Anthony Weiner is a distraction, White House says

Anthony Weiner, the fiery New York congressman who was literally caught with his pants down, has become a distraction, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

While answering questions aboard Air Force One before President Obama was to land in Morrisville, N.C., Carney said the Weiner matter is one that Congress should address.

One reporter asked Carney in a roundabout way whether Obama feels Weiner should resign.

"Jay, does the president have a position on whether Anthony Weiner’s continued service in the U.S. Congress is in the nation’s best interests?" the reporter asked.

"The president feels -- we feel at the White House that this is a distraction," Carney replied. "Obviously as Congressman Weiner has said himself, this is -- the behavior was inappropriate; the dishonesty was inappropriate.  But the president is focused on his job, which is getting this economy continuing to grow, creating jobs, and obviously ensuring the safety and security of the American people."

Of course, there were follow-ups to that reply.

"Did any of the president’s top aides have any role in engineering or encouraging Anthony Weiner to resign or to step aside?" Carney was asked.

"Well, I think this is an issue that the Congress has been addressing, congressional leaders have been addressing, and that Congressman Weiner has been addressing," Carney said.

"But did any of his top aides have conversations?" he was asked.

Carney replied, "Not that I’m aware of."

Finally, he was asked flat-out: "Does the president believe that Anthony Weiner should resign?"

Carney said, "Again, I think I answered that question. We think this is a distraction, obviously, from the important business that this president needs to conduct and Congress needs to conduct.  Beyond that, I don’t have any more comment."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Monday that Weiner should step down and that Democratic leaders "should do everything they can to bring him to that point, if he’s not already."

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-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

 Photo: Many of Rep. Anthony Weiner's constituents seem unruffled by his online sexual antics. Maybe he's closer to the norm than we'd like to admit. Credit: Mary Altaffer, Associated Press / June 11, 2011

Comments

[mike]

looks like he stepped on his weiner

[Nancy Rutledge]

Why can't the media leave Rep. Weiner alone? Why aren't they attacking the (R) Vitter, Ensign, Sanford, who actually had sex. There pants were more than down--they had to be all the way off. Rep. Weiner had done a good job and should be given at least the same treatment as (R) who have been caught. Then election time, he will either be re-elected or not. I just wish every representative in Congress would have their hard drives checked. I bet you would be shocked at what you would find--but I wouldn't. Rep. Weiner is not the only one who has used poor judgment.

[jacko]

umm, well Nancy Rutledge... people DID attack those other guys when those things happened.

So all you see wrong about Weiner is poor judgment??!? What about his vehemently standing up there and denying it? What about claiming "vast right wing conspiracy" and that his "account got hacked" (ohmygosh!)

That is well beyond poor judgment. It is deception and sleaziness and petty and childish.

And you know, some of those "(R)'s" -- as you put it in your very unbiased manner -- even resigned before said rumors were even proved to be true (which you conveniently overlooked)!

But no, not Mr. Weiner - now he also refuses to resign when members of his own party are pressuring him to do so.

That is why people won't leave him alone. Because he is a liar, and weak-minded, and just a common petty dishonest man, acting like a child, who can't even deal with a little bit of new found power and popularity.

People like that should not be leading our country. Or can you find a way to disagree with that, too?

[carol h.]

Excuse me, is Vitter still there? Did he not spend thousands on prostitutes and broke the law? One of his favorite routines was to dress in a diaper for them before sex.

Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma is still there. He brokered the money pay off for John Ensign and his mistress and her husband. Ensign stayed till just a few weeks ago. The only reason he left was because the DOJ got interested. Coburn broke the rules in the worst way ethically speaking. He is still there.

The current Speaker of the House, Boehner is currently involved in an affair with the head lobbyist for the Print Industry. And when they were questioned by a reporter, the only thing they could say was, "no comment." Why is this barely reported? And why is he still there?

None of these people have been asked to leave. And we are not talking cyber space stupidity. We are talking of genuine adultery and ethics violations in a pay off, as well as real law breaking with prostitutes. So let's speak of HYPOCRISY. These men ran on family values.

Typical right wing dishonesty, and typical corporate media dishonesty. If Weiner goes, so should they all.

[Marie Smith]

Get him Out of Office

[Marie Smith]

Please get him out of office Low Class Person

[Joseph]

You know if Pelosi ask you to step down and your a Democrat you really need to step down. Notice Pelosi didn't say that for quite a while.
If it had been a Republican she would have asked for a resignation
in a nano second.

[Joseph]

I wonder if Pelosi wish this never happened at all or wish it just would have happened to a Republican.

[Lynda]

Although, the Congressman has made a bad judgement with his personal life, what does this have to do with his job. Just because somebody has a sexual side does that really mean they can not do their job? Good grief lets worry about more important things like global warming than worrying about a man's stupid choice of showing of his private parts.

[Jay]

The Curse of Anthony's Weiner

Straight out from the you-can't-make-this-stuff-up department comes the peculiar case of Anthony's Weiner. If this is the silly season, the comic gods above must have intended to have us rolling in the aisles over this one. The obvious in-joke that is inherent with this story would never have worked as fiction, but it is so beyond absurd as reality that one can only conclude that A) Anthony's Weiner is cursed, or B) That this Weiner is so self-loathing that it was only a matter of time for him to be, exposed.

But what to make of the media's (or that of the public at large, very large) obsession with Anthony's Weiner? News media organizations, even would-be prestigious ones like CBialiS and ViagraCOM, refuse to let this story go limp without some payoff, finding a way to suck up to Anthony's Weiner at every available opportunity, and then milking it for all its worth. Which, incidentally, is exactly the position Anthony's Weiner wants us all to be in, because, like so many a narcissist before him, Anthony's Weiner loves the attention. In fact, Weiner can't ever get enough. This Weiner secretly craves to be in such a dominating position, undoubtedly reveling in the fact of having transfixed the nation on this member.

Yes, this Congressional member has pulled something, and pulled it hard he did, a scandal of such magnitude as to make the other members feel fortunate that cases involving their own personal dirty laundry haven't been placed on public exhibit, at least not yet, though puny theirs may be by comparison. Naturally, this begs the question, are we a nation ruled by crooked Weiners?

Irrespective, the question now becomes does this sitting congressman remain in good standing while sitting or should he, hard as it is, take his lumps and go? Perhaps it is time to erect a policy by which our politicians can be yanked out of office when they fall short, a notion sure to make the other members stand resolutely at attention. But then the old adage comes to mind, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The real lesson here is that there may be a little Weiner in all of us.

[Green Thumb Gardening]

Which is a greater crime? Showing one's weiner on the internet with a chat partner or blowing apart children that don't know the internet or that America exist?

[Bill]

The real truth is he may very well pull a Barney Frank - stay in and even get re-elected.
This is one of many good reasons why there ought to be term limits.

And note how the Dems are calling for a tax increase on $250 K and above - it's just above what they make, so it won't effect them, just like Obama Care doesn't effect them, just like how none of the mess they put this country and the American people through doesn't effect them - they still have their jobs, full pay, increases, and perks that would make you sick if you really knew how much they amount to.

All while the Dems did not give social security recipients their COLAs 2 years in a row, people are laid-off, losing their homes, and millions are on furloughs (less hours/pay cuts), and they're all stressed of it getting even worse while Obama, Biden, and company walk around with smiles on their faces, and zipper-heads like Weiner have nothing better to do than play on the computer.