If the Anthony Weiner Twitter photo scandal has taught the public anything, it is that politicians can sometimes be as reckless as professional sports heroes and celebrities when it comes to the use of modern technology. It has also reinforced the maxim that once something has gone to the Internet, it is there forever. And it is with that last note of neverending-ness that members of Congressman Weiner's own party have come to view with a sense of impending and mounting horror -- and Republicans are seeing as an opportunity.
Bad enough that Rep. Weiner's exchanges with at least six women surfaced as part of an admission to lying about a Twitter photo he had sent to a 22-year-old college student in Washington. It was bad enough when it was discovered that he had had racy conversations with a known porn star. And the news got a little worse when it was reported that his wife of less than a year, Huma Abedin, was with child. And then there was an explicit photo of Weiner as well...
But Weiner allowed that he had made mistakes, admitted to the sexting and he inappropriate conversations, and noted that some of those social networking relationships had occurred before he was married. But, he said, he had done nothing wrong with regard to his official position as a New York Congressman. He said he would not resign.
But that was before the story took what might be considered a more unsavory turn for the worse. Congressman Weiner, according to Fox News, had also become the focus of an investigation into Twitter exchanges between himself and a 17-year-old Delaware female. Although the teen told police she and the legislator had had no inappropriate contact and Rep. Weiner issued a statement admitting to five exchanges where nothing "explicit nor indecent" was relayed, the investigation remains open.
Democrats understandably want the matter to disappear. With potential presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich verbally torpedoing Republican legislation (telling NBC's "Meet The Press" that Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare provisions in the House-passed 2012 budget was "radical" and "social engineering") and making embarrassing gaffes (Sarah Palin went awry with a history lesson on Paul Revere), Democrats were happy with some distraction from the disastrous news filtering in about joblessness and the sluggish economy. But Rep. Wiener's Twitter photo and the subsequent scandal erased all that.
It also erased any feelings of moral superiority Democrats might have been feeling since the news that the case of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., where the senator's two-year extramarital affair with a campaign staffer led to suspicions of other violations of trust, had been referred to the Justice Department. Also erased: moral superiority over the fall of married Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., after the publication of a photo he sent a woman contacted from Craigslist's "Women Looking For Men" forum.
While many Republicans, such as Republican National Committee chairman Reince Preibus and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, have called for Weiner's resignation, their basic stance has been to register moral outrage and let the story run its course. Why? Because the longer Weinergate dominates the political discourse, the longer Republicans have to gain distance from the embarrassments, the undermining comments and gaffes, and the situations that have hurt their standing and ability to move their agenda forward. It can also be seen as a potential opportunity for Republicans to recoup the recent surprising loss of New York's 26th District, especially if the Weiner eventually steps down.
But the distracting respite for Republicans might be nearing an end. Most of the Democratic Party leadership are now calling for Rep. Weiner's resignation. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who had previously called for an ethics investigation into Weiner's scandal and said that his resignation was up to him and his constituents, said Saturday, according to the New York Times, that she now believes that Weiner should step down. She joined Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine and Democratic National Party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in calling for his resignation.
And the investigation into the 17-year-old Delaware girl just might be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
