by Lee Stranahan | May 31, 2024 | Interesting |
Sex scandals are really about everything but sex. They are about the reactions to the scandal. The denials, the cover-ups, the acting and the actors, the defenders, the turnabouts, the exposure, the predicable patterns of response. The way the waves ripple out from the event in the center, crashing into each other and forming other waves.
So there’s no small amount of irony that Rep. Anthony Weiner – a young-ish, ambitious politician on the way up who finds himself in the middle of a currently widening all-American new-media sex scandal – has deep, almost familial connections to the Papa Bear of modern U.S. sex scandals, former President William Jefferson Clinton.
Clinton officiated at Weiner’s wedding less than a year ago…
He’s not exactly the poster boy for matrimony, but former President Clinton got to try his hand at marriage once more this weekend.
Clinton was chosen to preside over the lavish wedding of Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., to longtime Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
According to a source at the wedding, the former president joked "marrying a politician can be tough because it’s ‘easy to distrust them whatever their religion,’" the New York Daily News reported.
And so it’s not hard to assume that Weiner is going to take some direction from the way President Clinton weathered his own troubles…which doesn’t bode well for any women that Weiner may have been involved with in any way.
The ugly reality is that, time and again, the liberal, Democratic strategy is to not just throw The Woman under the bus, but to then also back the bus up and drive over the body a few times to make sure it stops moving. This misogyny can be committed freely, too, because the liberal, Democratic assassins have the sanctimony of being ‘the party of women.’
Whatever your political persuasion, the most brilliant, searing and honest essay on the Bill Clinton sex scandal was written by the late liberal Marjorie Williams. You owe it to yourself to read the entire thing – seriously, it’s a great, important piece - but here’s how it opens…
OKAY, class, let’s review: The man in question has been sued for sexual harassment over an episode that allegedly included dropping his trousers to waggle his erect penis at a woman who held a $6.35-an-hour clerical job in the state government over which he presided. Another woman has charged that when she asked him for a job he invited her into his private office, fondled her breasts, and placed her hand on his crotch. A third woman conceded to friends that when she was a 21-year-old intern she began an affair with the man - much older, married, and the head of the organisation whose lowliest employee she was. Actually, it was less an affair than a service contract, in which she allegedly dashed into his office, when summoned, to perform oral sex on him. After their liaison was revealed, he denied everything, leaving her to be portrayed as a tramp and a liar. Or, in his own words, "that woman".
Let us not even mention the former lover who was steered to a state job; or the man’s alleged habit of using law-enforcement officers to solicit sexual partners for him; or his routine use of staff, lawyers, and private investigators to tar the reputation of any woman who tries to call him to account for his actions. Can you find the problems with his behaviour? Take your time: these problems are apparently of an order so subtle as to escape the notice of many of the smartest women in America - the writers, lawyers, activists, office-holders, and academics who call themselves feminists.
When news broke that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr was investigating whether President Clinton had lied under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, or encouraged others to lie, the cacophony that ensued was notable for the absence of one set of voices: the sisterly chorus that backed up Anita Hill seven years ago when her charges of sexual harassment nearly stopped Clarence Thomas’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
With very few exceptions, feminists were either silent or dismissive this time. "If anything, it sounds like she put the moves on him," said Susan Faludi, author of Backlash. Betty Friedan weighed in, but only to huff her outrage that Clinton’s "enemies are attempting to bring him down through allegations about some dalliance with an intern… Whether it’s a fantasy, a set-up or true, I simply don’t care."
Because of the liberal Democratic street cred on women’s issue, Alpha Male Liberal Politicians attract wide-eyed idealistic young ladies. When I worked at NBC, Senator Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show. I saw him in the hallway, said hello and shook his hand. Standing next to me was a girl in her early twenties and her mouth was literally hanging open looking up at Obama. She was quivering. Literally quivering. I’ve seen women around some big celebrities. Rock stars, too. I’ve never in my life seen a sober woman so ready to throw herself at someone. (To his credit, I saw no sign whatsoever that his effected Senator Obama in any way.)
There’s something about the musky combination of power, prestige and claims of doing good for all the people (but especially the poor and disenfranchised with voter registration cards) that is irresistible to certain women. It’s primal. And so they flock, and she’s thrilled to become a political insider by just allowing a politician to get inside her. But it’s a snare. As soon as the going gets tough and the spotlight becomes too hot, the woman usually learn they’ve been used like a tissue.
Modern history has taught that if you’ve going to fuck a powerful Democratic politician, keep some DNA as proof. A blue dress, a love child…something. Because he’s going to deny deny deny and make you out to be a crazed stalker, which you’ll have a tough time denying, really. Professional operatives will quietly regale reporters on background with stories of your wide eyed past and after all, you approached HIM. Benefit of the doubt will go to the man in the suit, especially when his slightly stiff (but brilliant!) wife stands by her candidate. But if you have some DNA that you’re willing to produce when it all gets too crazy, he’ll cop. He’ll have to. We’ve all seen too many episodes of CSI.
Right now, even the yet-unproven accusations about Rep. Weiner don’t rise to the level of a physical affair. Maybe none of these caveats and warnings apply to the Congressman or anyone he knows. For their sake, I sure hope they don’t.
But Weiner’s casual denials, disinterest in investigation and his desire to get away from the distractions to focus on important issues A, B and C (good writing – do things in threes) should give some pause. It’s classic Clinton so far and as long as Democrats have dicks. it’s foolish to ignore that pattern.
by Lee Stranahan | May 30, 2024 | Interesting |
I’d like to take you on a brief journey to hell.
When I tell people on the right that my friend Andrew Breitbart is consider ‘to be ‘Satan’ by people on the left, they laugh. They know that Breitbart isn’t the most popular guy to liberals – but do they really know? I mean, do they read left wing sites? Get down into the comments? Highly doubtful.
The #Weinergate scandal has provided a good look at how the liberal blogosphere and the mainstream media react to a fishy story from a Democratic Congressman. And it’s been a lab experiment to see the writhing hatred they have for Breitbart. Take a look…I’ll give you some sample although the strong of stomach will actually go and read the site. I dare you.
This article by Stranded Wind quickly turns into an orgiastic victory wank about how the (totally discredited) DailyKos Kommunity has stopped Breitbart in his tracks!
This follows a fairly typical pattern for Breitbart. Some fakery is done, either on his order, or due to some individual taking initiative, and then it promptly runs on his trash news site, Big Government.
Only this time, unlike ACORN, instead of elected officials cowering before the media they met … us. You, me, Ministry of Truth, stef, and a bunch of other people who are just sick to death of Breitbart’s bullshit.
We took this ‘scandal’, we ripped it to shreds, and then we rammed the jagged fragments right down Andrew Breitbart’s throat. This is what a healthy media would have done to him long ago, but they’re as rotted as any institution in this country. Without us they’d have gone for titillation and serving the long term goals of their corporate masters over honest reporting and the public good.
The pud-pounding continues and it eventually turns creepily sexual, too…
Here’s another thing the media won’t touch: Indict Breitbart. The crimes against ACORN in Baltimore City’s jurisdiction are crystal clear and the only reason there wasn’t a grand jury investigation long ago is the city’s battered financial condition.
We won’t get financial recovery until we get good policy, we won’t get good policy if we’ve got assclowns like Breitbart trying to bump off a ferocious advocate for the people like Anthony Weiner, and something has got to give.
We need to turn all our will to Baltimore, and to its newly elected City Attorney, a nice Jewish boy who ran on the Democratic ticket, until the threat to our democracy that Andrew Breitbart represents is removed.
The evidence is clear. Breitbart, and his accomplices O’Keefe and Giles, will plead out rather than face a jury of Baltimore citizens. They’ll get some small amount of jail time, then probation that will keep them offline until well after the next election. The voter disenfranchisement that was the destruction of ACORN isn’t going to matter – we’re going to carry 2012 in a tidal wave.
Breitbart will get back online eventually, but he’ll be an irrelevant has-been like G. Gordon Liddy, catering to a small fringe audience. And America will be better for it.
Come on guys, rec this up - I want to see Dana Loesch, she of the pretty, pouty lips, saying my name on PJTV again. No photoshop, this, I’ll happily share the whole video
Another example — on this diary they do some articulate media criticism of the New York Times. Here is one paragraph from what the Times reported about the Weiner story…
The episode unfolded Saturday night when it was reported on the Web site biggovernment.com, run by the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. It played out all day Sunday on the Internet, with Mr. Weiner, a Democrat who represents part of Brooklyn and Queens, addressing the matter on his own Twitter and Facebook accounts, and with bloggers from the left and the right arguing about whether this might be the start of a scandal or an example of how easy it is for political rivals to harm each other’s reputations using new technologies.
So – there is the New York Times, doing a sort of boring factual piece. Not sure what’s controversial in there…oh! Wait! They mentioned Andrew Breitbart. You think YOU don’t like the NYT? Here is the response from DailyKos auteur fromer…
And I quote…
Fuck you NYT and Fuck you MARIA NEWMAN.
Not one word on Breitbart’s lying sack of shit past. Not one word about his infamous role in the Shirley Sherrod lynching.
Nope. The fuckheads at the NYT just "report" that "Neither Mr. Weiner, an outspoken defender of liberal positions, nor Mr. Breitbart returned messages requesting comment on Sunday night."
FUCK YOU you pathetic excuses for "journalists." You give more column space to the lying shit-stirrers, and present all of Rep Weiner’s facts as "he says" or "he claims."
What’s your real agenda NYT? Reporting the news, or perpetuating the psuedo-conflicts of the rightwing so no one notices the economic warfare being waged on 99 Percent of the country. Warfare you DON’T report on.
FUCK YOU.
That incisive commentary has over 400 tips in the comment jar. All that because the Times mentioned the fact – a fact, mind you – that Breitbart broke the story.
The Kommunity at Kos is sick beyond words. Toxic, stupid and hateful – it’s a mob of savages who sully the name of political debate. These are the people who attack Sarah Palin for the Arizona shooting. They are taken seriously by the media.They need to be exposed, often. They are worse than people know…
by Lee Stranahan | May 30, 2024 | Interesting |
Picture this: a Congressman has multiple computer accounts hacked into. The hacker – no doubt a right wing Republican wacko — is apparently intent to destroy the Congrwssman’s reputation by creating a fraudulent sex scandal. The Congressman actually catches the hacker just in time – the photo is only up for a moment when he sees it and erases…but some people DO see and start a online scandal discussion that starts at a right wing website.
And the Congressman’s reaction?
He makes jokes on Twitter and waves it off as a prank. No big whoop!
Really? That mild a reaction? Well – watch Rep. Weiner. He’s as cool as Sinatra after two scotches. Seriously, see for yourself. The happy fun begins at :50 in.
Now compare that cheerful tone is this guy – the real Weiner. Watch the body language, the tone of voice – everything.
Am I alone in thinking this is kind of weird?
(h/t to az5thdstrct for the 2nd video)
by Lee Stranahan | May 30, 2024 | Interesting |
Okay, this will get me in trouble but here goes..
The Huffington Post has finally posted something about this weekend’s evolving #Weinergate Story – but not on the national page, but buried in the much less read New York section.
And their judging by comments – readers noticed.
Huffington Post has buried next week’s top story. Amazing
and
Why is this a LOCAL story and not a headline story on the HP? That’s right, Weiner is the loudmouth liberal with a D next to his name.
and
It’s kind of shameful that HP is burying this story that broke on Saturday, and I have only heard about it because of comments in other stories. Clearly his account was hacked (Twitter seems notoriously easy to hack) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t news.
HuffPost Could Have Run The Story Two Days Ago & Chose Not To
This is the part that HuffPost won’t be thrilled with but I mention it because I think it proves some real bias going on…
After months of not blogging at Huffington Post because of their treatment of Andrew Breitbart, I decided this story was juicy / big enough that I wanted to get it out to the HuffPost audience. After all, Huffington Post had been great about publishing my John Edwards pieces.
So I submitted an article that I thought was good – my Would Your Spouse Buy It? article with an added introduction paragraph to explain the story…and note the date…
And I even emailed the blog team and HP editor Roy Sekoff…again, note the date
There’s no question in my mind that if the piece were about Paul Ryan or Michelle Bachmann sending out underwear photos, it would have been Frontpaged all weekend. But instead it got the spike
by Lee Stranahan | May 30, 2024 | Interesting |
I mentioned FleetAdmiralJ in my previous post about Daily Kos – and I will stand by my statement that he’s the LEAST crazy person on DailyKos. Bear that in mind as you read his theory on how #Weinergate went down…from the comments on this post.
…this is my working theory, partly based on the available evidence, partly speculation:
At some point - perhaps as long as 2 or 3 weeks ago, @patriotusa76 was able to gain access to Rep. Weiner’s social media accounts. Whether this was through luck, phishing, or social engineering, I don’t know (though my guess would be one of the latter two).
He then formulated a plan to frame Rep. Weiner, and started posting things suggesting that Rep. Weiner would soon be caught in some sort of sex scandal.
Then Friday night - either because that was the planned date or he had some certain set of circumstances he wanted to be met when he did the operation which were met - he logged on to Rep. Weiner’s yfrog account and uploaded the photo, and then logged into twitter (and possibly facebook) and posted a tweet to the image he posted.
@patriotusa76 then immediately deleted the tweet to make it look like Rep. Weiner was trying to DM it but accidentally sent it public and deleted it, but left the yfrog image in hopes that other people would see it.
However, he deleted it so fast that almost no one else saw the tweet. However, he, being the perpetrator, had the text of the tweet he sent and started RTing it. It’s possible this deletion was done both to lend credence to the argument that Weiner "noticed his mistake" and deleted it AND to give @patriotusa76 near exclusive coverage of the incident on twitter.
At some point - perhaps even before sending out the tweet - @patriotusa76 took a screenshot of the yfrog page as "evidence."
then about a half hour later, someone (probably Rep. Weiner) cleared out his yfrog account.
Weiner had also posted at some point that his Facebook had been hacked, which suggests that either something was posted on Facebook as well or that was the method through which someone gained access to twitter and yfrog.
Now for MY alternative theory partly based on the available evidence, partly speculation…
A Congressman made a mistake when he tried to message a picture to a girl he knew.
.
But who’s to say?
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