Media Pit Bulls Finally Force Weiner To Resign

Congressman Anthony Weiner was just ridiculed out of office by the corporate media. Like dogs gnawing on a bone, they wouldn't let go of the trivial story until they drove Weiner from office.

Of course his fellow politicians piled on too- because they could see the media wouldn't let it go, making Weiner a liability to his party. And as various media stories pointed out, he never made friends with the other pols, so no one liked him.

To be sure, his behavior was adolescent, like that of a horny teenager. But put it in perspective: he sent revealing photos of himself to adult women. In a sexually schizophrenic society like the U.S., which is simultaneously licentious and puritanical, this apparently is a capital offense career-wise, for a politician. (Different standards apply to celebrities. And media propagandists? Do you ever even hear about their sex lives? Guess why not! The propagandists stand above all others, whom they judge.)

Comparisons were made to the case of GOP Congressman Christopher Lee, from an upstate NY district. The comparisons only mentioned the similarities between the two cases- well, the ONE similarity, that both sent barechested photos. The differences went unmentioned, to whit: 1) Lee lied about who he was to those he contacted; 2) Lee was trolling for dates, and, we can assume, actual sex; 3) Lee was a typical right-wing chestbeating "family values" Republican, thus making him a flaming hypocrit and betrayer of his political/ideological beliefs. Nothing Weiner did contradicted what he represented his political beliefs to his constituents to be.

And we should look at what is, as usual, a bit of a double standard when it comes to treatment of "liberals" vs. "conservatives." What Weiner did was a peccadillo. He didn't "cheat" on his wife. Personally I think his behavior was creepy, weird, and immature. Maybe he has too much time on his hands. Clearly he was rendered politically ineffective, so quitting is for the best. But GOP Senator David Vitter of Louisiana is a known patron of prostitutes. He still "serves."  GOP Senator John Ensign of Nevada had an affair with the wife of a close aide, then had his parents pay the man hush money. Finally, facing possible criminal charges, he was forced to resign. Do you remember that scandal being a huge media story day after day after day? Me neither.

Let's take the contrasting case of 2 governors, the crusading reformer Democrat Eliot Spitzer of NY, and reactionary Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Spitzer was exposed by the FBI (helping their Wall St. masters, who despised Spitzer for enforcing some ethical rules on them when he was NY State Attorney General, something the feckless lapdog SEC never does, nor the DOJ), and forced to resign. Mark Sanford, caught having an affair with an Argentine firecracker, and lying pathetically about it (he claimed to be on a hike while he was really secretly trysting with her, for example) wasn't. And him a Holy Christian Man!

On the day when Weiner's public humiliation was complete (June 16), the latest nail in his coffin, hammer in by the media, was news of a "press conference" by a porn "actress" cum "exotic dancer," who revealed that- get ready to be shocked- Weiner instructed her to lie. Gee, how awful. Of course, this highly ethical, upstanding, er, slut, I guess, feels this reflects badly on Weiner, I suppose. I mean, lying is so terrible. No one should ever lie. Most people never ever lie, right? To think, Weiner wanted to hide his behavior instead of immediately fessing up like the bad little boy he is!

Oh grow up, America.

One more scalp on the belt of the rightwing hitmen. In this case, Andrew Breitbart, a pathological liar, serial slanderer, and egomaniac who vastly overrates his own world historical significance.