Fruit of the Loom
By Jane Dudley | Monday, June 6th, 2011 | Politics
There’s a serious reason to post about the spectacle brought about by the foolish actions of Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has admitted sending lewd photos to multiple women, not his wife. His confession of that today has happened due to the pressure put on him by biggovernment.com blogger Andrew Breitbart. To her credit, Nancy Pelosi is now calling for an ethics investigation of Rep. Weiner. Rarely do I ever agree with her, but she’s right, and I hope she means it and will pursue it. (I wouldn’t bet the farm on Weiner resigning, though).
In my opinion, Breitbart has done us all a true favor, and here’s why: this country has enemies, and one tool that can be cheap and effective for an enemy is blackmail. A congressman sending lewd photos to young women is sending blackmail bait. Or if he has no shame, and he doesn’t appear to, despite some crocodile tears at today’s press conference, he is showing himself to be a person with let us charitably say, poor impulse control and morals so flexible as to defy the laws of physics. Those facts are not lost on those who might want to trap him into a much worse situation, and then demand that he pay up. Such payment would likely be access that he would be forced to get, to some harder-to-access people or information. Sounds like a corny novel? It happens.
No one is perfect. But his constituents should be worried that they elected someone this weak, while our country is at war.
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About the author
Jane Dudley has enjoyed conservatism and photography for over 30 years. After looking around at the mediocre state of affairs of political photography as it exists on the right, she decided to start making better images, to document Virginia Republicans and to inspire them to make more of an effort to put a fine face on their fine ideas. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and works in new media.
Comments
13 Responses to "Fruit of the Loom"
I’ll not further degrade the man and suggest he’s capable of treason, but he certainly could commit earmarking. That’s an easy, relatively safe way to pay off a blackmailer.
I agree that Anthony Weiner is a cheap and effective tool.
Seriously though, no one seriously believes Pelosi referred the matter to the Ethics Committee out of principle. She did it to provide cover for her party – a party that couldn’t care less about Weiner’s actions on their merits and whose only concern is how it affects them politically. Fortunately for them, the establishment news media are part of the same leftist collective as the congressional Democrats and will cooperate with them in protecting Weiner by feigning outrage, covering the story for as short a time as they can get away with, and then moving on to their preferred day-to-day practice of deriding conservatives. Weiner will go on to become a folk hero to leftists across the nation and will take over the chairmanship of the Banking Committee in the future when Barney Frank retires.
the blog Ace of Spades pushed this story 24/7 for days. good blog. not as erudite as Bearing Drift of course.
Ken,
I would agree with you except for one inconvenient fact: Weiner sending a picture of his weiner to a woman on Twitter is hardly the most egregious offense by a sitting member of Congress who has not resigned in the aftermath. David “Diapers” Vitter immediately comes to mind. I submit to you that he was no less sheltered and protected than the manner in which you predict will be the outcome of Weiner’s indiscretion.
And before all you Bearing Drift loyalists pile on and scream that I am a child molester or, worse, a liberal, let me clarify my point: no political party or persuasion has a monopoly on corruption, sexual misconduct, or really stupid judgement. It is a bi-partisan trait. And until we demand accountability of any and all public officials who misbehave, then we will never achieve the lofty goals of our democracy. Smut and greed will be reduced to being an intramural contact sport.
HR-You got to the question about Vitter before I did. We could add Ensign and Sanford to the list of Republicans who sex scandals — both more serious than the Weiner Twitter scandal — Bearing Drift posters haven’t found serious enough to denounce.
From Vitter, to Edwards, from Weiner, to Clinton, to Foley, to Sanford, to Ensign, to Spitzer …both parties elect human beings. And like all human beings, they have failings.
On the list of things I’d want to throw a guy out of office for, financial misconduct and ethical misconduct rate a lot higher than sexual misconduct (which is not to say that, as in the Edwards and Ensign cases particularly, one couldn’t lead to the other).
HR and Steve- Please show me where you have called for the resignation of Dianne Feinstein, who as chairman of the Senate Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee directed over $1 billion of federal contracts to businesses owned or controlled by her husband. And please show me where you have called for the media to actually cover the story.
Also, please show me where you publicly supported the impeachment and called for the resignation or removal of Bill Clinton from the presidency for his perjury, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice. In fact, show me where you even criticized his personal conduct that underlied those crimes.
Oh, and please show me where you called for the resignation of Barney Frank after he allowed a prostitution ring to be run out of his home. Please show me where you even criticized the Democrats for making him Chairman of the House Banking Committee.
just saw this over at Ace of Spades: erections have consequences.
Ken- pretty sure I wasn’t commenting on the Internet at the time of the Clinton scandal. I was critical of his behavior. Didn’t think it probably reached the level of impeachment. A few Republican senators held that position as well.
I certainly thought Spitzer should have resigned and said so.
I’ve been critical of Edwards, even though I supported him in 2008.
And so, your calls for the resignation of Vitter, Ensign, Foley, Sanford, Gingrich and Hyde? Where could I find those?
Look, it’s pretty clear that Democrats will throw their own guy under the bus a long time before Republicans will. That’s one of the keys to Republican electoral success, you stick with your guys through thick and thin. Look at George Allen. You think Virginia Dems would give a guy who lost a race that was his to win a second chance? No way. Hell, they treated Don Beyer like a pariah and he just lost to a guy with a good campaign gimmick. Look at all the chances Marshall Coleman got. You lose for the Virginia Dems, you’re dead to them. Republicans just don’t form the circular firing squad that fast.
And BTW, does this even count as a sex scandal? I mean there’s no actual sex involved from all accounts. Everybody involved seemed to be of legal age and not a sex worker. Granted it’s dumb, creepy and Wiener comes off as the world’s biggest loser…but were any actual laws violated here?
Ken,
This is starting to look like a two-on-one tag team, so let me switch tacks. Just for the record, I criticized Clinton vociferously at the time of Monicagate, as well as Barney Frank after the male prostitution scandal broke. Hell, in my opinion, Barney Frank should be thrown out of Congress just for setting such a bad fashion example for gay men.
As for Feinstein, I am not aware of the charges that you make, but I would point out to you that a subcommittee chair has members of her own subcommittee as well as the whole Armed Service Committee and the Appropriations Committee who have to vote to support her positions. That is a tall order even for Diane Feinstein. However, if you can point me to the documentation (Glenn Beck doesn’t count) then I will email it to the Washington Post direct them to get right on it.
Finally, having said all that, I have posted several times on BD my strenuous objections to the abuse of the earmark process in the diversion of Defense budget funds, esp. those to campaign contributors and friends/families of members of Congress. See John Murtha.
Finally, Ken, you missed the entire point of my first comment. It was not that “Republicans do it, too, so Weiner should be excused.” It was that both Democrats and Republicans commit acts of misconduct that the institution of the Congress sweeps under the rug until the stench is so powerful they are collectively forced to take action. I think We The People deserve much better from our elected leaders and any public official who can’t met the same standards of behavior that you would demand of an employee in the workplace should be removed from office–Democrat or Republican. Period.
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