign against Thomas.

There were other issues with Thomas he was highlighting in Congress and in the media and it was getting hard for Thomas and his corporate backers (Thomas' wife was also involved in some questionable activities which have yet to be looked into) to ignore.

Weiner, and many of us, viewed Thomas as a threat to this democracy and many of his actions, such as the recently revealed lies he told on his tax returns for 20 years, make him unfit to be on the SC.

That was the reason they went after Weiner. A months long campaign against him was conducted by the far right. Andrew Breitbart views Clarence Thomas as a hero. They lucked out when Weiner accidentally pushed the wrong button and for a few seconds the photo appeared and the stalkers were there, glued to their computer screens, or at least one of them. It was the equivalent of having someone with their nose on your bedroom window 24/7, sooner or later they might see you doing something you would not normally do in public.

He was a great fighter for liberal causes, and he is a loss to us. Shame America can't grow up when it comes to adults and sex. Well, actually most of them don't care, it's the media mostly.

[ProgressoDem]

87. Of course those are the reasons the GOP hated Weiner.

But I tend to believe the Dems are just cowards...