Chrystia Freeland Blown Away by Weiner's 'Classy Touch'

June 6th, 2011 5:37 PM

Chrystia Freeland made a series of bizarre statements on MSNBC today that were overshadowed only by Anthony Weiner's contrite presser during which the Democratic congressman admitted to tweeting the infamous crotch photo and lying to cover it up.

Before the press conference, the Reuters editor-at-large quipped that the Twitter controversy showed that Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as New York governor in 2008 after being caught sleeping with prostitutes, "is a really classy guy."

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But that was only the beginning.

Immediately after the presser, when asked by MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan for her initial thoughts, Freeland gushed: "Today was a masterful performance. I thought he was very contrite; he was very direct; he let people ask him a lot of very tough, personal questions."

Moments later, Freeland elaborated on Weiner's "masterful" press conference: "It's going to be used by crisis management trainers for businessmen who have done something wrong."

Freeland also praised Weiner for not including his wife at the press conference, hailing the decision as a "classy touch."

Expounding on her remark that the disgraced Democratic governor "is a really classy guy," Freeland explained: "Because when Eliot got busted, he came out, right away, he admitted it, and he resigned."

In her brief comments after the presser, Freeland did not call on Weiner to do the "classy" thing and resign.

--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.