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US Congressman Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress yesterday after holding on for over two weeks after he accidentally tweeted a photo of his crotch and tried to blame it on a “hacker.” During his resignation speech, he apologized to his constituents and to his wife, Huma, an aide to Hillary Clinton who just returned to the country after an overseas trip. (Huma is confirmed to be pregnant, although you can’t really tell from recent photos of her.) Unlike Governor Spitzer’s resignation in 2008 following the hooker scandal, Huma did not stand next to her husband when he announced his resignation. She was photographed out with his yesterday outside their home, though, and the two of them were spotted at a local supermarket last night.
When Weiner announced his resignation at a senior citizen center in Brooklyn attended by press, a guy stood up in the crowd and shouted “Bye bye, pervert!” (That’s around 1:28 in the video above and 1:57 in the video on Gawker). DListed identifies him as Benjy from the Howard Stern show. The heckler said stuff like “The people demand to know, were you fully erect?,” and “are you more than seven inches?” to which the press corps countered “shut up” and “he’s not with us.” He basically heckled the whole second half of the speech, and according to the NY Times he was going on for over fifteen minutes. It’s Weiner’s own fault since no one checked press credentials at the door.
Since that one dude was shouting, Weiner didn’t take any questions afterwards and just rushed out. (He wasn’t scheduled to take questions, but attendees insisted that he might have if everything went well.) It seemed a fitting end to a dumb scandal in which the guy didn’t even get laid as far as we know. We’ll probably see him again on cable television in a few weeks. He’ll also probably launch some kind of speaking and consulting career, and ten to one he’ll make way more money than he did as a Congressman.
Photo credit: Fame Pictures
It was a stupid thing to do but I can’t help but feel for the guy.
Look at the set tension in his face, drawn from nerves and from being uncomfortable…how awful for anyone.
He did it to himself. He lied to the people he was supposed to represent and support, he lied to the media, to the government. He used taxpayer time, money, and trust to do these stupid things. He had no intention of stopping, it was not a romantic affair or even a descrete affair. He should lose his space, he’s a pervert and narcissistic. Too bad because he was doing a nice job in NYC.
The heckler doesn’t make Weiner look worse though, he just makes a fool of himself.
Few knew who he was before this affair, now he’s a household name. His political career may be toast for the time being but you can bet that he’ll bring home the dollars now on some TV and book gig.
It’s quite amusing (and depressing at the same time) how politics pumped through the media sewage treatment plant ends up resembling the Kardashians and Hiltons of the world.
I’m glad his wife wasn’t there, she’s the only one I feel sorry for.
I’m sure he’ll find a way to spin this as the doings of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
@ brin – Yup. And their baby. If I was in her position, I wouldn’t have been there either. He did this on his own; he can take the heat on his own.
I also think it’s sad for his constituents. From what I’ve read and heard on the news, people were pretty happy with the job he was doing.
What a stupid thing to have ended a career over.
Celebitchy is probably right and he will make exponentially much more money out of office. I would have had some sympathy for the guy if he admitted his gaff initially but when he started to blame others and when he blatantly lied to the press multiple times he lost my support. You have to question someone who can lie so passionately and convincingly to the press, public and his constituents.
Mornin bellaluna…ITA!
Super bummed The Daily Show was a re-run. I wanted to see how John would make this funny. I felt mildly bad he was heckled but he deserved it. He pulled a real D-bag move on his wife and voters, then lied about it.
Mornin’ brin!
@ garvels – I believe his ducking and dodging, being arrogant and evasive, was most of the problem people had with this. Otherwise, I think it would’ve blown over and he’d still be in office.
In real life Howard Stern seems like a good guy. On his stupid radio show and with the caliber of people he hires (this dumb stupid ranter yelling juvenile crap at Anthony Weiner) he just comes across as a tool.
At the end of the day Anthony did himself in by being stupid but I don’t see where anything he did was illegal or unheard of. He went against his marriage vows, yes, and so the only person he owes an apology to is his wife.
Given my druthers, I would rather deal with an Anthony Weiner sexting people than to be a teenage boy being sexted by U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (“get a ruler and measure it for me…”) or Super Hypocrite and Televangelist Ted Haggard tweaking out on his male prostitute/crystal meth binges in between denouncing Homosexulity as an abomination.
I will take an Anthony Weiner over the Republican/Religious Right bullshit any day of the week.
when my husband and I were dating he did the same thing weiner did as far as talking to girls online. We were long distance at the time so I didn’t catch the texts from other girls until I was playing on his phone while he was in the shower when I visited. We almost broke up over it and he had to change his number in the end. His excuse was that it was just like porn & he never met them and it was a joke with his barracks friends bc they would forward the pics to eachother that the girls sent them. This was 3 years ago but needless to say weiner brought up bad memories so my husband can’t wait until he’s out of the news so I stop giving him the stinkeye when weiner is on tv.
Love that Benji did it again. Didn’t they recognize him from last time? It’s their own fault for letting him in.
I DON’T FEEL ANY PITY FOR HIM…WHAT A CREEPY PERVERT!
@salina , I’m happy that you were able to save your relationship and that you have forgiven you now husband 🙂 i hope anthony’s wife can also move pass this, It really did not occur to me that all his staff will be loosing their jobs also. that is terrible look at the ripple affect that this has had. the actions of one stupid man , has cost many their lively hood.
You know, if the mainstream media wasn’t controlled by the corporate powers-that-be, the masses would be utterly shocked by the truth that lurks in Washington; a truth that involves quite a high number of ranking politicians. As many are “scandalized” by the actions of this guy, it pales in comparison (understatement) to what has gone on, and what continues to “flourish” in D.C. and elsewhere. Just google “The Franklin Cover-up” to give you an inkling of what has been suppressed by the mainstream media.
Oh, and by the way, as it’s been known in Chicago circles for many years now, both Obama and Rahm Emanuel are closet gays. Nothing wrong with being gay, per se, not at all – it’s just the utter lies and hypocrisy that nauseate me to no end.
No laws broken. Yeah, we can all agree it was horny and stupid but again, no laws broken. Politicians are getting away with so much worse every effing day but we Americans are so easily distracted by anything sexual, that seems to eclipse everything else. It’s silly.
@ Mr Greek – I have no doubt that DC is just as steeped in perversion as it is in politics. And I’m going to google that right now!
Weiners’ wife is Hillary Clintons’ assistant. His wife is the one that Hillary was fooling around with during her campaign that almost broke into a huge scandal. When Weinergate surfaced, his wife was in the Middle East with Hillary. They call her Hillary’s Body Girl. Geez. There’s a whole lotta stuff going down here.
It’s a shame, he was one of the few who seemed to do a good job and do it for the right reasons. But the lying about it was a big problem, and more and more stuff was coming out to the point of serious distraction, not to mention the strain on his family.
Agree it was an incredibly stupid thing to torpedo a career over.
he resigned due to hypocrisy of others and political pressure.
those heckler guys are more of embarrasment than what weiner did. pervs!
I dont think Benji yelled the “pervert” comment. I think I heard that was some one else who may have been inspired by Benji’s antics. In any case Weiner deserves everything he gets in my opinion and his wife is a fool for putting up with it. Once a perv always a perv.
See you in the locker room, turtle face! 😉
I actually feel a lot of compassion for him and his family. The heckler was awful and the whole thing was totally unnecessary. Why kicking Weiner to the curb when he is already on his knees? It was horrible.
Personally, I think he should have just said ‘no comment’ from the get go. Pointed out that it is his personal life and has no bearing on his ability to legislate and that he had broken his vows to his wife but no laws. And just left it at that, waited out the storm and kept his nose clean in the future.
Some have said that since he is paid by the taxpayers it is our business, but unless we are willing to hold all people who are paid by tax dollars, ex. social workers, teachers, police, fire fighters, sanitation workers etc. up to the same standards ‘we pay your salary so we have the right to know about your private life’ it is a very slippery slope; where do we draw the line? We allow a congressperson to actually break the law yet retain their job, but if a picture of a pair of underpants gets on Twitter it is treated as more criminal by the public than fraud and bribery?? That makes no sense. I would rather my congressperson be a perve than a bribe taking criminal who would sell out his district for a few free trips and some coffers into his/her PAC.
Yes he was stupid in his private life, no doubt about that, and I do not defend his actions but judgement on this issue should really up to his wife and his god.
Geez, he’s not a very attractive man, is he?
@original bellaluna-I agree. He should have immediately admitted the facts and the whole thing probably would have blown over.This would have ended the media frenzy. It seems that a high percentage of his constituents still would have supported him in the end.
What??? Obama is a closeted gay man??? Shut up! Does Michelle really wear the pants in the family??
@Poodlemom: you are perpetuating a stereotype that if Obama WERE a gay man that he would obviously be “the woman” in the relationship. How crass and unenlightened of you.
Gay PEOPLE come in as many ways and forms as straight people. Laid back, assertive, follower, leader, nice, tough, loud, quiet, butch, femme. The list goes on.
Gay people are people like the rest of us who come in many colors and flavors.
That is why the world is so interesting.