NY Times Suggests Anthony Weiner Was Victim of New Washington 'Puritanism'
Was disgraced Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, who carried on several inappropriate online chats with young women, a victim of a newly “puritanical” climate in Washington? That’s the inference from Kate Zernike’s front-page story for the New York Times's Week in Review, “Naked Hubris...While digital flux makes it easier for politicians to stray,” a companion piece to Sheryl Gay Stolberg’s “When it comes to scandal, boys will be boys.”
But technology keeps adding new and in many ways more seductive temptations to the mix. And this is happening at a time when, many argue, a more prying press corps, stricter public standards and greater partisanship have combined to make Washington oddly more puritanical than it once was. Hamilton, after all, had confessed his affair to investigators in Congress several years before he was actually exposed for it. But 15 years after the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, revealing lurid details of his sexual dalliances with a White House intern, most politicians now know that they can’t count on the press or their peers to stay silent about straying.
The print edition text box: “Technological temptations flood in, at a time when a prying press helps make Washington more puritanical."
- Clay Waters's blog
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Comments
"Liberal" "Logic"
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:17pm.
Weiner's the "victim" in all of this. Riiiight ! .... (Then again, maybe Weiner IS the victim--MRS. WEINER!)
Never, Never trust a "liberal" (progressive)
Really. What kind of country
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:15pm.
Really. What kind of country is this, where someone can't send photos of his johnson to women he doesn't know without the Puritans getting their bloomers in a wad over it???
Motherbelt..
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:22pm.
Right on, Motherbelt---It's nothing but a witch hunt!
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
→ This is America
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:19pm.
Where Democrats ooze with anticipation at the possibility that one of their gods will expose his sex organs to them.
Weiner-Spitzer 2012
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:26pm.
Weiner-Spitzer will give you a helping hand. Vote early. Vote often.
Weiner-Spitzer
Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:53pm.
Where has that hand been?
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Well...................
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:13pm.
.
Weiner-Holder 2012
Submitted by ahusser on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 9:53pm.
Yeah!! That's the Ticket.
"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
Especially when this someone
Submitted by lotr on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:14pm.
Especially when this someone is named Weiner and sends photos of his wiener, then plays the victim card (people are always making fun of my name!).
Apparently the "non-Puritans" at the NYT don't have any sense of sardonic humor.
Weiner needs to resign and fulfill his true calling: Playing a Heel in the WWE. He wouldn't even need to change his name (although he's a little on the small side).
How it ends
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:34pm.
I'm pretty sure that whatever happens in this crazy story, it won't have a happy ending.
-Jon
Weiner, the real story.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:18pm.
The untold story is a Republican operative with the help of one Baptist, and one Methodist minister kidnapped Weiner, took all those pics, brainwashed Weiner into thinking he, himself, did it, then the Republican operative and the 2 ministers tweeted the pics.
There, I feel better now. The truth is the Weiner pics are the fault of Republicans and the Religious Right. Weiner is a victim.
I'm torn...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:30pm.
..between crying and laughing.
Crying because the birdcage liner used by most of the policy makers in this country as a barometer of the the country (unfortunately) would have us believe that there is something wrong with being a Christian, with having morals which do not debase ourselves or others, with believing that some things should be private and between only a husband and wife (of opposite sexes) and that our word is our bond.
Laughing because I know the majority of Americans do NOT read nor care about the NYT.
Washington + Democrats + MSM
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:40pm.
Washington + Democrats + MSM = 'new Puritanism'!!!!!
Who woulda thunk???
Wiener's new anthem..."I'm a Creep"
Submitted by ex buff e-dub on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:25pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
This one needs to be put in the Award Pool
Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:55pm.
Please Clay, I don't know how you guys submit your stories for the Annual Idiot Awards, but this one needs to be nominated, pronto.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
digital comms - the tell of two tales
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:03pm.
#1 - Congressman sends out inappropriate pictures to his fans, fakes a hack, lies repeatedly and tries to influence a potential witness
Media Response to #1: private matter and we should not investigate
#2 - Private emails relating to government business of no known ethical or political problems.
Media Response to #2: Attack the release of the emails, get as many people as necessary pooring through the emails and then complain when they don't find anything
In the dictionary under FUGLY.........
Submitted by Tomorama on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 1:05pm.
I just got mistakenly tweeted, Thursday the NY slimes is simply going to blame Bush and the tard' talking heads and their sycophants will all nod accordingly and Babs Wa Wa will nominate him Governor or Mayor of New Yok...........................
Joy Behar will agree as well as Kitchen sink.
Obama will say that he was taken out of context and he will grant Weiner the THRONE to NY via executive fiat.....
Even their headlines are
Submitted by jessieH on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 3:29pm.
Even their headlines are getting stupid.
The Weiner issue isn't competence, constituents, or morality
Submitted by CO2Maker on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 4:04pm.
Don't get me wrong, those things are important. But what no one in Congress or any of the professional talking drones seems to be concerned about is honor and dignity. What Weiner did was stupid, dishonest (to his wife, at least), reckless, and humiliating (again, to his wife, at least). Maybe not criminal nor even bad enough to be censured in Congress. But that's not what's important at this point.
What about honor and dignity? Weiner was insanely out of control with his misbehavior and his prevarications and shifty dodges ("can't say with certitude"), and he was caught. His disgrace was public and total. What's left to do? Hang on by his fingernails? How effective can he be after this? I can't imagine any committee witness answering him with a straight face.
I've mentioned the remarkable case of John Profumo, British defense secretary who was caught in the Christine Keeler sex scandal in 1963. He resigned and left government for good and worked in a charity shelter for 40 years! No "Comeback Kid" scenario for him. Just humility.
Read about it on the BBC site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4793130.stm
wow
Submitted by scarletandgold on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 7:20pm.
progressives are such degenerates...i hope hard head weenie stands his ground ,,,thats sure to sink oblama......
careful
Submitted by lotr on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 9:48pm.
When you say things like "hard head weenie" readers might get confused as you whether you are referring to Wiener, or Wiener's wiener.
I love it.... On Hannity tonight the panel said that Wiener should fulfill his true calling as a trainer at Bally Total Fitness!
An observation from Planet Zernike
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 8:49am.
ZERNIKE: ". . . stricter public standards and greater partisanship have combined to make Washington oddly more puritanical than it once was."
??!! Stricter public standards? More puritanical? In DC? Where does she get that from?
Maybe we should Email the image of Weiner's weiner to the NY Times a thousand times a day and test their anti-puritanism.
The Only Thing...
Submitted by packman on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 9:55am.
Weiner is a victim of is his colossal hubris which is only trumped by his even more colossal stupidity.
"...Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread..." ~Thomas Jefferson
If you're going to dance to the music ...
Submitted by Kenyon Schraeder on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 11:03am.
... you have to help pay the band at the end of the night. Plain and simple. That's the way life actually works in the real world.
Weiner danced ... and danced .... and danced some more .... and then swore that never was even at the dance.
Goodbye. Good riddance. Get lost.