Before, he'd defended him, saying:
He didn't do anything with his dick, phone, and internet access that millions of his fellow Americans aren't also doing. He got a few online thrills, he sent out a few pics, he drained his sack sitting in front of his computer. This is part of the new normal, people, just another one of the ways technology is impacting and shaping our lives....
Now here's what I hope the legally married congressman doesn't do: confess to having a problem, blame "sex addiction," check into the Tiger Woods Memorial Sex/Career Rehabilitation Center, resurface a month later Dr. Drew's couch looking contrite, and apologize to the American people for being one of them.
But now:
By checking into rehab—by pretending that it's him, and not the culture, that has a problem with sex—Weiner is sharpening the blade on the guillotine to which he's been dragged.
Why didn't Weiner fight for the right to fool around on line, new-normal-style? By pandering to the old normal and aiding the forces of repression by spreading the lie that the new normal is an illness, he lost Dan Savage.
পোস্টগুলি
১০৬টি মন্তব্য:
Savage is such an asshole.
Hipsterism is so intellectually bankrupt.
The trash talking, bad mouthed bit is a bore.
Why would anybody pay this SOB to write one word? You'd have to be so stupid that you'd pay Amanda Marcotte for her idiocy.
Wait... somebody does pay Marcotte!
Question: When 1/2 the population subscribes to hipsterism, as it now does, does hipsterism retain any real meaning?
I agree with your first pull-quote from Savage. This is the new normal. This is something millions of people do, who are not villainous, who are no more sleazy than the people who go to a bar looking for a hook-up.
However, neither of those things, while normal, is something married people should be involved in.
I am so sick of this rehab crap. Is sex addictive? Hell yes, its supposed to be addictive so a species survives. The idea of monogamy is a social construct. Not saying that in a bad way, but men want sex while women seek power and security in men. Thats why men seek hot sexy babes and hot sexy babes hook up with 85 year old rich guys.
It's in the DNA folks.
Dan Savage is defining the new normal?
Everybody is taking pictures of their junk?
I don't think so....
like the lefts cmplaints about the GOP losers who preach family values, yet are less than fully faithful to spouses... hey wait, ever see a Democrat say he's anti-familiy? Weiner was a family values Dem as well, but I digress:
Anyway, Dan left off the fact that Weiner was pretty preachy on the Internet and kids, while he was talking up underage girls.
Weiner's offical web site says:
Along with several colleagues in Congress, we introduced & passed the KIDS (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators) Act of 2007
Goose, meet Gander...
PS: Weiner was also caught on national TV accusing others of crimes, in order to cover up his own issues. Some think that was a bit much...
I like Dan. But while the concept of Anthony Weiner sending pictures of his own dick back and forth to strangers might by okay for Dan Savage and his husband, for the majority of persons (especially male female marriage, that is definitely not okay). I am sure Huma was not cool with this. Yeah, I know, some people swing. A tiny minority of people swing. Most don't.
And what Weiner did was not only send dick pictures (not other people's but his own), but then lie about it, embarass his Democratic colleges about it, embarass his wife, and most important of all...hurt their reelection chances.
Savage does raise a point. Had Weiner just admitted that post was his on Memorial Day, this story would have never gotten this big (it would have still been a problem, but far less than it is now).
Sending naked picture of your dick is not the new normal. Yes, we have seen Girls Gone Wild ads on late night TV. I get that there is a new normal in that regard that can trap the unwary teenager. Weiner is 46.
What Weiner did was not the new normal, it was the old stupid.
Sad sack is psychotic.
So, besides the grey underpants photo shoot Anthony Weiner shot himself with; he is strange because he is PSYCHOTIC.
He was also strange when he was in the Well of the House, screaming at some republican ... "THE GENTLEMAN WILL SIT DOWN"
Yeah, Anthony Weiner does spittle very well.
He isn't really Jewish. His mom's not Jewish. And, his marriage to a muslim flew under the radar screen. But is now out there with Hillary's balloon attached.
You think these are PLUS SIGNS for re-election?
You think the fault lies in juvenile sexual behaviors? Nah.
For the republicans, it's one of those things that come to them without doing any work.
For the democraps, however, this is about as victorious as Kloppenhoppen's claim she "won" on election night. Without seeing the traps, ahead.
What's a trap? Well, it's like your off and running. And, you suddenly disappear. Because you ran over a hole. And, gravity grabbed ya down.
Never admitting that they can lose, you now also have the EX-senator Feingold ... telling you he's also up and running (again), until he wins.
Sometimes? Sometimes, "name recognition" is not your friend.
By checking into rehab—by pretending that it's him, and not the culture, that has a problem with sex—
That summarizes the loathsome ideas of Savage about as well as any sentence he has ever written.
It's the "culture" that's the problem; not adults with commitments to others behaving like children and tossing those commitments aside like they were nothing.
And not to get side-tracked too much, it's - this antinomianism (for lack of a better word at my fingertips) - an element in the gay movement that worries people.
Even people like me who believe in gay marriage and complete civil rights for gay men and women.
Actually, the way he panicked, lied and behaved in a crisis is what he should be fired over.
Plus, I will say it again, if he was in the private sector and the media posted a pic of "executive" from X company that he put out there, he would be fired too.
Why are the standards so low with politicians who have so much power and Weiner has such poor judgment, but he's a "rising star" that we should give a pass?
it's not "personal" or a "private matter," when you post it on the internet.
pssst, Dan...DAN! It has zero to do with the activity that happened before this became public and stop trying to make it so. Aside from the possibility that he engaged in that behavior with a minor (which, frankly, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on given the realities of online contacts), the real problem here is Der Weinerr's behavior after this all went public. THAT's why he needs to resign.
I'm sure every single person in Congress has an unsavory side or two. We don't take them to the woodshed over them because they are, for the most part, kept private. If we don't woodshed the absolutely in-our-faces egregious examples of outright lying, blame-shifting, attacking accusers, etc, then holding Congressional members to any sort of account will grow more and more difficult until its nigh impossible. At that point, we'll have tipped over into aristocracy. We're pretty close now.
The standard should be the behavior of a scandalized Congressional member when it becomes public and then again when it becomes plain he/she did whatever the scandal is about.
Weiner's antics are the "new normal?" Millions do it? Millions? God I hope not. I must be too old to understand how such focused narcissism is "normal" in any context.
Gotta agree with Fred4Prez here ... Weiner's stunts are "the old stupid."
I appreciate Savage's strange integrity and sort of actually agree with it -- the anti-rehab part that Althouse also anticipated. I would have appreciated a good Charlie Sheen performance from Weiner, even as he remained a worthless loser.
But let's remember that "millions" of Americans is a small percentage of Americans. A "New Normal" requires a ratio, not a sum.
So it is perfectly normal for our congressmen to "drain their sacks" in front of their computers. Ah... fills my heart with confidence and pride in our government. I'm especially fond of all the lies, spin, and smears that come along with the draining.
{what the hell is wrong with these bottom feeding leftists?}
"...he drained his sack..."
Such velvet prose! Such pleasant imagery!
With friends like this, what does Weiner really need?
A guy shoveling shit all day, who comes home and kisses his wife hello, showers, and then masturbates in front of his laptop while drooling at online pron is one thing. But a member of Congress?
Really. I thought my betters were better than that.
The nastiest cyber bully in America who happens to run an 'anti-bullying' campaign, he of the most vile disgusting attack on a human being's name, has an opinion about a pervert who likes to send naked pictures of himself to young girls. Yeah, he's a great one to listen to.
First of all Clinton lied in a civil case and then to a grand jury for his own excessive behavior. Had Newt Gingrich not been a total dick himself, Clinton should have been impeached for that (although ironically that would have resulted in Al Gore being president and likely winning in 2000).
As for Weiner, he made the issue public when he broadcasted his dick to the Twitter world. Opps! When you do something like that, you admit it. You do not lie about it. Lying is like throwing gasoline on a fire to put it out.
Hmmm... Dan Savage isn't answering my emails. He must be out with the flu... licking republican's doorknobs.
Look, it wasnt him posting his schlong, it was his in your face denial and lies. He should have just said yeah, it was me. So what?
If Barnry Fwanks boyfriend can run a sausage rental business out of his condo, and still keep his job plus land plum committee chairmanships, what's the problem with Weiner displaying his Weiner?
"Why didn't Weiner fight for the right to fool around on line, new-normal-style?"
This is the standard left bullshit line rewrit ... it was all just "consensual sex." Nothing wrong with it.
But it wasn't. That's a lie.
According to both the Congressman, and his victim Gennette Cordova, Anthony Weiner sent an UNSOLICITED BLIND LINK to her which depicted his erect penis. This was allegedly sent mistakenly to everyone (but there's no evidence other than Weiner saying so that it was an accident).
She didn't ask for any photos of his penis. She didn't do anything to prompt it, according to Weiner himself. He just sent it.
He flashed her. He's a garden variety exhibitionist. Just like the guy behind the bushes in the park with the trench coat flashes his erect penus when the unsuspecting girls walk by.
He gets off on it.
Anthony Weiner is a sick freak. He has a mental illness. He needs to be locked up involuntarily at Bellvue and given a chemical castration.
He deserves all the medical care he fucking forces the rest of us to buy.
Did Weiner specifically say that he was going in for sex rehab? Maybe he's just going to rehab a sprained wrist.
I agree with your first pull-quote from Savage. This is the new normal.
Every person who has ever fooled around has told himself this is the new normal.
Have sex with your slave? Everyone's doing it!
Have sex with the servant? Everyone's doing it!
A professor having sex with a student? It's the new normal!
Sex at the highway rest stop? The new freedom!
The same ol' bad behavior becomes the new normal when *you* are the one who wants to do it.
"If Barnry Fwanks boyfriend can run a sausage rental business out of his condo, and still keep his job plus land plum committee chairmanships, what's the problem with Weiner displaying his Weiner?"
Here's the problem: He was showing it to girls.
If he had been showing it to young boys, Weiner could have kept his seat in the House, because anyone critical of him would be a labelled a homophobe and accused of hate crimes.
It's precisely BECAUSE Weiner was flashing girls (and not boys) that he must now resign his seat.
And Dan Savage is a hypocrite. Here's why. Vitter got outed being with prostitutes by Larry Flynt. So Savage's condemnation on prying into politicians' private lives does not include defending Vitter on that score. But when Flynt did so this is what Vitter did immediately:
This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.
I am not defending Vitter or suggesting what he did was the "new normal" because it clearly was not. But when caught, Vitter was smartin admitting right away he screwed up.
And Dan Savage, I generally like you man, but you are a partisan dick. So while you make a few points, you are still a hypocrite for being a partisan dick. Did you defend Vitter when he was outed? No you did not.
Hmmmm. Well this settles something for me. When this first broke and after Weiner said he wasn't sure if the "package" was his, I wondered why no journalist asked him:
Rep. Weiner, do think its ok to send a picture of your erect penis to someone/anyone?
From the beginning that's been the disturbing part of the whole affair for me.
Well now Mr. Savage has clarified it all; I'm the weird one. I didn't realize millions of men send out pictures of their sledgehammer.
I guess I didn't get the memo.
But when caught, Vitter was smartin admitting right away he screwed up.
This is the key to the whole sordid affair. What happened when it became clear the person in question is busted? Der Weinerr's behavior amounted to what a 5-year-old would do. What other 5-year-old-ish behavior does he bring to his job as a rep?
"Did Weiner specifically say that he was going in for sex rehab?"
BINGO! The $64,000 question is finally asked.
No, he didn't say he was going for sex rehab. That's the BIG LIE that the media keeps repeating in this whole affair.
Weiner never, in fact, said anything about "rehab."
His spokesman issued a statement not even attributed to the Congressman. The statement said the following:
“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person.”
That is the complete and total statement. This statement does not say that he left New York, it does not say that he's in rehab, it says nothing about "sex rehab."
And Anthony Weiner isn't getting sex rehab. He's in New York. Never left. Never went anywhere. The entire statement was to throw off the media to get them to stay away from his house.
The statement says only that Weiner is seeking assistance to become a better husband. For all we know, he walked down to his marriage counselor to get advice on how to keep Huma from throwing him to the curb tonight when she gets home.
Anthony Weiner doesn't think Anthony Weiner has a sex problem. So, naturally, he's not seeing any help in sex rehab.
Just because "millions of fellow Americans" are doing something doesn't make it right/good/acceptable/desirable. Millions of my fellow Americans want to criminalize homosexuality, millions of my fellow Americans think the government should control the means of production, millions of my fellow Americans believe in homeopathy... that there are great numbers of people with bad morals and dangerous beliefs doesn't make any of their number acceptable to hold high office.
Weiner's Not Even a Tweener
In Size, Stature and Demeanor
The Creep Waved His Pants Pencil
In the Way of Lance Rentzel
To a Gaggle of Giggly Left-Leaners.
I don't understand this Savage desire to normalize every form of sexual behavior. Where's the rush from transgression?
As Woody Allen--the thinking man's pervert--put it: "Is sex dirty? Only if it's done right."
For me, Dan Savage will always be nothing more than a partisan doorknob-licker.
wv: "swalitio" . . . which appears to be a portmanteau of "swallow" and "fellatio." Eww . . .
Everything old is new again. Only the delivery system evolves.
"Vitter was smartin admitting right away he screwed up."
Mot only that, but Vitter also didn't fuck a prostitute inside the House office building - on federal property. He didn't take her to the House gym for snapshots he could then distribute to fresh victims on the internet.
Anthony Weiner has been masturbating and having long-distance telephone sex with women INSIDE the Rayburn House Office Building.
At his desk.
Using our phone.
On our time.
We pay for that long-distance bill.
He then set about committing a crime. He began a criminal conspiracy involving many others to obstruct justice and
to throw off any future House Ethics committee investigators by claiming that his computer system had been hacked and his online accounts taken over.
He only admitted what he'd done because that conspiracy failed.
Vitter didn't do any of that.
Plus, when Vitter admitted that he "made mistakes" in his marriage, his wife stood by him.
Weiner's wife refuses to do that and that says a lot.
"It's precisely BECAUSE Weiner was flashing girls (and not boys) that he must now resign his seat."
LOL. I do love your dispatches from an alternate dimension.
Someone needs to use a blacklight on his office, the gym, etc...
He needs to be locked up involuntarily at Bellvue and given a chemical castration.
this is the most insane thing I've ever read on the internet.
Weiner would voluntarily castrate himself to keep his seat.
Apparently it is not the new "normal" or you wouldn't see this reaction. The new "normal" would be tacitly accepted even if the law remained the same. I think of cohabitation law that remained on the books long after it was the new "normal", accepted and no longer enforced. Savage's attempted to self declare a societal "norm" is just a little creepy...like Hanibal Lector declaring human flesh and fava beans the new "normal".
Savage writes like that sub-class of Lefty who's bound and (should be gagged, but...) determined to prove he's a gutsy writer.
Salamandyr and nevadabob make the point. It may be the new normal, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
75 years ago, the new normal in selected parts of Europe and Asia was appropriating the territory of one's neighbors and executing anyone who objected.
PS On that note, to all the Army vets among the Althousians, a Happy Belated Birthday to the US Army (no cafe yesterday).
And congrats to going back to the cap for fatigue duty.
Dan Savage is one of the reasons that terms like "homosexual agenda" exist. Is he really going to be satisfied with gay marriage? Or is he going to continue waging war against good taste, honesty, and basic human decency as well?
He is exposing himself as nothing more than a leftist stooge.
And congrats to going back to the cap for fatigue duty.
Absoflogginlutely. I was in when that change came down. At the time, we all saw it as a Clintonian step toward the blue UN beret. You know, get us to wear a black for a decade or so until wearing a beret, even outside special forces, rangers, and airborne, became the norm. Then switch to light blue.
Patrol caps look better, work better and cost less.
What Weiner did was not the new normal, it was the old stupid.
The old stupid travels much further, much faster than it used to without the internet.
...pretending that it's him, and not the culture, that has a problem with sex.
Yeah, Dan. A culture that has standards of public decorum in sexual behavior for grown men obviously has "a problem with sex". Obviously.
Salmandyr: This is the new normal. This is something millions of people do, who are not villainous, who are no more sleazy than the people who go to a bar looking for a hook-up.
Oh wait. My mistake. We don't have standards of decorum in sexual behavior. It can't be sleazy if millions are doing it. No standards, no problems. So we've finally reached the utopian state of everybody retaining the sexual attitudes of 15-old-olds? Meaning, every argument about sexual behavior can be reduced to...TEH HYPOKRASY!!!
Dan Savage is one of the reasons that terms like "homosexual agenda" exist.
Exactly.
And it's one of the biggest - if not the biggest - obstacles remaining in the way of achieving legal equality for gay people.
He's a caricature against what decent and wonderful gay and lesbian people really are.
When I discuss/debate "gay" issues with my conservative friends, they're always bringing up the Savage types to hit me over the head with.
I mention ordinary gay people - real flesh and blood human beings that are searching for companionship and love - and they bring up Savage to tell me, "That's not what they want!!".
Somehow, without my noticing, rap became the dominant form of American popular music. My feeling is that Savage's statement that millions of people flash each other daily is a gross exaggeration. However, I also know that I would be about the last demographic to become aware of this phenomenon.....Personally, I never felt that my penis was my best feature, but, also, I never thought that a tattoo of Obama on my biceps would add to my appeal. Our culture changes quicker than we do. At a certain point, our civilization is some kind of weird party, and we are Mr. Jones.
Somehow, without my noticing, rap became the dominant form of American popular music.
Dominant as measured how? Certainly not sales. Maybe artist-on-artist violence, but not sales.
I guess, before weiner, if you wanted to see a guy opening his raincoat and "flashing" ... you had to buy french postcards?
Perhaps, weiner thought that when Al Gore posed in "earth tones" ... and stuck a pair of sox down into his pants ... that was okay. Because in 2000 Gore was a candidate. And, he needed to appear "more masculine."
Weiner? Strange dude. Somehow, terrified of sex. And, exposing his dong. So, he kept it covered in underpants.
Probably, during the day, shoving his left hand into his pants pocket. Sort'a like the way men used to pull out their gold watches? Did you know vests had special pockets for the watch and chain?
Who was gonna tell weiner what he was doing was weird? Not Huma. Not Hillary.
Weiner's 45,000 "tweet" fans?
He's gotta go because he's an incompetent fool, who has no self-control at all.
As to his "style" ... that's what the democraps use when they say "Alinsky."
Yeah. Everybody does it. But most people look for privacy. Not its opposite.
Oh, weiner doesn't have to quit on my account.
And, I see no problem with him being on Russ Feingold's team ... where they're not gonna stop until they win.
Sure. That's the ticket.
I just want to know what is the age cut off to not flash yourself.
How young?
He voted for him before he voted against him.
Sexual immorality will never become the normal way that people with a conscience approve. The sin Trapis a normal bondage, but that can easily be dealt with by repentance and forgiveness. In this case Anthony Weiner has made a first step to get out of his trap by showing a conscience, and that is what Dan Savage believes should no longer be normal.
The main thing Savage is trying to normalize these days is "nonmonogamy" (or "polyamorousness"). This is why it's crucial -- I would think -- to know what Weiner's understanding with his wife was. It's all about communication and honesty (with your partner).
How young?
Also, How old?
I just want to know what is the age cut off to not flash yourself.
How young?
It's not a cutoff. It's a donut. You can get away with until you're about 5. Then there's no-go territory until you're around 85. Then you can get away with it again.
I can say with certitude, that weiner's a schmuck. Fell short in the word department when he first tried to wiggle away.
Now? Well, let's see? You remember Kopecni? You remember Monica's Gap dress?
Teddy's senate seat floated away from the democrapic machine in Massachusetts.
The blue Gap dress is sitll famous.
When you're a politician ... you don't really want to see your name connected to stuff that gets some people angry. And, some people to laugh.
There are no votes in weiner's "triump." And, Nancy Pelosi, who is sitting in the minority office ... has very high hopes of pushing Boehner out.
It's not a fight being televised.
Weiner? About the most famous House member now.
What did he do? Touch his dick. And, also, with his other hand ... snapped pictures. Happy he didn't have to stick the camera up to his eye.
The main thing Savage is trying to normalize these days is "nonmonogamy" (or "polyamorousness").
As does, to a lesser degree, Andrew Sullivan.
They don't want marriage for gay people to be a restraining or directing institution of the male sex drive. They want gay marriage to transform the institution and eliminate the monogamous aspect of it.
All restraints on sex are repressive and bourgeois and harmful.
We've spent thousands of years trying to differentiage ourselves from rutting animals and they think all of it was a mistake.
Well Mrs. Weiner is gonna use the guillotine on Mr. Weiner's little head when she gets home.
wv: fereal--- really
There was a time in America when it was perfectly acceptable to most people to discriminate against people because of their race. It was just the way things were. Most people, most white people, thought it was fine and dandy.
That did not make it right or good.
Today, it is perfectly acceptable to some people for a married man to engage in sexual texts and masturbatory fantasies with women who are not his wife.
That does not make it right or good.
Trey
I dunno, Scott M. Some men "can get away with it" before they turn 85. Because they can get it to stick out below their Bermuda shorts.
It was said Milton Berle was so well endowed. He could screw a woman through the window of his hotel room. If she just opened the window to her room, at the same time.
(And, I remember this being said way back in the 1960's.)
Dick talk and dick bragging ain't new.
Weiner? What did he have to brag about?
Huma? I'll bet cha she doesn't touch the damn thing!
You know, there are lots of wives who make sure the bedroom lights are never turned on! Some men wouldn't even know what their wives look like ... through the passion. In the dark.
"The main thing Savage is trying to normalize these days is "nonmonogamy" (or "polyamorousness")."
Wait what? I thought he waged an entire campaign against Rick Santorum to preserve monogamy.
Savage makes some sense however for married people (and especially those who are public figures), the right thing to do may not be normal. Weiner does not have a sex problem.
"This is why it's crucial -- I would think -- to know what Weiner's understanding with his wife was."
This is true. We need to know if Huma was aware of this immoral behavior.
It's vital that we cleanse the State Department of any women who might not be acceptable to the Islamic communities we are negotiating with.
If Huma Abedin is knowingly allowing her husband to exhibit himself in this manner - and approves of such conduct - then she has no business being allowed to be a conduit in negotiations with Islamic communities who would find this behavior shameful and stone-worthy.
Is Huma shaming her Islamic family?
We have the right to know this of any aide de camp of our Secretary of State.
He didn't do anything with his dick, phone, and internet access that millions of his fellow Americans aren't also doing
What a silly and weak "argument"
"Millions of Americans" aren't Congressman sending pictures to high-school and college aged girls.
Why are the standards so low with politicians who have so much power and Weiner has such poor judgment, but he's a "rising star" that we should give a pass?
Because the federal government has a near unlimted capacity for borrowing from the future. Both chamber reward seniority. Voters, afraid of new representation and loss of seniority, send them same bums back every time.
Voters, afraid of new representation and loss of seniority, send them same bums back every time.
I don't know how unusual this is, but I can't remember one vote for any of my members of Congress, past and present, in which their relative seniority figured into my decision.
I don't know how unusual this is, but I can't remember one vote for any of my members of Congress, past and present, in which their relative seniority figured into my decision.
When was the last time you learned about a candidates at a union hall?
I can tell you that I do not vote this way. But I have been to union halls where this is the way votes are whipped.
Haven't been in a board room, but the whip might be awfully similar.
Dan Savage seems to agree with the writer of Revelations 22:11. They both want to see clear distinctions made in these matters. "...let the filthy be still more filthy...and the Holy still more Holy". Apparently people being only half filthy makes the judging of them harder to do.
Well I suppose doing what he did (erotic pictures taken in the people's gym into which no people except special people are allowed) is allowed.
("normal?" Normal for 45 year old men who regularly shake their fingers at other people for their indiscretions of other types?)
Did everyone who got them want them?
What a bunch of sleazes "normal" is.
The problem is he is married.
So normal is acting out your great love for your wife while she's globetrotting with Hillary and sending those pictures to other women (who knows .. maybe some female impersonators out there -- some of the recipients might have been American ex pats living in Ireland!) he's never met.
If he's sent them all to Huma no one would give a rip roaring flip. (Well, except maybe the ones in the people's gym ... Because it is the people's gym.)
So I don't know who this Savage guy is, but rehab or not, you can't fix stupid.
wv nonarr
as stupid as Weiner and Arnold and John.
Dan Savage lived in Madison and worked at one of the only video stores in Madison that had porn.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Hysterical if true. As FLS used to say, though (anyone had an FLS sighting recently?), video or it didn't happen.
Brennan, Your hypothesis is plausible, but it turns out that the incumbency advantage isn't that simple to explain. A pretty solid study by two prominent political scientists rejects the hypothesis that the power of seniority is the source of incumbents' re-election advantage on the grounds that this advantage has increased to the same extent for executive as well as legislative offices at all levels of government.
And note that Vitter had already confessed his daliance to his wife long before he was publically outed.
But of course Dan Savage is a partisan cocksucker. Not that there is anything wrong with either, but own it. And forgive me if I am not persuaded by your self serving preaching Dan.
Ann Althouse said...
The main thing Savage is trying to normalize these days is "nonmonogamy" (or "polyamorousness"). This is why it's crucial -- I would think -- to know what Weiner's understanding with his wife was. It's all about communication and honesty (with your partner).
I couldn't care less what his wife says. Is it too much to ask that our Pres, VP, Supreme Court Justices, Congressman and Senators NOT send pictures of their penis into cyberspace?
These people represent us. I'm old enough to remember that Reagan would not take off his suit jacket in the oval office out of respect for the office of President. Now we have...well, you know.
What chance that Weiner gets elected, even in NY, if his commercials and debate performances mention that ... occassionally I'll be sitting in my office in DC sending out pictures of my penis to various women around the world?
Sex happens so the human race can exist. Monogamy (and morals) happen so that civilization can exist.
Unfortunately, we seem to be entering a new, uncivilized age.
Lying is fine as long as it's about sex.
People keep trying to defend this behavior but it keeps having consequences.
What this is really about isn't sex, but personal freedom from responsibility, duty and obligation.
The problem is that's what being a member of Congress is about! If it isn't, then it's just about the exercise of power and privilege.
Yeah, not really sympathizing much with Savage on this one.
By which I mean, I have no moral or practical problem with people having sex. Casual sex? Fine! Open relationships? Go for it if it pleases you. I wish you joy of it, though experience and observation suggest it tends to not be any more likely to bring that than a standard one.
But, Rep. Weiner really has a problem. It is not "society" that is the core problem in this case.
Society disapproves very strongly of Weiner's fooling around on the side right after entering a non-open marriage.
Not specifically or for the most part of the fact, in some sort of mysterious vacuum, that he flirted with women and even sent them pictures of his genitals.
(Were he single, would this have been more than a single paragraph, or a day or two's news on a slow week? I can't see it.)
That Weiner knew that disapproval would be there - and he can't not have - and yet continued in the constant practice, and given that such things cannot successfully remain secrets these days - especially when practiced at that rate and magnitude - it actually does sound like Weiner has "a problem".
(It might not be "sex addiction", but it sure as hell is "very bad judgment and listening to his cock too much".)
What else are we going to call it when one does self-destructive things in such a context?
(Now, if he was resigning because of flak from having an open marriage, I'd be be on his side, and Savage's - but he didn't have one of those.
Part of "marriage" is being punished by society (and your spouse) when you break the fundamental rules, as Megan McArdle pointed out recently.
If all marriages are open and transitory, then it isn't meaningfully "marriage" at all, is it?)
Rep. Weiner has lost Dan Savage? Well, I guess even Weiner has his good points.
Who or what is Dan Savage? On second thought I withdraw the question. I sense it's better not to know.
Damnit Chip. Let me have that one.
Sigivald asked: What else are we going to call it when one does self-destructive things in such a context?
Call it "pulling a Weiner"?
Flashing isn't sex.
It's a mental illness.
Crucial to know what Weiner's understanding with his wife was.
I don't care either. But let's pretend. *gazes into crystal ball in my mind*
She knew nothing of his regrettable behavior, but now knows everything. But she's traveling. Now they're together. She asks him to explain. He explains. It sounds like this:
"YouaskedmeaquestionandI'mexplaining. Doyouwantmetoexplainyourquestion?Doyouwnatmetoexplainyourquestion. I'mexpaliningyourquestion. Letmeexplainyourquestion. I'mexplainingyourquestion. IdidwhatIdidandthatwasamistake. Letmeexplainyourquestion. Areyougoingtoletmeexplainyourquestion? I'mexplainingyourquestion..."
I'm confused. Weiner goes into rehab, Althouse says that's bad. Now Dan Savage also says it's bad.
Does Savage lend support or repel by association?
I quit reading Savage when he went insane over Rick Santorum.
And I didn't even like Rick Santorum at the time.
"He didn't do anything with his dick, phone, and internet access that millions of his fellow Americans aren't also doing."
What a load of poo. A complete load of total BS. Man, why do people make this stuff up? And why do people believe it?
The main thing Savage is trying to normalize these days is "nonmonogamy" (or "polyamorousness").
Evidence of his poorly developed morality and bad judgement.
Isn't savage the guy who was going around iowa in 07 or 08 coughing on doorknobs trying to infect republican campaign workers?
Isn't that bioterror?
It was in antelope oregon. Should be for Savage
John henry
Poor choice of metaphor. If you know you're being dragged to the guillotine, you're going to pray that the blade is as sharp as possible.
I wish the forgive-everything culture could see that there can still be a line between "something a lot of people do" and "too reckless, impulsive, and narcissistic to be worthy of a position of trust."
What's really fallen here isn't morality so much as the idea of leadership requiring certain stern virtues and not merely being another branch of the fame industry in which everything that makes you more famous is by virtue of that, improper to criticise.
Dan Savage gave us Santorum and for that he will be remembered.
Question: When 1/2 the population subscribes to hipsterism, as it now does, does hipsterism retain any real meaning?
And:
Isn't savage the guy who was going around iowa in 07 or 08 coughing on doorknobs trying to infect republican campaign workers?
I never really heard of Savage until today. He sounds like a real influenzal blogger in the HIP-positive circles.
___________
wv = "insess" yech!
Edutcher: in the midst of this particular cesspool, thanks for the mention of the Army's birthday--It was the institution I enlisted in 1961 and retired from in 1986--the proudest 25 years in my life. Perfect? no, but its an institution that protects us and young men die in its service.
And I will prefer the US Army to almost another institution as one of the best (I would, of course, mention the USN, the Marine Corps, and the other uniformed services--but it isnt their birthday)
Thanks for noticing.
v/r Colonel Blimp
Definitely the patrol cap all the way too...
Could any employee of, say, Kroger Supermarket get caught sending dicpics out to strangers keep his job? Hey, no job I ever had would have allowed that and I've worked some fairly awful jobs, especially when the kids were little and I needed a second job, any second job.
And it's not just any executive of any corporation, it's all the way down to janitor. The minute that a news item goes out, Joe Schmoe, of XYZ corporation was accused of seding dicpics, FIRED! Only in government do these people hang on.
He didn't do anything with his dick, phone, and internet access that millions of his fellow Americans aren't also doing. He got a few online thrills, he sent out a few pics, he drained his sack sitting in front of his computer. This is part of the new normal, people, just another one of the ways technology is impacting and shaping our lives....
That's some beautiful writing, there.
WineSlob said..6/15/11 10:05 AM
There once was a pic of a Weiner
Whose pics showed a righteous left-leaner
The left was in awe
It's not about law!
Now we have to view more of his peener.
Isn't savage the guy who was going around iowa in 07 or 08 coughing on doorknobs trying to infect republican campaign workers?
I think it was actually in the 1996 (or possibly 2000) campaign season.
Folks, Dan Savage is just jealous that Weiner looks better than Savage in pantyhose and a bra.
Weiner lost Savage and Ginger Lee:
[Congressman Weiner] asked me to lie. I think that Anthony Weiner should resign because he lied. He lied to the public and the press for more than a week. If he lied about this, I can’t have much faith in him about anything else.
@Fred4Pres
First of all Clinton lied in a civil case and then to a grand jury for his own excessive behavior. Had Newt Gingrich not been a total dick himself, Clinton should have been impeached for that
Newt's dicktitude nonwithstanding, Clinton was impeached. He wasn't convicted.
As long as Congressman Frank walks around free as a bird after running the "Boom Boom Room' down in NW DC - Leave poor Anthony alone - all alone.
He writes for the Stranger in Seattle, which is alternative, pretty gay, often childish and immature, and entirely anti religious sexual morality, anti Republican etc.
IF you think one of the primary goals of society is to form responsible, adult, taxpaying, civic minded men, strong family structures, strong minded individualists....and simply....adults...Seattle isn't a good model.
The proliferation of gays and lesbians, old crusty hippies, gender equality ideologues and feminists and excessive egalitarians will not allow it (and a few genuine Commies here and there).
Out with the old...in with the...............
(building on one of James Taranto's recent pieces)
Maybe he's upset by the idea of Rep. Weiner seeking treatment over his sexual behavior, because if extreme heterosexuality is treatable, what else might be treatable?
ampersand, you are correct.
Savage's advice is quite conservative most of the time.
anthony weiner might resign be good for it
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