Outside the Beltway

Anthony Weiner Is Sexting Again

Doug Mataconis
53

Comments

While his wife is off working on Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign, and most likely a top level position in a Clinton White House, former Congressman Anthony Weiner is apparently caught up in another sexting scandal. 

Seriously? Someone needs to take this guy’s smartphone away.

Update: Weiner’s Twitter account has been deleted. Something tells me that this should have occurred many years ago.

UJpdate #2: As noted in the comments, Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin has announced that the couple has separated:

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has somehow found a way to blame all this on Hillary Clinton:

Categories

Tags

, , , , ,

53 responses to “Anthony Weiner Is Sexting Again”

  1. Mark Ivey Avatar
    Mark Ivey

    I hope Trump Tweets about this… :))

  2. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    This dude…

  3. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @James Pearce: If there’s a political equivalent of the Darwin Award, this guy should get it.

  4. Hal_10000 Avatar
    Hal_10000

    Don’t care. He’s not a Congressman anymore. He’s not running for anything.

  5. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    This is the third time he’s been caught since 2011. What’s wrong with him?

  6. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Hal_10000:

    Sure, but his wife is a significant public figure whose immediate boss is running for the presidency.

  7. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @grumpy realist:

    If there’s a political equivalent of the Darwin Award, this guy should get it.

    We may need a Weiner Award, which you can only win by making the same mistake over and over without learning a damn thing about it.

    I mean, if you can’t learn how to stop sexting women who are not your wife, at least learn how not to get caught doing it.

    @Hal_10000:

    He’s not a Congressman anymore. He’s not running for anything.

    That’s not why this is a story though. His political career and reputation was destroyed by the first two sexting scandals. Now he seems intent on doing the same to his wife.

  8. Hal_10000 Avatar
    Hal_10000

    @CSK:

    And? If we were talking financial corruption or influence peddling, I’d see that. But I barely care what HIllary’s husband is doing with his johnson, let alone her advisor. Someone was trying to persuade me this morning that this could open up Abedin to blackmail. How exactly would that work?

    “Tell Clinton to give us the Crimea or we will release your husband’s pictures?”
    “You mean the pictures that are already all over the internet?”
    “Um, yeah. Something like that.”

  9. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    Well, this one was too much for his wife, she’s leaving him.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/abedin-announces-separation-anthony-weiner

  10. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @Hal_10000: Well, it looks like his wife has finally gotten fed up with him and is walking out.

  11. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    @grumpy realist: Ha! Beat you to it by SECONDS!

  12. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    Just saw that Huma Abedin is separating from Weiner. Good for her.

  13. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Hal_10000:

    Because he’s made a laughingstock of himself, her, and their marriage, which in some ways is worse. And, my God, including your little son in one of those dictures? Some might call that abuse.

    But the point seems to be moot, now, since Huma appears to be dumping him.

  14. Franklin Avatar
    Franklin

    Maybe Huma’s too busy to put out?

    /Yeah, that was probably sexist. Sorry.

  15. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Hal_10000:

    But I barely care what HIllary’s husband is doing with his johnson, let alone her advisor.

    You barely care, but in our culture, which is as puritanical as it is prurient, a lot of other people do.

  16. Tyrell Avatar
    Tyrell

    It needs to be cut off. I mean totally, completely, permanently.
    I am talking about his texting privileges.

  17. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    Dude, I´ve had lunch some minutes ago, them I read this. Arrgh.

  18. KM Avatar
    KM

    @James Pearce :

    We may need a Weiner Award, which you can only win by making the same mistake over and over without learning a damn thing about it.

    This is actually not a bad idea. The name is even appropriate for people who aren’t smart enough to stop failing at the same dick moves each time. We’re going to need pretty stringent winner criteria though since there’s so many contenders right off the bat…..

  19. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @KM: I was thinking of the “arrogant stupidity in politics” award and was going to name it the Gary Hart. (For those of you young-uns who are drawing a blank, this was the critter who essentially dared the media to dig up dirt on him….and then sneaked off to see his mistress.)

  20. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @KM:

    We’re going to need pretty stringent winner criteria though since there’s so many contenders right off the bat…..

    It’s like one of those games where there’s no winner, only a loser. Anyone ever play the card game Idiot (aka Shithead)?

  21. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    I can’t help being reminded of Jimmy Swaggart and how he kept getting caught with prostitutes, then apologizing, then getting caught again, then apologizing, then….

    Of course Weiner isn’t a Christian minister (or any kind of minister), but in a way our politicians are treated in our culture almost as the secular equivalent of religious leaders, acting all sanctimonious, showing off their family at campaign events, preaching about morality and values, etc. It stems from the puritanism that @James Pearce mentioned earlier, and it makes the elected officials (like their religious counterparts) seem even sillier when they fall.

  22. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker Avatar
    Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker

    @grumpy realist: Wasn’t the boat they caught him on called “Monkey Shines” or something else ironically apropos?

  23. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: Yes, I do believe it was….

  24. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @grumpy realist:

    Yes, it was The Monkeyshines. And He was photographed on it with Ms,.Rice sitting in his lap. Dummy.

  25. C. Clavin Avatar
    C. Clavin

    Not for nuthin’…but that’s some pretty innocent sexting.
    Soft core…even.

  26. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    @Franklin: that’s something I’d say! She’s very attractive, too bad she picked the wrong politician to marry.

  27. Davebo Avatar
    Davebo

    @James Pearce:

    His political career and reputation was destroyed by the first two sexting scandals. Now he seems intent on doing the same to his wife.

    Seriously? Anyone who would hold his wife responsible for his actions would probably be part of the group falsely claiming she’s an Egyptian and member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

  28. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Davebo:

    Seriously?

    Uh, yeah, Dave. Did you not read Trump’s statement on the matter? (Full disclosure: I didn’t write it.)

    Considering that his wife may actually be advising the next president of the United States, one might think Weiner could resist the urge to flirt with other women, if not for the sake of his own marriage, then at least to avoid giving Donald Trump, the most shameless candidate in my lifetime, some political gossip to spread in the fever swamps.

    It’s politics, man. Politics.

  29. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

  30. Scott O Avatar
    Scott O

    Just for the record, Gary Hart was on the Monkey Business. The fact that I remember this means that I’m too old.

  31. Davebo Avatar
    Davebo

    @James Pearce:

    No, it’s GOP politics. It’s just my opinion and I don’t want to project anything on you James but for me, anyone who would bemoan this situation as bad for “our team” is only slightly better than those who rejoice it’s good for theirs.

    Trump says all kinds of crazy stuff if you haven’t noticed. It plays to his minions but obviously it’s not going over well with the electorate in general.

    An undecided voter who would change his or her mind based on this was never really an undecided voter to begin with.

  32. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Davebo:

    No, it’s GOP politics.

    It’s American politics. If Todd Palin was caught sexting women outside his marriage for the third time, we’d be laughing our asses off.

    An undecided voter who would change his or her mind based on this was never really an undecided voter to begin with.

    Both candidates have low favorability ratings. A sex scandal among her staff doesn’t help Hillary, and what doesn’t help her, hurts her.

  33. Paul Hooson Avatar
    Paul Hooson

    The old dog is back to his old tricks, but once again looking for a new place to bury his bone. – A continued strange story where this disgraced former congressman, who looks like Screech from “Saved By The Bell”, was able to find forgiveness from his Arabic wife, but only broke her heart once again….

  34. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    @Paul Hooson: Huma Abedin isn’t Arab, she’s Indian-American.

  35. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    What does Trump think — that the nuclear codes are tattooed on Weiner’s wiener?

  36. dmhlt Avatar
    dmhlt

    No surprise that Andrea (nee Mitchell) Greenspan – and NBC in general – is obsessed with this “story”.

  37. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    Remember, this is a sad, personal situation, not anything that the public needs trouble itself over.

    This is the husband of the Democratic presidential nominee’s absolutely closest aide, who has worked with her for decades, who sleeps in the same room, who answers Hillary’s e-mail for her, who was caught double-dipping and committing payroll fraud at the State Department. I’m quite certain that, considering the exceptionally high regard she and Hillary have shown for national security, that there is no way Weiner might have had access to Huma’s computer and email (and, consequently, Hillary’s email), and would never have been vulnerable to blackmail.

    Most importantly, only Republican sex scandals are fair game for politicizing. Sex scandals by Democrats are best quietly ignored — or, at best, giggled over.

  38. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    I’m quite certain that, considering the exceptionally high regard she and Hillary have shown for national security, that there is no way Weiner might have had access to Huma’s computer and email (and, consequently, Hillary’s email), and would never have been vulnerable to blackmail.

    You didn’t think that nonsense up on your own, but did you bother to question it?

    Huma Abedin being married to a cad is NOT a national security concern. Don’t be as dumb as your preferred presidential candidate.

  39. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    Most importantly, only Republican sex scandals are fair game for politicizing. Sex scandals by Democrats are best quietly ignored — or, at best, giggled over.

    Also, this is clearly not true.

    John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, and Anthony Weiner were all laid low by sex scandals. The difference between those guys and the Republicans caught up in sex scandals is that the Dems’ were WAY bigger and involved women.

  40. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    @James Pearce: John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, and Anthony Weiner were all laid low by sex scandals. The difference between those guys and the Republicans caught up in sex scandals is that the Dems’ were WAY bigger and involved women.

    There’s another difference: all three men had their scandals covered up for them until they blew up too big to ignore. It took the National Enquirer to break the story about Edwards. The mainstream media put a TON of more attention into investigating Andrew Breitbart and the others who broke the Weiner story than they did on the story itself. Spitzer… I don’t recall the details of that one, and I don’t have time to dig them up, but I seem to recall there was an element of that, too.

    On the other hand, the New York Times fabricated an allegation of an affair between McCain and a lobbyist back in 2008.

  41. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    There’s another difference: all three men had their scandals covered up for them

    There was no cover up. The NY Times broke the Spitzer scandal. No one believed the National Enquirer on Edwards, not because there was a cover-up, but because no one believes the National Enquirer. When it comes to Weiner, this stuff is/was unfolding live on Twitter.

    No MSM involved except in the aftermath.

    The mainstream media put a TON of more attention into investigating Andrew Breitbart

    A lot of people don’t even know who Andrew Breitbart is, which is a weird situation if “the mainstream media put a TON of more attention into investigating him.”

    the New York Times fabricated

    There’s a difference between anonymous sources clowning lazy reporters and “fabricating allegations.”

    Just as there’s a difference from what happened and what you think may have happened.

  42. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    @James Pearce: Let’s go back to 2008, then. Here are two stories about the two nominees, with the sources:

    1) One of them is rumored to be having an affair with a lobbyist. The sources are disgruntled former aides.

    2) One of them is rumored to have been born outside the United States. One of the sources is the official biography put out by the candidate’s publisher, which was left standing for years and years when promoting his books.

    Which one should get more attention? If it’s the New York Times, you run like hell with #1, and ignore #2.

    With John Edwards, there were plenty of rumors, but no one in the mainstream media wanted to look into it. It took the National Enquirer to break the story. Lemme go double-check Spitzer… yeah, it was the New York Times that broke it, once it became a criminal matter. It was coming out, regardless, the Times was first.

    But with Weiner’s initial transgression, there was a huge pig-pile against Breitbart, and even Jon Stewart went full throttle in defense of Weiner — which led to him nearly committing seppuku on camera.

  43. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    Oh, and lucky us. Here are those incredibly wise and fair and sagacious folks at Vox (alias “the juicebox mafia”) explain everything you never wanted to know about dick pics.

  44. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    With John Edwards, there were plenty of rumors, but no one in the mainstream media wanted to look into it.

    I don’t dispute that. We just disagree on why that occurred.

    You think there was some effort at a cover-up, that the NY Times or whoever was in cahoots with the Edwards camp to hide his affair. (Unless, of course, you meant something else by “had their scandals covered up for them.”)

    Me, I think the Edwards rumors were so salacious, so absurd that a lot of reporters just couldn’t believe them and weren’t going to put any effort tracking down a “story” that stinks of tabloid gossip. Of course, the National Enquirer, purveyor of tabloid gossip, would be the one to hit the pavement on this story. Even then, you can almost hear the NE editors say, “Get me pictures or it didn’t happen.”

    They weren’t being journalists. They were being themselves, a tabloid rag trading in rumors, hiding in the bushes, and they got lucky.

    Also:

    Lemme go double-check Spitzer… yeah, it was the New York Times that broke it, once it became a criminal matter.

    Let me ask you something serious. Does this support your conclusion that the NY Times is going to “cover up” sex scandals by Democrats?

    Or does it pretty much refute it beyond all doubt?

  45. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @Jenos Idanian: No one except for the totally brain-dead ever bothered to spend more than 10 minutes on the whole Birther crap.

    When on one hand you have a blurb in a book saying “Kenya” and on the other hand you have every other piece of official documentation saying “Hawaii”, the rational individual doesn’t go around claiming that the book is obviously correct and everything else is a world-wide conspiracy.

  46. Tyrell Avatar
    Tyrell

    @KM: That is a great idea, but it would need some sort of management to make decisions and some criteria. I remember well the Golden Fleece awards.

  47. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    @James Pearce: Let me ask you something serious. Does this support your conclusion that the NY Times is going to “cover up” sex scandals by Democrats?

    Yes, it does.

    With Spitzer, they didn’t get interested until there were actual criminal proceedings.

    With Edwards, they were blissfully ignorant. (Willful or not, I don’t know. But I have my suspicions.)

    With McCain, they broke the “story” based purely on the word of disgruntled former aides.

    And back with Clinton and Lewinsky… Newsweek had the story and spiked it; it took someone leaking it to Drudge to bust open.

  48. Grewgills Avatar
    Grewgills

    Jenos, are you ever even just a little bit ashamed of the nonsense you write here sometimes? You think that the mainstream media not treating the birther nonsense as a real story is ‘evidence’ that they are in the tank for Democrats, seriously?

  49. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    With Spitzer, they didn’t get interested until there were actual criminal proceedings.

    So you’ve abandoned the “cover-up” argument entirely then….

  50. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    @James Pearce: Cover-up? Not always. Newsweek and Lewinsky certainly qualifies. But definitely more favorable treatment.

    @Grewgills: Both the birther story and McCain’s affair were both “nonsense.” But there was more credible evidence for the birther thing (Obama’s own biography, as provided by his publisher and left to stand for years) than the affair, but the McCain story got major coverage. So, again, far more favorable treatment.

  51. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    But definitely more favorable treatment.

    This is a bit of a shift, but towards something more defensible. The problem, of course, is that “more favorable treatment” kind of depends on what media you’re consuming, doesn’t it?

  52. Jenos Idanian Avatar
    Jenos Idanian

    @James Pearce: The problem, of course, is that “more favorable treatment” kind of depends on what media you’re consuming, doesn’t it?

    I dunno if I’ll go along with “you’re consuming,” as that’s a very personal standard, but how about the media most often defined as “mainstream?” That’s the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the AP, Time, US News & World Report, Newsweek, and Reuters, to me and off the top of my head.

    Not an absolutely solid liberal list, but a predominantly liberal one. And if you indulge the common prejudice here and strike Fox News from that list, then it gets even more leftist.

  53. James Pearce Avatar
    James Pearce

    @Jenos Idanian:

    That’s the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the AP, Time, US News & World Report, Newsweek, and Reuters, to me and off the top of my head.

    Not an absolutely solid liberal list, but a predominantly liberal one.

    I honestly hope that in the next few years, the right will remind themselves that they too belong to the “mainstream” and, more importantly, act accordingly.

    Stop flirting with the fringe.
    Reacquaint yourselves with compromise and common cause.
    Show some good faith.

Latest Posts