At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner and his sexual relationships and texting habits will finally be told. In the meantime, the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City.
That’s gonna leave a mark.
What happens next is the rarest of things: a moment of clarity from the Times editorial board regarding a politician who is a Democrat.
The timing here matters, as it would for any politician who violates the public’s trust and then asks to have it back. Things are different now, he insists. “This behavior is behind me,” he said again on Tuesday. He suggested that people should have known that his sexting was an unresolved problem well into 2012.
That’s ridiculous and speaks to a familiar but repellent pattern of misleading and evasion. It’s up to Mr. Weiner if he wants to keep running, to count on voters to forgive and forget and hand him the keys to City Hall. But he has already disqualified himself.
It’s difficult not to feel for Ms. Abedin. The couple deserved privacy as they worked through their problems — and they had it, until they re-emerged in public life and Mr. Weiner decided he was a good fit to run New York City. Mr. Weiner and Ms. Abedin have been saying that his sexual behavior is not the public’s business. Well, it isn’t, until they make it our business by plunging into a political campaign.
Mr. Weiner says he is staying in the mayoral race. To those who know his arrogance and have grown tired of the tawdry saga he has dragged the city into, this is not surprising.
Weiner’s schtick is wearing thin even with the crowd that was willing to believe his nonsensical babbling when he was claiming he was hacked two years ago. To a less biased observer, Weiner’s behavior prior to the scandal was a cause for concern. As this piece points out, this all would have remained a private matter for the couple had this arrogant megalomaniac been able to get help for his inner attention whore in therapy too.
The editorial board is wrong when it says it’s difficult not to feel for Ms. Abedin. She’s obviously very power-hungry and willing to endure all sorts of public humiliation taking the long shot that he will one day be redeemed or, more likely, using the dutiful wife charade to launch her own career. As a confidante of Hillary Clinton, she’s been mentored by the best in this area.
There’s your modern feminism, Democrat style: be a good girl and shut up and we’ll give you some treats later.
At least Jenny Sanford told her creep to take a hike.
More: Open Thread Video: Anthony Weiner’s Finest Moment In Congress
Join the conversation as a VIP Member