Why can't politicians keep it in their pants? Today's topic, Congressman Anthony Wiener

So what is with these guys, from France's Strauss-Kahn to the a guy I once voted for for New York Mayor, Congressman Anthony Wiener? I know that power corrupts and all, but these guys are beyond the pale and I have decided to become an anarchist.

 

That's his name? Wiener?

 

As my status on facebook clearly illustrates the poutrage of this whole thing: So Anthony Weiner showed his weiner. Big deal. I've seen goatse. And you've seen nothing until you see an inverted *** hole.

Thank you, Satan, good night!

 

Weiner is nowhere near as bad as Strauss-Kahn. One sent a sext. The other is a rapist.

Also, Weiner kept it in his underwear. I think. I haven't seen the pic.

 

He kept it in his jockeys. I have no clue why this is an issue. It's the new norm. The only idiots crowing about this are the gossip queens and the slack-jawed yokels. Anyone with a realistic view of the world would see this story and shrug. Or shake their head. Or facepalm. One of those.

 

Who cares. Haha, his name is Weiner.

Furthermore, who says politicians cheat more than normal people? I'd like to see a study.

But yeah they probably do just because of more opportunity.

 

Who cares?

He's not a hypocritical social conservative.

He didn't break the law, the only apology he owes is to his wife.

 

Yeah, I think this would be funnier if he were a social conservative, but that's because those types are almost always hypocrites. Weiner's only problem here is that he had the fortitude to stand up to Republicans. That's all. And that's why this is a big deal among our largely conservative media.

 

I think it matters because he lied about his account being hacked and then gave lame half-denials like, "I cannot say for sure that it isn't a picture of me." Does he think we are all stupid or something? He should've confessed immediately and gotten in front of the story before it blew up.

I feel bad for his wife.
."

 

The lies and stupid denials certainly make him look worse, but it doesn't deserve resignation since they were only about his personal life. It's not like he wasn't paying taxes, or doign anything illegal, or doing anything that makes it look like he wasn't doing his job in the right way.

If you were an employer, and you found out that one of your employees was sexting someone who wasn't his wife, would you fire him? Unless you're the head of a religious organization, or he's also breaking the law, or it's negatively affecting his job... I don't see why anyone would fire an employee for that, even if he did lie to you about doing that at first since it is his personal life. I apply that same logic here.

 

People are fired for that, or denied degrees. Google "drunken pirate teacher" some time.

Having said that, unless he's running on a moral decency platform, it's embarrassing but not really significant. Plus: he kept it in his pants!

 

That's his name? Wiener?

Well Watto, I don't know if the author was going for the obvious joke, but it's actually spelled W-E-I-N-E-R...

Beyond that, while I'm sure it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but everyone here realizes that the scandal is larger than a single picture of an "underwear bulge," right?

The actual scandal involves him having various phone, chat, and electronic sexual relationships with no less than 6 women, one who might have been younger than 21 depending on when he started with the girl. The one picture that broke is just a single one among dozens of pictures. Although he did say that none of his phone sex affairs ever turned physical, the proof is going to be in the pudding. His denials and made up "I was hacked" were just dumb.

It's also why Nancy Pelosi herself called for an ethics probe into his behavior (and good for her)- because he was stupid enough to take pictures of himself that look to be in his office. It's one thing to go home and do "sexy chat" on one's own time. It's another to suppose to be an elected representative, and waste taxpayer's time sitting around taking underwear shots. You'd get fired if you did that with company equipment and/or while getting paid.

 

Gee, and I thought they still had to have a trial first. Glad we can dispense with that, just takes up too much time, doesn't it?

Also, I know plenty of non politicians that have trouble keeping it in their pants. Does anybody expect politicians to behave differently?

 

A few years ago when the Michael Jackson molestation trial was happening there was a thread in the JCC where people were declaring him guilty including myself. Anyway, the defenders were asking, 'What happened to innocent until proven guilty?' and basically the counter argument to that was that it only applied to the legal system--as a citizen you're perfectly free to pronounce someone guilty. Same principle here with Strauss-Kahn.

And I see 44 is going with the poutrage route. Good on him.

 

I had my doubts about that line of argument back then too. It's just silly, there hasn't been a trial yet, and we - as the public - have not seen any evidence for nor against aside from wildly speculative rumors. Of course, you can jump to conclusions, but I think I'm just as free to point out that you can't prove any of that. Or to use the terminology from the board: PPOR.

He's an accused rapist. Anything beyond that is wild speculation and talking out of your ass, for or against. =)

 

Did he really waste taxpayer time, Mr44? If his affairs didn't negatively impact his work as a representative, then I would say that he didn't. Unless you want to make the argument that all of the time of an elected representative is actually taxpayer time, and is only loaned back to the representative. In that case, he should have spent that time he was sexting instead making dinner for the taxpayer, watching TV for the taxpayer, going out to the movies for the taxpayer, or having a few drinks at the bar for the taxpayer. And then going home and having sex with his lawfully wedded wife, for the taxpayer.

 

Naturally. That's what humans do anyway. With MJ, though, he'd been accused of the same crime twice. Yeah, you can claim the second one was made up for money, but if you're a fan of the adage, "Where there's smoke there's fire," then it definitely didn't look too good for him. With Strauss-Kahn, I definitely think there's something fishy there. However there's been no trial yet so we'll have to wait for all of the evidence to be released. I do think there's some evidence of impropriety as he's been arrested, charged, and denied bail. Whether or not it's enough for a conviction remains to be seen.

What I find interesting is that Mr44 takes the time to be outraged by this in some small fashion when there's actual government waste on the part of the taxpayer. Because obviously a congressman showing his penis through his underwear is the real travesty here.

 

Of course this issue matters. Of course! It's shows a lack of judgement. A dangerous lack of judgement. I had married friends who behaved this way and cut them loose for it. Why wouldn't I need to know if my public representative behaved in this same manner? It's bad judgement and judgement affects his job. End of story.

And can we please remember that Clinton kept Arafat waiting in The Rose Garden while he violated Lewinski with a cigar. His behaviour, above and beyond lying to a grand jury, affected his job.

 

I agree that this is poor judgment, but something to lose your job over? Hardly. And if you cut your friends loose for showing poor judgment on this level then I think that says more about you than it does your friend. No offence, but who calls someone their friend and then abandons them when they act in a manner you disagree with? Sure, if they're murderers, thieves, and generally scum of the Earth then I agree. But you at least try to dissuade a friend you disagree with first before giving up on them.

Yeah, it affected Clinton's job with having to deal with Republicans in congress who decided to make it an issue. That's all.

 

Here's some words of wisdom for you FID; If your ol' lady can't trust you, neither can I. If a man can't keep a promise he made to a woman he loves in front of a god he believes in and all the people he cares about then he can't be trusted to keep any other promise he's made.

 

Of course I expect politicians to behave differently. They have to be a cut above.

BTW: Gingrinch did step down. You may have missed it. And his new attempt now, 15 years later, will fail because of his indescretion.

 

Reality check:

In the private sector if you send sexually explicit emails from your work computer or make similar phone calls from you office, and your colleagues or boss find out about it, you will be disciplined, and often times fired. It seems to me that to hold public officials to a higher standard than us private sector people makes sense, as we are the ones paying their salaries through our taxes and we expect a certain level of honesty from them. It they don't tell us the truth in their statements to the press concerning personal issues (i.e. "my account was hacked" and it they speak in lawyerly parcings of English (i.e. "I can't say with a certitude") then we can expect the same level of freedom with the truth when they claim to have studied policy matters and to be acting in the interest of their constituents.

In general, it is true that many people do whatever they can get away with, and the reality is powerful politicians can get away with a lot more than regular people. As we pay their salaries, we have a right to hold them to the same standards we hold ourselves or our employees and colleagues to. Weiner is just the latest to fail to live up to these standards.

 

Yeeaah...that's kind of crap too. Marriage vows have nothing to do with how you are as a person, unless you're a moralizing prat in which case marriage vows are 'srss bizns, srssly.' And I'd beg to differ as to the 'wisdom' of this. Sounds like a mental defect to me. If you base your trust of a person off of their marriage vows it's a reflection of your own insecurities than theirs. Especially when the divorce rate is at 50% and that men and women cheat on a fairly regular basis.

Also this.

Sooo...this all could be total ****, but I'm more willing to believe it than good ol' J-Rod's words of 'wisdom'. Now, I'm sure these people don't know anything about 'honor' or 'fidelity' because they're cheaters, but the reasoning is sound. Yes, I just put more thought into this than I should have. Still, it's fun shooting down your 'wisdom'.

Poppy: Politicians are dishonest. Who knew? When there's more pressing issues to solve this seems really silly that any of these Republiturds are even paying attention to this.