2009: The Bloomberg campaign begins planting unflattering stories about Weiner in the New York media -- involving missed votes in Congress and fundraisers involving international supermodels -- and the congressman gets cold feet. At the end of May '09, he announces that he won't run for mayor.and:
Not at all coincidentally, it's around this time that Weiner begins showing a sudden interest in congressional and national politics -- and, more specifically, in talking about congressional and national politics on cable news programs. For producers, he's a perfect guest -- smart, glib, cocky and provocative. With the healthcare reform debate heating up, Weiner begins championing a single-payer system. It's an issue he's previously shown no interest in and that has zero chance of winning enactment. His sudden activism is an unwelcome surprise to many single-payer advocates in the House, who conclude that Weiner is using the issue to win attention for himself.
2010: Weiner's hero status to liberal activists is affirmed by a House floor rant against Republican obstructionism on a healthcare bill for 9/11 workers. But Weiner's own Democratic colleagues, particularly those from New York, see his theatrics much differently. Several New York members -- most notably Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney -- had labored to craft the 9/11 bill and to win over Republican support, but Weiner had played no meaningful role before the floor debate. "He almost blew up the [expletive] bill," one disgruntled New York member later tells the Washington Post. The episode perfectly illustrates the conflicting realities of Weiner's new role in politics: To activists outside Washington, he's a refreshing voice shaking up Congress; to his own colleagues, he's a camera-seeking nuisance who's interested in gaining publicity for himself -- not in doing any substantive work.- from the link above.
Ms. Cordova, who had traded messages with Mr. Weiner, a New York Democrat, about their shared concern over his conservative critics, said she had never sent him anything provocative. Asked if she was taken aback by his decision to send the photo, she responded, “Oh gosh, yes.”posted by muddgirl at 11:46 AM on June 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
"What it takes to become a congressman or a president now requires such egomania that the people who are drawn to it are more likely to be people who are crazy in some way. And that that's what we're seeing is it has to do with their psychological profile. And so it's not true that if I picked the ten men I liked the best and put them in congress, they would act like this. It's the fact that Anthony Weiner wanted to be in congress and had what it took to run that makes him more likely to act like this."It's probably not fair to write down what she said aloud off the top of her head, but this is a very important problem with the system. It's not an honourable trade, and it doesn't attract honourable people.
I appreciate taking the principled stand, but I happen to feel that the "100% or nothing" approach to supporting liberal candidates has failed the Democratic Party in the last few years. It's like all Democrats set these insanely unattainable expectations down as a line in the sand and said, "You're either completely with us, or you're just not good enough, you're DINO and we don't support you." And where did that get the party? We went from the Big Tent to an Elitist Tent where if you don't take a perfectly hard line on every single plank of the platform, you aren't an air-quotes REAL Democrat.As the kids these days like to say: SMH.
Business-driven Republicans say to their candidate, "Eh, you know, your hardcore homophobia makes me uncomfortable... but we see eye to eye on regulation, so here's a PAC donation, go forth. Besides, it's not like I'm gonna vote for the other guy."
And churchy Republicans say to their candidate, "Eh, well, I'm uncomfortable with the fact that you support small business growth—including the liquor stores—but I know you're good for that abstinence-education-only vote, so I'll get 20 of my fellow congregants to the polls for you. Besides, it's not like I'm gonna vote for the other guy."
These strange bedfellows have come to understand that, ultimately, 75% of one's agenda supported is far more palatable than 0%.
And the Democrats say to their candidate, "Well, you are pro-choice, pro-gay-marriage, pro-health-care-reform, pro-working-class, pro-decriminalization, anti-death-penalty, pro-gun-control, pro-women's-rights, pro-public-education, pro-union, and encourage the separation of church and state. But.... you know... that one time back on city council you didn't vote for more household recycling. And, it's not like I'm gonna vote for the other guy. So, I guess in good conscience I just can't vote at all."
When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the GOP blueprint for cutting government spending, he asked Americans to make sacrifices on everything from Medicare to education, while preserving lucrative tax subsidies for the booming oil, mining and energy industries.posted by saulgoodman at 12:34 PM on June 17, 2011
It turns out a constituency within his own personal investments stood to benefit from those tax breaks, Newsweek and The Daily Beast have learned.
The financial disclosure report Ryan filed with Congress last month and made public this week shows he and his wife, Janna, own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan's budget plan.
At least three months before the revelation that former Representative Anthony D. Weiner was sending lewd messages and photos to women online, a small group of self-described conservatives was monitoring his exchanges with women on Twitter. Now there is evidence that one or more people created two false identities on Twitter in order to collect information to use against him.This is actually pretty bizarre stuff, and to me it's totally unclear who was trying to do what to whom.
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posted by punkfloyd at 9:13 AM on June 16, 2011 [145 favorites]