Sexting champion Anthony Weiner (aka "Carlos Danger," the alias he used when sending pictures of his genitalia to a 22-year-old woman who is not his wife) rolled in front of the cameras for some damage control on Tuesday afternoon, and managed to make both himself and wife Human Abedin into the creepiest power couple imaginable. As you watch this, remember that Abedin was chirping happily about Weiner's marvelous rehabilitation in puff-piece interviews at the exact same time Weiner was telling his young paramour that he'd set up a love nest for her in Chicago, and get her a job blogging for Politico.
As a minor suggestion unrelated to the scandal, it's probably not a good idea to hold last-ditch career-preserving press conferences in front of a cubicle maze while staffers pop up like Whack-a-Mole targets in the background. Presumably Weiner was trying to show how busy and active his campaign in, while he rolls the dice on a modified limited hangout - claiming that only "some" of the allegations against him are true, and hoping the media doesn't verify all of them.
In the grand tradition of her mentor Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin went the "Stand By Your Man" route, prompting a hilarious chorus of praise for her "bravery" from liberal media cheerleaders. "Watching this, I feel for Anthony's wife Huma. Life and love is so complicated. I think she was brave," gushed Mika Brzezinksi of MSNBC. "Brave and completely committed to him," agreed Andrea Mitchell of plain old NBC.
What ludicrous piffle. There's nothing "complicated" about expecting your husband to refrain from online flirtations and sending photos of his junk to a girl young enough to be his daughter. Standing by him, to the point of concocting false stories about his "rehabilitation" for public consumption, is a sign of the icy and chilling hunger for power, not "bravery." Among other things, Abedin is doing no favors for women in emotionally - or even physically - abusive relationships by setting the precedent of defending the abuser and helping to cover up his offenses, with one eye narrowly fixed on the glittering payoff to come. The last thing America needs is another campaign by high-profile Democrats to convince women to lower their standards.
Perhaps the unseemly slobbering over Abedin is a cynical effort by the Left-media to salvage someone's career from the Carlos Danger disaster, since it seems unlikely Weiner will survive it, even in the New York political culture. Three of his Democratic primary opponents have called on him to drop out of the race, and so have the major media outlets. The New York Daily News called him a "proven liar" and declared, "He is not fit to lead America's premier city. Lacking the dignity and discipline that New York deserves in a mayor, Weiner must recognize that his demons have no place in City Hall."
The Daily News also had a killer line about Weiner's use of his wife as a political prop: "She believes in me after I lied to her and lied to her again, Weiner says, and therefore so should New Yorkers. No. No. No."
The New York Post seems more inclined to butter its popcorn and enjoy the show, instead of calling on Weiner to vamoose. The headline for today's print edition declares the Weiner campaign "Too Hard to Stop." However, the editors did observe that "in another day, Weiner would be a punchline instead of a leading candidate for mayor. Which is as revealing of New York politics as it is of Anthony Weiner."
And then you've got the New York Times, which is obviously the biggest media toothache for a Democrat candidate in New York City. The Times wants to pull that tooth, without anesthesia:
At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner and his sexual relationships and texting habits will finally be told. In the meantime, the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City.
[...] It???s up to Mr. Weiner if he wants to keep running, to count on voters to forgive and forget and hand him the keys to City Hall. But he has already disqualified himself.
It???s difficult not to feel for Ms. Abedin. The couple deserved privacy as they worked through their problems ??? and they had it, until they re-emerged in public life and Mr. Weiner decided he was a good fit to run New York City. Mr. Weiner and Ms. Abedin have been saying that his sexual behavior is not the public???s business. Well, it isn???t, until they make it our business by plunging into a political campaign.
Mr. Weiner says he is staying in the mayoral race. To those who know his arrogance and have grown tired of the tawdry saga he has dragged the city into, this is not surprising.
Ouch. There are rumors that more women will step forward with stories about Weiner's unsatisfactory rehabilitation, which should finish off his campaign, even if he's able to drag it past the current revelations. Speaking of revelations, Buzzfeed has identified Weiner's accuser as a "progressive activist" named Sydney Leathers (no, seriously, that's her real name) who was a "field organizer" for the Obama 2012 campaign. Blogger Robert Stacy McCain recalls her as the creator of noxious Change.org petition accusing Sarah Palin of inciting violence. You can see how that would catch the eye of both Obama campaign organizers, and lecherous cretins on the prowl for someone with low standards.
Update: Patterico's Pontifications offers an exhaustive timeline of the lies Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin have told to cover up his indiscretions. Not a shred of the mythology about Abedin's "bravery" should survive contact with this timeline. It's also impossible to sympathize with her as a starry-eyed fool for love. She's an enabler, a co-conspirator, and every bit as shameless as her husband.
