If anyone can qualify for the phrase “stuck on stupid,” it’s Rep. Anthony Weiner.
This story was a benign and silly one for me from the beginning. OK, the New York congressman said his Twitter account had been hacked, that he really wasn’t the one who sent that picture to the woman in Seattle. It has happened before.
But what was crazy was listening to him give a different explanation over and over. I was bugged with that, and it just wasn’t making any sense. It was driving me nuts!
First, he told reporters that it was all just a prank.“I was hacked,” he told CNN the day after the story broke. “It happens to people. You move on.”
Then he started tap dancing, saying he couldn’t be absolutely sure the photo of a man in his underwear wasn’t him. But he had an explanation. “Photos can be manipulated,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Photos can be of one thing and changed to something else. We’re going to try to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said.
Initially, liberals didn’t want to hear any of the drama, suggesting it was really a conservative attack on an outspoken member of their own tribe. Conservatives, on the other hand, were giddy to see the loudmouth Weiner contorting in public like a pretzel. He’s never been shy about blasting his critics, and many saw this as payback.
But now, after an ashen Weiner stepped to the mic and finally told the truth, that he indeed sent the photo in question — and had online contact with six other women — we have the truth.
And you know what? That’s all we wanted. The truth.
Had Weiner just told the truth, at best, this would have been a 48-hour story. Instead, his repeated lies turned this into a weeklong discussion, and it was unnecessary.
He looked even more stupid trying to joke his way out of the lies. Looking back at his various interviews, man, does he look like a fool!
So guys, if you do something stupid and get busted, just own up to it. We call that being a stand-up guy.
But if you do something, get busted, and then try to lie your way out of it, all that happens is that you get attacked, your credibility is attacked, you look like a complete fool, and you draw others into your lie. And someone usually gets hurt.
Just ask those poor souls who spent thousands of dollars on lawyers after President Bill Clinton lied about having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.
Should Weiner resign? Nope.
I simply don’t think what we know right now is worthy of a resignation. But if Weiner has to be the butt of jokes on late night TV for the next year, if his name and images go down in the Political Sex Hall of Shame — joining the likes of Sen. David Vitter, Clinton, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and countless other politicians — then good.
Rep. Weiner, you earned your way onto this list, sir! You lied.
