“I wish there was some way I could defend him, but I can't.”
-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, when asked about Rep. Anthony Weiner
Rachel Maddow offered a spirited argument Wednesday night, exposing the hypocrisy of Republicans excoriating Rep. Anthony Weiner for his sex scandal while they remained silent about Sen. David Vitter's.
After all, while Weiner's behavior might have been humiliating, as the MSNBC commentator pointed out, he hasn't been accused of breaking the law. Vitter, on the other hand, engaged in clearly criminal activity as an admitted customer of a prostitute.
As she always does, Maddow put forward a highly logical case — and was very convincing.
Except...
Except that many of those now calling for Weiner's resignation aren't duplicitious Republicans, they are Weiner's fellow Democrats.
From Reid, to Nancy Pelosi, and elsewhere, Democrats pointedly are declining to stick up for Weiner.
Only minutes before Maddow went on the air, her colleague Lawrence O'Donnell had asked Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon his thoughts about Weiner.
Blumenauer cut his fellow Democrat no slack. Weiner, he says, should go. Weiner, Blumenauer says, had seriously impaired his credibility as a lawmaker.
O'Donnell pressed Blumenauer about whether that amounts to a double-standard given the refusal of Democrats to impeach President Bill Clinton more than a decade ago for Clinton's own dalliance.
Blumenauer argued, correctly, that while Clinton's behavior was not an impeachable offense, Democrats weren't exactly falling over themselves to exonerate the president, either.
Recall that Sen. Joe Lieberman, then a Democrat, was quick to denounce Clinton's behavior. Indeed, Lieberman's rebuke was a key factor in Al Gore choosing Lieberman as his 2000 running mate.
You could say, then, that in calling for Weiner to go, Democrats at least have some moral honor that Republicans lack because they were willing to stand silent through the Vitter scandal.
Article comments
1 - Bob Blargh Blargh
I think you're giving the Democrat's too much credit. It's not honor that causing them to call for Weiner's resignation, or to rebuke Clinton - it's fear of political backlash. They don't want Weiner's scandal to hurt them in the upcoming election year, so they'd rather shoot themselves in the foot by ousting one of their tougher, more outspoken colleagues.
And I don't think the inherent stupid-ness of Weiner's scandal makes it any worse than anybody else's scandal. Weiner is guilty of doing what so many Americans are guilty of doing - not taking the internet seriously. Our culture hasn't quite wrapped its head around the idea that you can't really keep secrets of the things you put out there online. Some of us have, sure, but I don't fault Weiner too much being a dope. I also wonder if older generations might not be having a hard time putting what he did in perspective. Cybersex and sexting might sound horrible if you learned about them from 20/20, but in truth it's just a sort of interactive porn.
Yeah, what Weiner did was CRAZY dumb, but honestly, I'd sooner have all the cowards in the Democrat party resign than him.
2 - Arch Conservative
Who the hell is Rachael Maddow?
3 - Baronius
I don't think the Republicans will be able to use this scandal for points down the road. If this were Anthony Jones's scandal, they could talk about it till the cows come home. But talking about Weiner is going to prove tricky.
4 - Leroy
I'm not going to try to defend Weiner, and I'm not wistful about it either.
5 - handyguy
It's still possible to defend Weiner as a talented spokesman for the progressive point of view. The worst thing about this scandal is that it will probably deprive us of that voice. Even if he holds on to his house seat, he will probably keep a lower profile.
And Republicans who call for his immediate resignation should have the names of David Vitter and John Ensign thrown right back at them.
6 - Baronius
Handy, weren't you the guy who was railing against "tu quoque" a couple of weeks ago?
7 - handyguy
Nope, not me. At any rate, Tu quoque is not always illogical; it really is ok to point out actual hypocrisy, as opposed to trying to change the subject [which is what the objectionable type of Tu quoque more or less is].
I don't think Weiner should have to resign; he engaged in stupid, but not criminal, activity. Vitter, on the other hand, was involved in criminal activity. Ensign stayed in his job until it was obvious he was about to be expelled from the senate for likely criminal activity.
Some of the same Republicans calling for Weiner's resignation were silent about Vitter and Ensign. Or they said it was up to the voters of Louisiana and Nevada. The voters of New York recognize this for what it is: more Breitbart media hype.
8 - Heloise
Can't you cite someone more palatable than mad cow? I think gays have a different moral compass anyway so I don't watch her nor give her rants any credence. Why did you? Knee jerk lefty right?
9 - LaVaughn
So it's Democrats who've turned on Weiner. That says more about how Democrats eat their own than it does about the gravity of his offense. He did nothing illegal. He engaged in private behavior. It may be icky but it's really none of my business. It's only become the business of Congress because of a media circus.
It think Weiner should hang tough and wait for the next scandal to eclipse this one. The mass media has a remarkably short attention span. Maybe it will be another Republican doing something that's actually illegal. The likelihood of that is fairly high, really.
10 - Glenn Contrarian
LaVaughn -
Lemme see here - some Democrats (and most Republicans) want Weiner (who had NO extramarital sex) to resign and...which means we're "eating our own".
But the Republicans - who for the most part not only did NOT want Vitter and Ensign (both of whom DID have extramarital sex and DID break the law) but were trying to fight ethics investigations. Ensign decided to not run for reelection only because the ethics investigation was going to happen, and Vitter? He's still serving, not a care in the world.
I suppose that's 'loyalty' to one's fellow Republicans?
When, LaVaughn, should we begin holding ourselves to a higher standard? Or is loyalty to one's fellow party members more important than upholding ethics and the law?
Apparently, the latter has long been the modus operandi of the Republican party. Of course that's offensive to you...but prove me wrong!
11 - John Lake
Representative Weiner was able to attain a position more than enviable to most. It is a rare privilege to rise to the heights of the American Congress, and to have a voice in changing the present and altering the future. It is difficult to imagine not taking such privilege seriously. Representative Weiner’s lack of maturity and his lack of respect for the office is what discourage me. He is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and to the Congress. The Photos are not awfully painful to see. Neither is the fact that they were taken in the Congressional gym. He is only married for less than a year; in years past any departure from decorum such as this would be treated seriously. But Barney Frank is still in office. Clinton was a victim. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas nearly lost his bid because of matters sexual. But today voters are less concerned than in the past.
The women in Weiner’s little book of numbers were young. Gennette Cordova was 21, and the girl from Seattle was still in college. However in the end, any congressman who plays around on Facebook or Twitter, or any social site is behaving irresponsibly, and that is in the light of day substantial cause for termination.
12 - LaVaughn
@Glenn -- You write:
"Or is loyalty to one's fellow party members more important than upholding ethics and the law?"
Again, Anthony Weiner hasn't broken any laws that we know of in this matter. If it turns out he did, I'd say go after him as they did Charlie Rangel and Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer was absolutely right to resign and I said so at the time. Not only did he break laws. He broke laws he was famous for prosecuting. I thought he was right to resign even though I thought he was a terrific governor.
But Weiner hasn't broken any laws. He may have violated a marital vow but even that is up for debate. There are many people who don't consider cybersex cheating and I really don't know his wife's views on the matter. If he were my husband, I'd kill him. But he's not. If he were my Congressman, I'd probably still vote for him. And his constituents have supported him vociferously, so it's, again, none of my business.
For all the media frenzy, the American people have shown over and over that they don't care about these sex scandals except as prurient entertainment. David Vitter -- who did break laws and should have had his feet held to the fire by his own party -- was re-elected.
For the Dems to go after a popular, effective Congressman like this is foolish. It's political suicide because at the end of the day the American people don't care about politicians sex lives enough to change their voting habits.
13 - Dan(Miller)
Re# 11, Representative Weiner’s lack of maturity and his lack of respect for the office is what discourage me. He is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and to the Congress. The Photos are not awfully painful to see. (emphasis added)
Huh? Was that a slip of the fingers or a substantive sort of thing?
Dan(Miller)
14 - El Bicho
"I think gays have a different moral compass anyway"
That's awfully funny coming from you, considering how many times you cheated on Jackie, but what do you base that on?