He says there was nothing indecent going on. Do we have any reason to believe anything he says, though? I’m just spitballing here, but he may, just may, be only admitting to as much as he absolutely has to. And with Patterico’s prosecutorial brief, lying about not tweeting with any minor at all became untenable.
Rep. Anthony Weiner sent private electronic messages to a 17-year-old Delaware girl but maintains there was nothing inappropriate in his communications with her.
In a statement to Roll Call Friday evening, the New York Democrat’s spokeswoman Risa Heller said, “According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent.”
Heller’s statement comes after the New Castle County Police Department questioned the girl Friday afternoon, according to Fox News, which said it had reporters present at the home when police arrived.
Weiner became a “follower” of the girl, who is 17, on Twitter in April, and subsequently sent her direct messages. The content of those messages was unknown Friday.
Their content won’t be unknown forever, Weiner. Keep lawyerin’ up.
More: The evidence that Patterico used to build the case that Weiner was at least DMing with a minor has been out there from the beginning of this story (and for the record, the DMing itself ought to be grounds for Pelosi to finally demand his resignation, whether it was explicit or not). Roger posted about it here on the Tatler back on May 29, and Ace and Patterico and Robert Stacy McCain have followed it throughout. But the media really earned the title “mediots” on this one. They not only didn’t want to touch Weinergate with a 10-foot pole when it first broke — Howard Kurtz even declared it “fake” at one point, and Jeffrey Toobin tried turning the whole thing back around on Breitbart — they haven’t followed up on this angle at all until Patterico had to put the evidence out where it was undeniable. And still, the media only gets around to looking at the story at all because the police visit demanded some kind of coverage. Do they need it all written out at a “See Spot Run” level? Would that help you guys, if we translated all this down to its simplest possible form?
Anyway, to the mainstream media from the blogosphere, you’re welcome. Blogs did all the legwork on this one. All of it. Y’all want to sit around reading Sarah Palin’s banal emails and let a sitting Congressman get away with being an online predator, fine. We’ll do your jobs for you. But don’t lecture us about accuracy or flaunt your layers and layers of editors and fact checkers at us in the future.
And don’t think you’ll get away with any fakery of your own. Those days ended with Dan Rather’s memos. We’re the blogs, and we’ll fact check you every time. Count on it.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member