Breitbart keeps a little something behind, just in case: sex scandals then and now
Apparently, Andrew Breitbart held a little something in abeyance in Weinergate, just in case he might need it. I watched Breitbart on the Hannity show last night, and he made it fairly clear what that “something else” is: a nude photo of Weiner at the ready, as it were. Breitbart also made it clear that he doesn’t intend to release the picture unless Weiner and his forces try to smear any of the women involved, or Breitbart itself.
It occurs to me that this may mark the first time that a salacious photo has been used to blackmail a public figure into not blackmailing others. It also occurs to me that Weiner’s behavior makes Bill Clinton’s look sedate, and makes Mark Sanford seem like a real family guy.
The fact that the Weiner crotch photos, sent to strangers, could have been used in any number of ways to blackmail him never seems to have occurred to the sender. Or perhaps he thought there was no jam he couldn’t wriggle out of. It puzzles me that he thought this behavior would never come back to bite him, even if it had never done so before.
When adolescent girls send nude photos to the boys in their cohort, they may not think of the consequences. But they are practically kids. What’s Weiner’s excuse? His failure is not only of morality and prudence, it’s of intelligence.
The whole thing makes me nostalgic for the days of the old-fashioned sex scandal. Wilbur Mills and Fanne Foxe come to mind, a story in which the motivations of the main players are at least comprehensible. We had a very powerful older guy and a sexy young Argentinian stripper (what’s up with these Argentinians? I guess I need to ask Sanford). The older guy was an alcoholic, and he ultimately dried out and spent the rest of his days speaking up about alcoholism and its consequences.
To refresh your memory:
Mills [Arkansas Democrat and long-time House Ways and Means Committee chairman] was involved in a traffic incident in Washington, DC at 2 a.m. on October 9, 1974. His car was stopped by U.S. Park Police late at night because the driver had not turned on the lights. Mills was intoxicated, and his face was injured from a scuffle with Annabelle Battistella, better known as Fanne Foxe, a stripper from Argentina. When police approached the car, Foxe leapt from the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin in an attempt to escape…
Despite the scandal, Mills was re-elected to Congress in November 1974 in a heavily Democratic year with nearly 60% of the vote…On November 30, 1974, Mills, seemingly drunk, was accompanied by Fanne Foxe’s husband onstage at The Pilgrim Theatre in Boston, a burlesque house where Foxe was performing. He held a press conference from Foxe’s dressing room. Soon after this second public incident, Mills stepped down from his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged his alcoholism, joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and checked himself into Palm Beach Institute at West Palm Beach. He did not seek re-election in 1976, devoted his time to counseling individual alcoholics, and raising funds for alcoholic treatment centers, including one founded in his honor at Searcy, Arkansas, the Wilbur D. Mills Treatment Center for Alcohol and Drugs.
Note that Mills—like Weiner so far—did not resign. I guess resigning is just for Republicans.
[NOTE: It also occurs to me that Weinergate is the very model of a modern sex scandal in being primarily computer-driven.
The sex involved was cybersex. The offenses were publicized online, rather than by any news agency. And the story would have gotten lost but for the blogosphere’s pushing it.]
What kills me is that Weiner was doing all this AFTER Tiger Woods, Jesse James and other celebrities have had their personal texts and photos revealed.
So, when can we expect Gloria Allred to show up representing the “poor” tweet & text recipients?
I worked with a 350 lbs guy that came to work one day in a t shirt that said “I’m the cheerleader you had cybersex with last night”. Lol
Libby: not to defend Weiner, but I heard that a lot of his behavior goes back about 3 years. So that would have been before those other celebrities were busted.
This is amusing:
“Other Bad Things that Have Happened to Weiner”:
http://www.slate.com/slideshow/arts/7-other-bad-things-for-weiner#slide_1
I used to work for a company that did data processing for the Army. To be hired, I had to have a security clearance. They thoroughly investigated me to insure that there was nothing I could be blackmailed for. And I was not privy to any state secrets. I suggest that passing a security clearance investigation be required for Presidents and Members of Congress.
This behavior may have started over 3 yrs ago, but he sent the infamous underwear shot as well as the shirtless photos in May 2011. And his communications with Meagan Broussard started on April 20, 2011. He either he believed he was immune from being caught or he can’t resist this reckless behavior.
http://bigjournalism.com/abreitbart/2011/06/06/deja-vu-another-congressman-bares-naked-torso-and-more-for-online-pal/#more-199448
I suggest that passing a security clearance investigation be required for Presidents and Members of Congress.
Which would give automatic veto power to whoever they hired to do the clearance.
Nice idea, but when applied… oh heck no….
I don’t understand the brazenness of the man. He insisted, repeatedly, that he had been hacked — that he had not sent this picture. The whole time, he not only knew that he had sent the picture; he also knew that there were several other women out there who could come forward with their own Weiner pictures.
Whence the colossal arrogance of the man, to think that of the several people who could turn him in and make a laughingstock of him, that none of them would do it?
I agree that we should make this some sort of litmus test. Anyone stupid enough to think they can keep secrets on the Internet — in this day and age! — have no business representing us in Washington.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
I suggest that passing a security clearance investigation be required for Presidents and Members of Congress.
Good God, woman, we would have to kick out everyone now in the government!
(reflectively) hmm … have to kick out everyone now in the government … have to kick out everyone now in the government … hmm
Perhaps I was a bit hasty.
Occam’s,
Just think what this would do to journalists as well. No more “A source inside the … campaign reported….” Not to mention the gov’t/lobbyist carousel and the contact bars in DC.
Breitbart proves again that while he can make mistakes, he can do strategery with the best of them. And after the back-alley muggings from liberal politicians and their lickspittle media goons, he’d be crazy not to keep an ace in the hole. May he keep embarrassing the haughty forever.
I like the idea of having to have a security clearance in order to hold office. Oh, and also before they can run for election, candidates must manage a small business profitably and legally for a year, and take six teenagers camping for two weeks with minimal equipment – and without any resultant pregnancies or arrests.
How about qualify for E4 (pay grade in the military, which starts at E1)?
As a very wise lady once told me in a different context ( John DeLorean, remember him?) you con people and you con people until you reach a point where you think you’ll never get caught. Then you do.
Weiner’s failure is not one of intelligence.
As Prager has stated:
“Human sexuality, especially male sexuality, is utterly wild. Men have had sex with women and with men; with little girls and young boys; with a single partner and in large groups; with total strangers and immediate family members; and with a variety of domesticated animals. There is little, animate or inanimate, that has not excited some men to orgasm.”
It was Judaism and Christianity which restrained sex into marriage and between a man and a women. This restraint established the foundation for women’s freedom and protection and value and the strengths of family life. Now, as ever more of the vestiges of that tradition are lost, men like Weiner, DSK, and Arnold inhabit our world.
And it is here, in this area, where rationality must be informed by revelation or follow experience, that intelligence is not useful at all. It is not at all evident why sexuality must be restrained so as to prohibit homosexuality and fornication. But as sexual abuse and terror grows, surely some conclusion is in order by those who once advocated the new freedoms.
The holistic analysis of the Weiners isn’t very edifying. Theirs is a marriage of convenience where Tony could indulge his online fantasies and Huma remain faithful to Hillary. In other words it was a sham marriage between a “body woman” and a heel. Isn’t there some hypocrisy there? Where is the strength of their convictions? But it goes to show how messed up the lives of our elite rulers are. Poor Huma? What a crock that is. Poor all of them! They are to be pitied if they did not cause so much suffering.
Curtis: repeating gossip and rumors as though they’re the gospel truth isn’t so very edifying, either. I didn’t know you had a window into the truth of the Weiners’ sex life.
“The sex involved was cybersex.” How much do you want to bet it was not only cybersex?
You’re right; it hasn’t been proven. It’s my speculation and its slander. I let my disgust over ride a moral duty. I certainly hate slander against our tea party warriors.
“Despite the scandal, Mills was re-elected to Congress in November 1974 in a heavily Democratic year with nearly 60% of the vote…On November 30, 1974, Mills, seemingly drunk, was accompanied by Fanne Foxe’s husband onstage at The Pilgrim Theatre in Boston, a burlesque house where Foxe was performing. He held a press conference from Foxe’s dressing room.”
Teddy Boy Kennedy was elected time after time after leaving a young woman to drown in a Buick. Mr. Weiner will also be elected time after time after Weinergate. Been there, done that, got a Che t-shirt to prove it.
Why do people reelect these boldfaced scoundrels? That’s the real question.
I am shocked, shocked by all the condemnation of Weiner. Hypocrisy!
Our dysfunctional society bears some, maybe most, of the blame for Weiner’s behavior. This female activist has a solution.