caught somewhere between real life, simple faith, & raw emotion
Don’t Be A Weiner!
If you’re totally unplugged, then you’ve missed the fact that over the last week Congressman Anthony Weiner has been in the news. It’s not for some groundbreaking legislative ideas or being promoted to some mega-important post in the President’s cabinet.
Congressman Weiner is in the news for sexting back-and-forth online with about 6 woman (that’s the number so far) and sending them risque pictures of himself. The pictures are weird and creepy. In fact, in one you can see in the background a picture of his his wife, his kids, and one with him Bill and Hillary Clinton. Most of these exchanges were young woman–and a couple were porn stars.
There are basically 3 problems with all this:
Problem # 1? He’s married.
Problem # 2? He’s a sponsor of KIDS Legislation (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators).
Problem #3? He’s a member of Congress.
Regarding problem #1, that’s something between him and his wife. She’ll have to deal with that.
Regarding problem #2, that’s just weird being that he solicited these young woman (you can read the legislation text here on the actual government’s website). You can also view the screenshot from Congressman Weiner’s official website just in case all this gets taken down. I imagine it eventually will due to the irony of all this. But I want to drill down on Problem 3 a bit more.
Although I wish all the best for him and his problem, I think Congressman Anthony Weiner should resign because of what he did and all the lying he did about it up until now.
At this some people will say things like:
- Oh, this is just a personal matter.
- It doesn’t affect how he does his job.
- Hey, we all have a skeleton or two in our closet.
- Don’t judge!
Of course, we all know that if he was a Republican Congressman everyone (media, other members of Congress, etc.) would demand his resignation–and he would have a week ago. And that would be right, but that is another subject.
The point is, Congressman Weiner is a leader and leaders are held to a higher standard.
Government officials, military, ministers (priests, pastors, clerics, etc) are in areas of public leadership and should be held to a higher standard. For example, don’t we all get angry when some official has hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of dollars in unpaid taxes? Anyone one of us regular little people would go to jail for this. But people like Congressman Charlie Rangel or Treasury Security Timothy Geithner get a pass. How about when a pastor embezzles money from his church or cheats on his wife with some hooker? That sure makes us mad. It makes me mad, and I am happy to see them take responsibility and step down, otherwise I feel like they are just a sham of a leader. That is truly taking responsibility. This is taking full responsibility. And Weiner refuses to this and is refusing to resign.
Leaders must live above the fray because at the core leaders tell us how to (or how we should) live, especially members of Congress. No, leaders aren’t expected to be perfect. But they should take responsibility when they aren’t.
How can some guy like Weiner who lies (who currently is still lying about the chain of events), is unfaithful to his wife (to some degree), and solicits relationships with young woman with the intent to exchange sexual messages and pictures. This speaks of his character–or lack of character. Now how can he tell us how to live, introduce legislation, or make deals with other members of Congress? What kind of message does this send to up-and-coming members of Congress? Or what kind of message does this send to our children? I mean, my kids laugh every time they hear his name on the news. That means I have to subtly explain why everyone is talking about him (and it isn’t easy).
This isn’t a guy with a simple little personality quirk or two (like being overly clean or a obsessive toy train collector) that made a mistake. A mistake implies something accidental or unintended. This is a hypocrite with consistently unhealthy and destructive behavior in a position of influence, power, and authority and he needs to go. Weiner needs to stop being a weiner and take responsibility for his weiner and resign. (Isn’t his name ironic, by the way?)
Don’t be a Weiner or a weiner. Be better than that. And if you are ever a weiner, take full responsibility.
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Then the women are scumbags and perverts too. They share equal blame.
Also What would me being a woman have anything to do with it? These woman he was talking to were not forced to do anything. They were willing participants. Also apparently I heard a rumor that his wife was aware of his sexting habit before they married. I do not know if it is true or not, or maybe he promised to stop.
Just b/c it was consensual or even if his wife knew doesn’t make him less of a pervert or scumbag.
The first line in my post says I think he should resign.
My point was that you said was that a Republican would have resigned within a day or two of a scandal breaking and that simply not true. They way your statement read it seems you mean ALL Republicans as they are somehow morally superior. That was my issue.
Both sides of the isle have their share of idiots. I think a lot of Politicians have a God complex. They think they can do and say anything and get away with it.
That’s right, you did say that. Good. Sorry I passed over that. We agree on that. And I agree that most have some power/god complex. As I like to say, power attracts the corrupt and the corrupt seek more power.
I also agree that both sides of the isle have their problems. My point is to hold leaders to a higher standard. And more times than not, Democrats get a pass where Republicans do not. That’s how I see it unfold in the news. It’s as if this kind of behavior is a resume enhancement for some Dems. Now I KNOW I’m gettin’ in trouble for that one.
“Of course, we all know that if he was a Republican Congressman everyone (media, other members of Congress, etc.) would demand his resignation–and he would have a week ago.”
I think Weiner should resign. That said, your statement above is a 100% false. Republicans DO NOT immediately step down due to scandal. How do you explain John Ensign, Larry Craig and Mark Sanford to name a few?
I am surprised that, as a woman, that’s what you focused on. Do you or don’t you think this pervert scumbag needs to resign?
And, for the most part, my statement is correct. You say that it is 100% false. But even by the examples you list, it is 66.6% correct: John Ensign and Larry Craig both resigned in the end.
I make no apologies for people like that. Rather than making excuses for weiners, we need to hold them to a higher standard, make them accountable, and force them to take responsibility.
Leaders aren’t expected to be perfect, but they should take responsibility when they aren’t. Otherwise it’s devolution for our society. Agree or disagree?