Weiner Scandal A Sexting Hand Grenade
Rep. Anthony Weiner in New York City in 2009. Image by Thomas Good and used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
By John Guzzon
Modern Times Magazine .com
June 6, 2011 — Maybe he got a bump on the head, or aliens possessed his brain, or maybe it was the devil.
How how else can it be explained that New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has navigated the world of politics for more than 14 years, so blatantly lied to the public about sending sexually charged photos and messages to females via Facebook and Twitter.
Sure, he makes it out like it was a series of events that unfolded where the lie just got bigger and bigger until the entire lie came crashing down. At the lie-admitting press conference, Weiner said after he realized he broadcasted the picture that started the whole thing to the entire Twitterverse, instead of only to his attended recipient by way of a “direct message,” he tweeted that he had been hacked to cover it up.
"I lied because I was ashamed at what I had done, and I didn't want to get caught," he said.
He sounds like every criminal in prison.
He must have thought, “it will all go away.” Maybe he even got away with that lie before. Only this time, someone did notice and he had to answer about it again. The lie got bigger.
Then, his brain swelling, demonic possession or alien overlord made him do the most boneheaded act of this whole nauseating saga: he helped the lie grow even bigger by parading the big television networks through his office so he could lie to them in full view of the world.
Slick move. Slick, slick move. Get videotaped evidence proof of your lie. Wasn’t he alive in 1998 when Clinton said, “I did not have sex with that woman — Monica Lewinsky...”
Clinton’s blunder proved that bluffs don’t work in political scandals. Bluffs are good for poker but bad in political scandal because there are rules in poker. There are no rules in politics.
His story stayed remarkably consistent until Monday. He said his Twitter account had been hacked and that someone was playing a big joke and that everyone should go back to their lives. The problem with that is that he is not just a regular guy. He is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Our world is far from Caligula’s Rome — politicians who pose in their underwear are not in line for re-election in this time and place.
The media and dirty trick squads went on attack because he is not an ‘average joe,’ he is a ‘special weiner.’ Soon, it was only a matter of time as more connections were made.
How could he not have known that it would come out at some point that he was engaging in this kind of sexting behavior? Did he think that no one would care because it wasn’t really “sex?” Whether fluids were exchanged, it was sexual.
Sexting is a scourge of the new age in some eyes. It has been around for years but had spared the political folks because most of them are smart enough to leave no evidence of sexual conduct that does not involve their spouse monogamously.
Also, no one wants to see a naked photo of Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner. Really, that is nauseating just to think about.
He had to know that this would be a big deal, especially because his wife is not just some waitress at a New York diner. She works for the State Department. She is friends with many of the media dogs in Washington. She is classy and charismatic.
So he comes clean after a weekend where he was confronted by his wife. Most husbands admit it by the end of a weekend when there is no where to run. Then came the mea culpa.
“To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. I'm deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife, and our family, my constituents, my friends, my supporters and my staff," he said.
So, he lied. Boo hoo for him. The first sexting scandal has hit the political world and there will no doubt be others who follow, no matter how dumb it may be.
Granted, he wasn’t suffering from a bump on the head or was possessed by either aliens or the devil, no matter how boneheaded he was.
Men just sometimes let their little head do all the thinking. Or, in this case (with apologies to all those who share the Congressman’s last name) the big Weiner let the little weiner do the talking.
John Guzzon is editor of Modern Times Magazine.
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