I’m fascinated by the jilted political wives club. What would I do, if my husband was caught “hiking the Appalachian Trail” or compulsively sexting with strangers on the Internet or catching VD from hookers? I’m pretty sure that I would lawyer up and dump the guy to the curb. But these women not only kept the guy around, they stood by him and were publicly disgraced.
Just because Huma has forgiven Anthony doesn’t mean that the voters should. He wasn’t really having an affair. He was compulsively engaging in boring, frat-style porn chat with young women. He couldn’t stop himself. He’s like an alcoholic. Now, I would vote for recovered alcoholic for political office, if he or she had shown that they could remain sober for several years in a row. This guy hasn’t been clean for a whole year.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that his behavior shows a disrespect for women, and that he couldn’t be trusted to work alongside women. Maybe.
Beyond the sexting itself, this guy has no ethics. He promised favors – a blogging position at Politico, an apartment – to the online chick, if she kept her mouth shut.
Steve and I were talking about Weiner over the weekend, before the scandal broke. He was amazed that Weiner was doing so well in the polls. I told him that name recognition is 90% of getting elected in this country. People know Weiner’s name, but they don’t really remember why they know his name, so they will vote for him. People didn’t forgive him, as much as forget why they knew him.
This scandal will remind people of why they know Weiner’s name.
Apt. 11d 
If he was having an affair, that would at least be understandable. But sending pictures of his junk to women on the internet? That’s the part I don’t get at all that makes me think that maybe he isn’t fit for public service. I’m sure there are a lot of other public servants engaged in similar activities but they seem better at hiding it than Weiner.
As far as Huma, she’s a political player, right? I’m assuming she’s only staying him because she thinks it is beneficial to her career.
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If he was having an affair, that would at least be understandable.
It’s sort of like courtly love or Dante and Beatrice, except it also couldn’t be more different.
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If he’s going to be unfaithful to his wife, might he want to take that opportunity to actually have sex?
For all we know, Dante was commissioning faceless portraits of himself for Beatrice’s benefit.
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For all we know, Dante was commissioning faceless portraits of himself for Beatrice’s benefit.
If Dan Brown knew how to write, he’d have a novel about finding those.
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I can’t even imagine the arrogance that would cause a guy like that to think “Hey, I’m the best guy for the job.” Logically, he would be able to think of a million people better suited to having that job than himself. Isn’t it kind of like the guy with the horrible SAT scores who applies to Harvard? What would possess someone to do that?
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I’m not sure that’s true, about name recognition. Name recognition is a big factor in early polls, but primary elections feature motivated voters who are reasonably well-informed, at least by the time election day rolls around. Also, in New York City, the Democratic machine still works pretty well, and it will not be working for Weiner (if he stays in the race) or Spitzer.
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If I like a candidates politics (and, I don’t know wiener’s well enough to decide, especially in a race where he’d be running against other democrats), I don’t generally care about their personal lives to have it significantly influence my decision making. But, I do care if someone who can’t stop themselves from engaging in self-destructive behavior (Gary Hart, a drug user, . . . ). I’m guessing that it’s unlikely that I’d decide that there wasn’t a better candidate for the job.
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The press conferences are just ghastly. Some actions cannot be redeemed by repentance. What I can’t figure out is if the political wives have really low self-esteem, or if they’re unwilling to give up being the wife of Somebody.
Weiner is running as a Democrat, but does the New York Democratic Party support his candidacy? In all of New York City, they couldn’t find anyone better?
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Weiner is running in the Democratic primary. He is certainly not the machine’s candidate, if that is what you mean by the Democratic Party supporting his candidacy, although of course they would rally around him if he won.
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San Diego Mayor Filner, who seems to have been very seriously abusing his office.
http://bredred.com/third-accuser-goes-public-against-san-diego-mayor/
A woman (a public school psychologist) meets him in a restaurant to talk about children’s welfare and Filner tries to kiss her four times, saying he wouldn’t hear her out until she let him kiss her.
Ace of Ace of Spades says about this:
“Making a pass is legal and, I guess, socially acceptable, even if it’s turned down.
“But when you get to the fourth pass in a single night, you’re… I don’t know what you are. You’re demented. At the fourth shot-down pass you officially have some sexual disorder in which you get off on making women extremely uncomfortable.
“And I guess I shouldn’t forget — apparently all of this asshole’s “legislative business” is really just an pretext for making passes at women. So he agrees to hear this woman out about her cause… but it’s a lie. He has no intention of listening to anything. He wants his creepy kiss, and that’s the only reason he’s there.
“Kind of makes you wonder about what pitches he went for — and why. Did a certain number of lobbyists, perhaps, either give in to his advances, or hire some callgirls to act as their “aides,” giving Filner something to grope? Did he essentially engage in bribery by sex?”
http://minx.cc/?post=341926
Those are all really good questions and worth asking about other politicians with similar issues.
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“Steve and I were talking about Weiner over the weekend, before the scandal broke. He was amazed that Weiner was doing so well in the polls. I told him that name recognition is 90% of getting elected in this country. People know Weiner’s name, but they don’t really remember why they know his name, so they will vote for him.”
I’m going to go with – People have figured out that Christine Quinn is the second coming of Nurse Ratched. They are eager for another option. Weiner looked like a possibility. Now that he is fading, they will look at Thompson. dave.s.
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