After reading the transcript of the exchange between Weiner and one of his online flirtations, a Las Vegas card dealer, my first reaction was "vomit." The second reaction is "OMG. The Internet really gives stalkers new access to their targets."
While Weiner is clearly enjoying his online dirty talk, this Vegas woman seems to be initiating the interplay. She repeatedly tries to contact him. She starts the dirty talk. She eggs him on. She feeds his ego.
Again, not letting Weiner off the hook here. He's a moron and a loser, but I just find it interesting that Twitter and Facebook enable the weirdos to get direct access to the politician. They don't have to go through a secretary or staff members. They can talk directly to the politicians, unless a staff member maintains those accounts. Star-struck groupies can send pictures and dirty notes without interference. Within the cloud of the Internet, these exchanges can appear intimate and private at the time.
There is something to be said for gatekeepers.
Apt. 11d 
I couldn’t read more than a little bit. For a lot of these women, the harder Weiner verbally pummeled Republicans, the more they wanted him–and they told him so. I wonder if that had any influence on his performances…
The only thing that spoils my enjoyment of the Weiner debacle is wondering if he has an exact Twittering equivalent on the Republican side.
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So it appears he went months without responding to her, but she persisted and he came back, more explicit than ever.
God, he is stupid.
I had a boss who at one time had limited involvement in a scandal. Her advice? Never ever put anything in writing you don’t want others to read later. She should’ve talked to Weiner.
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Ick. It’s standard groupie behavior. Dysfunctional for everyone involved.
Why do these guys get married? Why don’t they just stay unmarried and then say they’re free to do as they please? (i.e. like rock stars?).
We can parse issues, but these women didn’t work for him, so we don’t have to worry about that particular issue, so his main issue is that he’s married.
I don’t think the issue here is talking to Wiener. Of course someone has told him that anything he writes might become public info some day. He’s just unable to resist anyway.
I hope his wife leaves him and I hope that she’s not pregnant.
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Lol, bj, I love you. I said kinda the same thing the other day.
And Laura, I agree gatekeepers are useful. Our head of school has someone else do her twitter and facebook–it’ generic pr stuff but at least no scandals!
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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/weiners-wife-is-pregnant/
She’s 35. At least the kid will probably be smart.
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Yesterday I made a bet with a colleague that by the end of the week we would start seeing the ‘he was wrong but she was the aggressor’ argument show up on blogs. Thanks for the $10 bucks.
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I simply do not understand the appeal of men like this. He is such a skuz.
Do marriages actually ever weather behavior like this, when it becomes so public and discussed? Or do the marriages either die a slow death or become marriages of convenience? How could you possibly believe that he wouldn’t do it again?
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No one can say the NY Post doesn’t mean the NY Post doesn’t have a way with headlines.
“Disgusted Democrats letting Weiner shrivel.”
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Pretend I wrote on coherent sentence instead of parts of two.
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“one coherent”
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As I understand it, the direct messages aren’t possible unless both parties are following each other. It’s like with vampires–they can’t come into a house unless you invite them in.
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General twitter etiquette according to some is to follow everyone following you, or at least reciprocate for the first however-long period after someone starts to follow you.
But I bet plenty of politicians wouldn’t follow me back if I added them.
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I gather from news reports that he had multiple twitter partners. This isn’t a failure of gatekeeping. It takes two to tango. Or, er, “It takes one and many others to tango, with the help of cut and paste?”
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Patterico has finally published the last installment of his analysis of Weiner’s online dealings with some high school girls. Of course, we don’t have the private communications themselves, but what is public is suggestive. (Patterico has changed the girls’ names, as they are underage.)
http://patterico.com/2011/06/09/evidence-that-weiner-was-talking-dirty-to-underage-girls-part-3/
At the very least, Weiner put himself in a really bad position by privately messaging high school girls, particularly in light of what we know of his private communications with grown-up women.
Here’s some commentary from Ace of Spades on the issue:
“Patterico, Part 3: Why Was Weiner DMing With a Dirty-Talking 17-Year-Old Girl Who Kept Telling Him She “Loved” Him?”
http://minx.cc/?post=317394
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I think it’s time for an FBI investigation, to see if Weiner’s communications with these girls were professional or pervy.
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I will say that among many online people (not just the crazy stalkers and those of teenaged maturity) to be flirtatious online. I’ve always avoided it, tbh, but I’ve seen it, especially with actors/showrunners. The original tweet was to someone who referred to AW as her “boyfriend.” That is very common, and in fact I’m sure I’ve described actors/writers as my boyfriend. I often refer to people (Adam Scott of Parks and Rec is a most recent example) as my next husband. This does not mean I want to get rid of my current one; it’s just a flippy way of saying I find him hot. Parsing online communication is iffy because people online develop their own languages.
I’m not defending Weiner; I’m defending the people who tweeted with him.
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And, further to MH’s comment above, the Post headline yesterday, anent Weiner’s refusal to resign, was: “Weiner: I’ll stick it out.”
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This could be a lot worse for his party–this could have happened in 2016 or 2020, when he was the Democratic presidential nominee. I’m not sure the guy could have kept going that long without getting caught–he had a lot of plates n the air at the same time.
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“this could have happened in 2016 or 2020, when he was the Democratic presidential nominee.”
Extremely liberal New York Jews haven’t historically been the preferred presidential nominees of the Democratic party, but I suppose anything is possible.
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I always wonder why people will think this will be bad for the party. I guess there’s the example of Jack Ryan, his implosion and replacement with a much weaker candidate. That launched Obama’s national career and he might well have a democratic in office because of that particular scandal. But, Obama was running well against Ryan, too.
And, then, there’s Vitter.
Scandals like these effect my vote in primaries, but not in national elections. Then, I’ll pick the candidate whose political decisions match my desires, holding my nose about any personal failings.
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Vitter had several advantages Weiner hasn’t got. First, Louisiana is just absurd as far as who it elects. The whole state either votes while drunk or doesn’t actually want to elect somebody sane more than one a decade. Second, the Senate has longer between elections. Third, Vitter’s party couldn’t assume that no matter what they would keep the seat. Fourth, Vitter wasn’t named Hooker.
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“Extremely liberal New York Jews haven’t historically been the preferred presidential nominees of the Democratic party, but I suppose anything is possible.”
But we’d be making history (again)! Especially with Weiner having an (at least ethnically) Muslim wife and a (hopefully) photogenic growing family. I can easily picture Weiner and Abedin as president and First Lady, particularly taking into account how much his female fans adored him. It would surprise me very much if Weiner hadn’t at least been thinking about a 2016 run. It’s not going to be Joe Biden in 2016.
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“Fourth, Vitter wasn’t named Hooker.”
MH: LOL!!!
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I doubt Weiner was thinking about a presidential run any more seriously than I think about buying one of the Tesla electric roadsters. If it happens, it will be years down the road. It’s been 130 years since anybody went from the House to the White House. And even before this hit he had no immediate prospects of getting to the Senate or governor’s mansion.
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I think every politician thinks it’s possible to become president.
You’ve heard he’s entering therapy? I didn’t know there was a therapy for being a predatory jerk.
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If Newt Gingrich thought he could be president, so did Weiner.
Plus, when you have all these women telling you that you are awesome day in, day out, it’s going to have an effect on even the most level-headed.
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“I didn’t know there was a therapy for being a predatory jerk.”
Of course there is.
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It’s called law school.
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