Allahpundit notes that Anthony Weiner’s whole identity was wrapped in being a congressman, in part because, at least according to all-knowing, even occasionally accurate Wikipedia, other than considering pondering becoming a television weatherman while in college, politics has been his whole life.
Unfortunately, the pressure eventually got to him, needless to say:
Among the people he betrayed: Allegedly, Barack Obama.
A highly placed Democratic source told FrumForum that four days before his June 6 press conference, Weiner had a phone conversation with Obama in which Weiner aggressively denied that he had sent the now notorious photo of himself in his underwear.
According to the source:
“The congressman said fairly aggressively what he had been saying in the media. Not admitting that it was him in the pictures, not denying that it was him, but saying with certainty that he did not send them.”
So there you go. In case you’ve been wondering why Democratic leaders are lining up to twist the knife, wonder no longer. And yet, and yet, I’m increasingly convinced that he really will survive this. He won’t have a friend in the world inside the caucus if he does (from what I’ve read, he doesn’t have many now), but I don’t think he cares. Watch the second clip below, via Fox Insider, of Kirsten Powers describing how being a congressman is Weiner’s “entire identity.” It’s his ticket to prestige and women, after all; it’s his conduit to the media, for whom he loves serving up soundbites; and realistically, it’s his only route to becoming mayor. They’ll have to drag him from the House chamber kicking and screaming. Watch what she says too about what distinguishes Weiner’s scandal from other sex scandals. It’s not that he lied about it to try to cover it up. It’s that he lied to everyone, from his wife to his friends to his aides to his colleagues to his donors to the president. And of course, to himself: If this guy seriously thought he could run New York City while texting photos of his schwanz to random female acquaintances online without anyone finding out, his egomania and self-delusion are so severe as to require medical attention. It’s seriously crazy. And not only did he lie, he did it in one of the cheapest, most demagogic ways possible by trying to pawn the whole thing off on the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” As sleazy as Clinton’s, Vitter’s, and Spitzer’s scandals each were, I never thought it defined each man’s entire character; with Weiner, I do. I think KP agrees, which is why she seems so palpably distressed when talking and writing about this.
As Richard Fernandez writes (and the above headline is from later in his post), “Donald Trump’s gloating survey of Anthony Weiner’s career is less an indictment of the Congressman’s moral fiber than a cold-eyed judgment of his capacity to play the big time:”
Going for the big time requires the ability to maintain discipline and focus in a pitiless environment. Weiner, Trump implied, had showed that he had neither. The Congressman badgered him for donations, and he might have gotten them had he shown his quality. After Weiner self-destructed, Trump concluded it was obvious he lacked a certain something. “I thought his career was so important to him. The fact is that what he was doing was more important to him.” And that, in the calculus of power, was his greatest fault. He took his eye off the ball. Weiner could therefore rattle his tin cup somewhere else, somewhere in the bush leagues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNRXpDIX0uQ
Fortunately, those around him are still willing to do their part to circle the wagons; no matter what it takes.
And Huma’s boss? Speaking of applied opportunism, She may be preparing to go — temporarily if need be — to the sidelines for a time. Imagine how much Weinergate must be frustrating to her.
And much further on the left, the frustration is really palpable:
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/24753741[/vimeo]
Update: Weiner has been a godsend to the New York Post:
More comedy gold from the Post, here.
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