Weiner Recontextualized
August 15, 2013 4:40 PM Subscribe
"So, after reading all his sexts and stuff, it’s basically impossible for me to not hear every single thing Anthony Weiner says as some sort of horrible half-assed double entendre sexty come-on. So I cut together a few of his recent public statements to demonstrate why I laugh every time he speaks." (SLYTP)
Weiner fatigue.
posted by mojohand at 4:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mojohand at 4:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
You guys: his last name is Weiner. I know you all know that already, but his last name is WEINER. Lest you forget that for the briefest of moments.
posted by ORthey at 4:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by ORthey at 4:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
I like an Anthony Weiner joke as much as the next guy, but this video did not provide teh lulz I was hoping for.
posted by 4ster at 4:57 PM on August 15, 2013 [21 favorites]
posted by 4ster at 4:57 PM on August 15, 2013 [21 favorites]
Yeah, meh to the video. Also, I just viscerally dislike him too much to laugh at him. Although I do feel bad for him, he's really living out his tragedy with such desperate vigor.
posted by Auden at 5:03 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Auden at 5:03 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
I've gone from Daily Show / Colbert Report amusement, to repetition, annoyance, and now anger that (a) he's still running (b) he's still saying that he's fit for office and (c) there are still people out there who will vote for him.
Latest is that he has "faded" to "just" ten percent in opinion polls. That means that, of people who expressed a preference, 1 in 10 still think he's the best candidate despite everything.
Still 1 in 10.
Why?
posted by Wordshore at 5:08 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Latest is that he has "faded" to "just" ten percent in opinion polls. That means that, of people who expressed a preference, 1 in 10 still think he's the best candidate despite everything.
Still 1 in 10.
Why?
posted by Wordshore at 5:08 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Have you seen his weiner? It's impressive. I'd vote for him.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by KokuRyu at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2013
Still 1 in 10.
Why?
Because they think he has good ideas and would govern well, perhaps? That's what being an elected official is about.
posted by clockzero at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Why?
Because they think he has good ideas and would govern well, perhaps? That's what being an elected official is about.
posted by clockzero at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
. I am pretty proud of this, especially the end.
That's what he said.
posted by ShutterBun at 5:14 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
That's what he said.
posted by ShutterBun at 5:14 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Because they think he has good ideas and would govern well, perhaps?
Perhaps. But are they not taking into account (a) possibility of blackmail, political advantage, by text receivers (b) possibility that he'll spend more of his time with his addiction (c) embarrassment to the city (d) the (repeated) lack of integrity over the pictures, the repeated public humiliation of his wife, not being good attributes for the role.
posted by Wordshore at 5:15 PM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
Perhaps. But are they not taking into account (a) possibility of blackmail, political advantage, by text receivers (b) possibility that he'll spend more of his time with his addiction (c) embarrassment to the city (d) the (repeated) lack of integrity over the pictures, the repeated public humiliation of his wife, not being good attributes for the role.
posted by Wordshore at 5:15 PM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
The words in the video are strung together incoherently. Is the author claiming women cannot parse anything Mr. Weiner says? Am missing joke.
posted by xmutex at 5:19 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by xmutex at 5:19 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Because they think he has good ideas and would govern well, perhaps? That's what being an elected official is about.
As a resident of San Diego, I can tell you from experience that there is a significant chance that all this sexting stuff will have an effect on his ability to govern.
posted by LionIndex at 5:23 PM on August 15, 2013 [7 favorites]
As a resident of San Diego, I can tell you from experience that there is a significant chance that all this sexting stuff will have an effect on his ability to govern.
posted by LionIndex at 5:23 PM on August 15, 2013 [7 favorites]
I feel a little torn about Weiner, because he's in many ways exactly the kind of person you would like to see run for Mayor of NY (or even higher office). And there's certainly a "this is his private life and it's really between him and his wife" line that can just plausibly be taken about all the "Carlos Danger" stuff. But God damn! There is a point where the total lack of discretion and self-control in someone's private life becomes a reason to be suspicious of their capabilities in the public arena and it's hard not to feel that Weiner reached that point a while back. The original scandal was one thing, but the fact that he kept on doing it after he'd been forced from public office the first time around suggests either a hopelessly addictive personality or a genuine desire for self-sabotage: neither of which sound like great attributes for Mayor. And then the inept and tone-deaf handling of the scandal the second time around also suggests an ineptitude at the PR/theater side of politics and while you can afford a certain amount of scorn for that side of the game it can't be denied that a politician needs those skills once in office--certainly in any executive role.
posted by yoink at 5:26 PM on August 15, 2013 [17 favorites]
posted by yoink at 5:26 PM on August 15, 2013 [17 favorites]
Yeah. The guy is a total joke, but I'm not laughing. Ugh.
posted by Space Kitty at 5:30 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Space Kitty at 5:30 PM on August 15, 2013
Metafilter: a total joke, but I'm not laughing
posted by localroger at 5:35 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by localroger at 5:35 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
That was better than the linked video, TWF.
posted by yoink at 5:39 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by yoink at 5:39 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Go, ahead, laugh...but if all the write-in votes for Carlos Danger count for Weiner, he could still win this thing...
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 5:40 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 5:40 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
That video was an embarrassment. Which I guess is appropriate, given that Weiner is an embarrassment.
Weinerception!
But seriously--whoever made that video should feel bad about themselves. It's like reaching for low-hanging fruit and then beaming proudly while eating a handful of bark.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:43 PM on August 15, 2013 [13 favorites]
Weinerception!
But seriously--whoever made that video should feel bad about themselves. It's like reaching for low-hanging fruit and then beaming proudly while eating a handful of bark.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:43 PM on August 15, 2013 [13 favorites]
(a) possibility of blackmail, political advantage, by text receivers (b) possibility that he'll spend more of his time with his addiction
Both of these things are true of all sorts of people that we'll never know about. At least with Weiner they've come out in the open, which one would presume makes him now less vulnerable to blackmail, not more. The danger of blackmail is what someone will do to cover something up. It's possible that we know about all this because he didn't make a deal to compromise his principles -- although unlikely, really, given how easily the pictures were found.
posted by JHarris at 5:43 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Both of these things are true of all sorts of people that we'll never know about. At least with Weiner they've come out in the open, which one would presume makes him now less vulnerable to blackmail, not more. The danger of blackmail is what someone will do to cover something up. It's possible that we know about all this because he didn't make a deal to compromise his principles -- although unlikely, really, given how easily the pictures were found.
posted by JHarris at 5:43 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
At least with Weiner they've come out in the open
Ayup.
posted by yoink at 5:46 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Ayup.
posted by yoink at 5:46 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't get why Anthony Weiner pronounces his name like that. Weiner and Wiener are two different words with two different pronunciations.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 5:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Would you have him pronounce it "whiner"? Is that really better?
posted by explosion at 5:55 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by explosion at 5:55 PM on August 15, 2013
Probably because it's a family name, and the correct way to pronounce a family name is the way that family pronounces it.
posted by rtha at 5:55 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by rtha at 5:55 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've just started to do the John Oliver Carlos Danger dance every time this comes up, it really improves it all
posted by NoraReed at 5:57 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by NoraReed at 5:57 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Weiner's fluttery manner in debates in so strange, it's very effective when he's speaking one on one but in a debate setting its offputtingly ...intense.
I am pleased at the general lack of dingbattery in the Mayoral race, aside from the Gresides' guy.
posted by The Whelk at 5:57 PM on August 15, 2013
I am pleased at the general lack of dingbattery in the Mayoral race, aside from the Gresides' guy.
posted by The Whelk at 5:57 PM on August 15, 2013
Weiner and Wiener are two different words with two different pronunciations.
Americans, by and large, pay no attention at all to German pronunciation rules when it comes to "ei" and "ie." That is, they don't consistently obey OR disobey them; it's a constant pain when you're trying not to mangle student names.
posted by yoink at 5:58 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Americans, by and large, pay no attention at all to German pronunciation rules when it comes to "ei" and "ie." That is, they don't consistently obey OR disobey them; it's a constant pain when you're trying not to mangle student names.
posted by yoink at 5:58 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Probably because it's a family name, and the correct way to pronounce a family name is the way that family pronounces it.
Well, if I were his family, I'd be pronouncing it differently of late.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:00 PM on August 15, 2013
Well, if I were his family, I'd be pronouncing it differently of late.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:00 PM on August 15, 2013
Because they think he has good ideas and would govern well, perhaps? That's what being an elected official is about.
I feel a little torn about Weiner, because he's in many ways exactly the kind of person you would like to see run for Mayor of NY (or even higher office).
Wat.jpeg
Weiner has no ideas. He has an uncanny ability to get his face between the camera and the events that the media is actually there to cover.
By all appearances Weiner's voting base in the city is now composed entirely of people who think "Americans are too puritanical about sex" constitutes a policy platform. Check out his Facebook page some time. It is entirely college students, older UWS types with significant wealth who are paranoid that some undefined group to which they definitely do not belong but know only as "the rich" are out to screw them, and people who probably should not use a computer without court supervision.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:01 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I feel a little torn about Weiner, because he's in many ways exactly the kind of person you would like to see run for Mayor of NY (or even higher office).
Wat.jpeg
Weiner has no ideas. He has an uncanny ability to get his face between the camera and the events that the media is actually there to cover.
By all appearances Weiner's voting base in the city is now composed entirely of people who think "Americans are too puritanical about sex" constitutes a policy platform. Check out his Facebook page some time. It is entirely college students, older UWS types with significant wealth who are paranoid that some undefined group to which they definitely do not belong but know only as "the rich" are out to screw them, and people who probably should not use a computer without court supervision.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:01 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
This was so bad, it actually garnered some sympathy for the person it is trying to taunt.
posted by phaedon at 6:06 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by phaedon at 6:06 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
0:27 would have been good for a smirk.
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:10 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:10 PM on August 15, 2013
Eh, weak. Though I would like to see what the bad lip reading folks could do with one of his speeches.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:18 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:18 PM on August 15, 2013
Yet Senator David Vitter gets a free pass. Is it because he's a family values guy?
posted by Max Power at 6:26 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Max Power at 6:26 PM on August 15, 2013
Get real, Max Power. Vitter actually had kinky diaper sex with real prostitutes. Surely that's more respectable than just texting but never doing.
posted by localroger at 6:37 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by localroger at 6:37 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yet Senator David Vitter gets a free pass. Is it because he's a family values guy?
I think Weiner would have faced nothing more than a few jibes if he hadn't turned out to have gone straight back to the sexting well after the last calamity. I think if Vitter were caught consorting with prostitutes again he'd be toast. Americans like a good "I've learned my lesson and paid my dues and now I'm a Reformed Man" story. Weiner cocked that script up completely.
posted by yoink at 6:49 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
I think Weiner would have faced nothing more than a few jibes if he hadn't turned out to have gone straight back to the sexting well after the last calamity. I think if Vitter were caught consorting with prostitutes again he'd be toast. Americans like a good "I've learned my lesson and paid my dues and now I'm a Reformed Man" story. Weiner cocked that script up completely.
posted by yoink at 6:49 PM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
Yes, let's protect the integrity of civil service, because it is rock solid, and has been since Thomas Jefferson.
posted by Brocktoon at 6:53 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Brocktoon at 6:53 PM on August 15, 2013
NoraReed: "I've just started to do the John Oliver Carlos Danger dance every time this comes up, it really improves it all"
Same here, but with no pants and my webcam on.
posted by Samizdata at 7:07 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Same here, but with no pants and my webcam on.
posted by Samizdata at 7:07 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
I thought the end was the best part, too. Because then it was over.
posted by stevil at 7:14 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by stevil at 7:14 PM on August 15, 2013
I think Weiner would have faced nothing more than a few jibes if he hadn't turned out to have gone straight back to the sexting well after the last calamity.
Not just that, but the constant vagueness and equivocation is maddening. And expositive of his personality. Remember, he originally tried to say it was hackers. Then it was a mistake. Then it was a one time thing. Then it was .... etc.
In one of his more recent speeches, he said something like "...as I became more and more honest with my wife about this..." Seriously? Didn't he mean "less and less deceitful"?
I have no horse in this race, but he has lost all credibility. He could have the greatest ideas ever, but how do we know he is telling the truth? I don't care what he was doing, I care how he reacted to it. Which was not well.
posted by gjc at 8:00 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Not just that, but the constant vagueness and equivocation is maddening. And expositive of his personality. Remember, he originally tried to say it was hackers. Then it was a mistake. Then it was a one time thing. Then it was .... etc.
In one of his more recent speeches, he said something like "...as I became more and more honest with my wife about this..." Seriously? Didn't he mean "less and less deceitful"?
I have no horse in this race, but he has lost all credibility. He could have the greatest ideas ever, but how do we know he is telling the truth? I don't care what he was doing, I care how he reacted to it. Which was not well.
posted by gjc at 8:00 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Yo has anyone pointed out the the rent is too damn high? How does Weiner feel about the height of the rent? Does he agree it is lofty, nay, vertiginous? Well??
posted by Mister_A at 8:06 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Mister_A at 8:06 PM on August 15, 2013
Bill De Blasios in the lead! Eat shit Matthew Yglesias!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:26 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:26 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Speaking of Weiner jokes...
Don't worry, it's safe to click.
posted by GoingToShopping at 9:22 PM on August 15, 2013
Don't worry, it's safe to click.
posted by GoingToShopping at 9:22 PM on August 15, 2013
Same here, but with no pants and my webcam on.
What, no link?
posted by NoraReed at 9:24 PM on August 15, 2013
What, no link?
posted by NoraReed at 9:24 PM on August 15, 2013
Yet Senator David Vitter gets a free pass. Is it because he's a family values guy?
No, it's because America loves a diaper fetishist.
posted by Auden at 10:17 PM on August 15, 2013
No, it's because America loves a diaper fetishist.
posted by Auden at 10:17 PM on August 15, 2013
He wants to rip out the city's bike lanes. I don't need to see pictures of his dick to know he's an idiot.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 10:35 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by bottlebrushtree at 10:35 PM on August 15, 2013
It's like reaching for low-hanging fruit
Hey, he's just as god made him.
posted by ShutterBun at 10:44 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hey, he's just as god made him.
posted by ShutterBun at 10:44 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's getting really annoying that the press coverage of the mayoral race is 90% Weiner jokes, like we're all still in 8th grade.
There's some important issues in this city but all anyone can talk about is Weiner and his sexting. I'm sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud but please just stop it already.
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:28 AM on August 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
There's some important issues in this city but all anyone can talk about is Weiner and his sexting. I'm sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud but please just stop it already.
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:28 AM on August 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yet Senator David Vitter gets a free pass. Is it because he's a family values guy?
It's because his name isn't David Nappy.
posted by straight at 8:38 AM on August 16, 2013
It's because his name isn't David Nappy.
posted by straight at 8:38 AM on August 16, 2013
There is a point where the total lack of discretion and self-control in someone's private life becomes a reason to be suspicious of their capabilities in the public arena and it's hard not to feel that Weiner reached that point a while back. The original scandal was one thing, but the fact that he kept on doing it after he'd been forced from public office the first time around suggests either a hopelessly addictive personality or a genuine desire for self-sabotage: neither of which sound like great attributes for Mayor. And then the inept and tone-deaf handling of the scandal the second time around also suggests an ineptitude at the PR/theater side of politics and while you can afford a certain amount of scorn for that side of the game it can't be denied that a politician needs those skills once in office--certainly in any executive role.
I feel like this is the way things are supposed to be; lack of control of personal faults spilling over into a public/political position should turn off voters and supporters. However, over the last two years of Rob Ford's terrible job of being mayor of Toronto, I'm starting to think that if you are stubborn enough and can convince yourself that these problems are not really problems, you can just power through it all and maintain your position. You'll never be as effective, liked, or respected as other people who have held the job were, but you can still cling to power until the next election and maybe (in the case of Ford and his solid block of supporters) even get re-elected.
posted by Paid In Full at 8:57 AM on August 16, 2013
I feel like this is the way things are supposed to be; lack of control of personal faults spilling over into a public/political position should turn off voters and supporters. However, over the last two years of Rob Ford's terrible job of being mayor of Toronto, I'm starting to think that if you are stubborn enough and can convince yourself that these problems are not really problems, you can just power through it all and maintain your position. You'll never be as effective, liked, or respected as other people who have held the job were, but you can still cling to power until the next election and maybe (in the case of Ford and his solid block of supporters) even get re-elected.
posted by Paid In Full at 8:57 AM on August 16, 2013
NoraReed: "Same here, but with no pants and my webcam on.
What, no link?"
I was going to ask if you were hot and wanted to sext, but then I remembered I am not a politician.
posted by Samizdata at 12:03 PM on August 16, 2013
What, no link?"
I was going to ask if you were hot and wanted to sext, but then I remembered I am not a politician.
posted by Samizdata at 12:03 PM on August 16, 2013
It's summer, of course I'm hot. But it's a... dry heat.
posted by NoraReed at 5:03 PM on August 16, 2013
posted by NoraReed at 5:03 PM on August 16, 2013
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posted by filthy light thief at 4:53 PM on August 15, 2013