Arrogance diminishes wisdom.
- Arab Proverb
No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.
- Simone De Beauvoir
As late as this weekend, I really thought that Anthony Weiner’s “Twitter problem” was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Andrew Breitbart’s putrid, feverish imagination. Now, it seems Weiner’s cheesy “cock shot” was just the tease for a problem much bigger than anyone realized. So, as much as it pains me to give Breitbart credit for being anything more than a massive waste of humanity….
Andrew Breitbart is already using Weiner’s “Twitter problem” as evidence that he’s a legitimate and credible journalist. Never mind that Breitbart has already demonstrated his (Fox Noise Channel) journalistic bona fides with his epic (and reprehensible) take down of Shirly Sherrod. No, even though Breitbart may have nailed this one, he’s still a lousy journalist and a miserable excuse for a human being. But, I digress….
My first thought was that we should cut Weiner some slack, but then the hypocrisy of that dawned on me. Why should we excuse behavior in a Democrat that we would excoriate in a Republican? Wrong is wrong, and arrogance and thinking with the wrong head is not a “red” or “blue” thing. It’s just a really, really, REALLY dumb thing.
Now we’re left to wonder if one of the few truly sane voices in Washington will be able to survive this scandal. Perhaps if Weiner had just owned up to the truth from the outset, there might have been reason to hope that any damage could have been controlled. Candor and honesty from a man known for candor and honesty might have gone a long way to put out the conflagration before it became the raging scandal it is today. And it didn’t help that he went on The Rachel Maddow Show and lied to Maddow’s face.
If Weiner was a Republican, my initial reaction would be that he needs to do the right thing and resign. Weiner’s a Democrat…but I still believe that he needs to do the right thing…and resign. When you portray yourself as a voice of sanity and reason and are then unmasked as just another hypocritical politician with a zipper problem…well, where do you go to get your credibility back?
I’ve always admired Weiner. Now the passionated and committed politician who’s always argued for doing the right thing needs to face the music…and do the right thing. At the moment, he’s got far more important things on his plate- like rebuilding trust with his wife and family.
