During his Monday confessional press conference, Rep. Anthony
Weiner said he would not resign his congressional
seat. Despite the scandalized New York Democrat’s
avowed intention of remaining in Congress, however, Weiner’s
tenure in the House is likely to end soon, as more and more of his
fellow Democrats demand his resignation.
A top official of the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania on Wednesday
became the first House Democrat to call for Weiner’s resignation.
Five other House Democrats added their agreement. In a radio
interview, Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor similarly said
Weiner should resign, a sentiment echoed Wednesday
by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Virginia senatorial
candidate Tim Kaine, both former chairmen of the Democratic
National Committee.
The so-called
“WeinerGate” scandal began May 27 when the congressman, married
to a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sent a
late-night Twitter message that included a link to a lewd photo of
his crotch. That message was addressed to a 21-year-old college
student from Seattle, a fan of Weiner’s who had jokingly described
herself as his “girlfriend,” but was also visible to the
congressman’s more than 40,000 Twitter followers. Weiner
quickly deleted the photo, claiming his online accounts had
been “hacked,” and continued his denials for ten days until, at
Monday’s press conference in New York, he
admitted that he had meant to send the photo to the 21-year-old
as a private Twitter direct message (DM).
The congressman also confessed Monday to having carried on
several other “online relationships” with women. In the past two
days, lurid new details of Weiner’s activities have
emerged. Tuesday, the gossip site Radar Online published a
graphic
transcript of his Facebook “cybersex” exchanges with Lisa
Weiss, a 40-year-old Las Vegas casino employee. A 34-year-old
teacher in Georgia reluctantly came forward Wednesday to admit
she had also carried on sexual Facebook conversations with
Weiner. And also Wednesday, two radio personalities published a
photo of Weiner’s genitals that the congressman had sent to another
of his Internet acquaintances, 26-year-old Meagan Broussard. The
hosts of the “Opie and Anthony Show” had surreptitiously obtained
the
X-rated photo from conservative New Media entrepreneur Andrew
Breitbart, whose BigGovernment.com first reported Weiner’s scandal.
Breitbart had promised not to publish that photo, and
issued a statement Wednesday expressing his regret that it
had become public.
WeinerGate has already deprived Democrats of nearly two weeks of
media time during which they had hoped to capitalize on the
political momentum they gained by winning a May 24
special election in New York’s 26th District. With additional
revelations likely in coming days, Weiner’s scandal could continue
making headlines for weeks. While some in the GOP, including
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, have called
for Weiner’s resignation, many other Republicans are in no
hurry to see the disgraced Democrat depart D.C. One GOP
operative, noting Weiner’s previous role as a leading liberal
attack dog, told me privately Wednesday: “Who cares
whether he resigns now or not? He’s been neutered. Can Weiner
accuse Republicans of wrongdoing now? … I say, let him
stay.”
Weiner’s scandal “has become a national embarrassment for
Democratic leaders,”
Devlin Barrett of the Wall Street Journal reports,
citing unnamed “Democratic aides” as saying that if the embattled
congressman “continues to resist calls to resign, the situation
could reach a boiling point Monday when House members return to
Washington.”
Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and other House Democrat leaders
certainly don’t want to be forced to keep discussing WeinerGate
next week. Only Weiner’s resignation can bring the sex-scandal
narrative to an end, and that end can’t come soon enough for
Democrats.
