Anthony Weiner is an idiot.
Anthony Weiner is an outspoken, liberal Democrat from New York City. He is one of the few Democrats with the guts to defend his sometimes unpopular opinions and is a likeable guy. He was running for mayor of New York and probably would have won. He had just married his wife. Everything was going well for Mr. Weiner. Until his well, his weiner, got the best of him. This is what made him an idiot.
So Mr. Weiner texted/tweeted/Facebooked pictures of his body to women and had inappropriate conversations with random women he met on the internet, while being a married man and a sitting U.S. Repesentative. Mr. Weiner claimed not to have sent the photographs, and later retracted. He is an idiot for how he handled the crisis and the media alike.
So should Mr. Weiner resign? Should he step down from the post to which he was elected by his consitutuents by a 20+ margin in a tough year for Democrats. He is wildly popular in New York. Is stepping down the right thing to do or the mandatory thing to do? I submit to you that he need not resign for two reasons.
First, Mr. Weiner was hired by the people of New York to represent them in Congress. He was hired to represent their interests, fight for their district, write and pass bills for their benefit and to represent them in the U.S. Congress. Did Mr. Weiner do his duty? By all accounts yes, in fact, he has performed this duty more effectively than many fellow representatives who make much more kosher personal decisions. In my opinion, it is the people of New York who should decide if Mr. Weiner shall continue to represent them. It is not for Eric Cantor (hypocrite), Nancy Pelosi (follower) or Sean Hannity (blow-hard idealogue mega-lo maniac) to decide. This is the point of representative (which Mr. Weiner is) democracy, we decide who represents us, NOT the media or fellow politicians, it is the constituents who decide.
Did Louisiana kick out Republican Senator David Vitter for hiring prostitutes and violating the laws of that fine state? No. He is still in office. Mr. Vitter broke the law. He hired prostitutes, yet he is still a sitting Senator. Today, Eric Cantor, the Republican Representative from Virginia, and political opportunist, said that Mr. Weiner should step down, without mentioning David Vitter. This hypocrosy is stunning and embarrasing. Eric Cantor is a rising "star" in politics. He is akin to New Gingrich and Karl Rove in terms of his ruthless, win by any means mentality. "Scandals" such as Weinergate reveal the true hypocritical nature of our elected politicians and media, both Republican and Democrat, Liberal and Conservative.
Clearly, Mr. Weiner did not act like a "model" citizen. He had inappropriate contacts with women and lied about it. I personally would not elect him as my Representative following that behavior. But, it is not for me to decide, because my Representative is Gary Ackerman, not Anthony Weiner.
Second, Mr. Weiner should not resign because it would feed into the media circus that has become American politics. I must reiterate that Mr. Weiner did not break the law. If he did break the law, I think he should be impeached or resign. He did not break the law and the media (mainly right-wing) is making his tweeting the main story for over 2 days now. Not the recession. Not the deaths of five American soldiers in Iraq. Not the reality that Republicans are playing chicken with our debt ceiling threatening an American default on our loan payments. Instead, we are focusing on Mr. Weiner's weiner. If Mr. Weiner resigns it will lend creedence to the sad reality that we are not in fact a representative democracy, but a hegemonic, corporation controlled (via the media - Fox-News owned by News Corp, CNN - Time Warner), pundit influenced circusocracy.
America is the greatest country on earth. We have the best political system on earth. One of our main flaws that has developed in the past 20 years, however, is confusing great leaders with great people. JFK was a great leader. He was not a great person. We have named an airport after a man who cheated on his wife in the oval office. Imagine there had been internet in those days? The man who defused the Cuban Missile Crisis and assured the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (he did not sign it because he was assasinated right as he was about to sign it) would have been kicked out of office. My point is that just because Mr. Weiner is an idiot and not a great person does not mean he is not a great leader or representative. I say, unless Mr. Weiner broke the law, let the people who did the hiring, do the firing.
What do you think? Vote in the poll on the right to voice your opinion.
