Weinergate is in full thrust and poised to ejaculate a member of Congress. Too "pun on words" for the latest scandal rippling its way out of Washington? I'll say. What, exactly, is Weinergate?
The weiner jokes have been coming fast and furous since Congressman Anthony Weiner tweeted a picture of his underweared nether regions for benefit of his adoring followers. Last Wednesday, Conservative talk show hosts got wind of blogger Andrew Breitbart's take on the picture and have been spanking the story ever since.
At first, in an underreported news conference, Congressman Weiner denied posting the picture, claiming someone must have hacked into his Twitter account to embarrass him. However, when pressed on the issue, he also admitted not reporting the incident to the police. Sort of strange, given that he's a member of Congress and may have been the victim of identity theft. He also refused to admit or deny whether his nether regions were the ones in the picture, saying that when your last name is Weiner, you're the victim of a lot of penis jokes.
And yet, the national news media barely touched the story. As far as I could tell, there was very little mention of it over the weekend, and if mentioned, it was mostly to portray the incident as a non-story. As recently as yesterday, when I mentioned the controversy to one of my dyed-in-the-wool Democrat friends, she had no idea what I was talking about. Therein lies the true controversy.
Forget about Congressman Weiner doing something so incredibly stupid as to make himself vulnerable to possible blackmail, ruining the lives of his incredibly trusting wife and family, and preying on Twitter groupies who think he's someone special because he wears a government identification badge and works in the Capitol. Forget about whether he should resign (he should), or whether his party should clean house by pressuring him to resign (they should), and forget about whether every single American should be up in arms knowing that a member of Congress is using his time to post penis pictures rather than try to resolve the budget crisis or bring down the price of oil (they should).
Right now, each and every American should be furious at the national news media for burying the story until Weiner decided to come clean in a second news conference. Last week, a Politico blogger characterized the story as an "ambiguous online mini-scandal." Well, if not for the pressure of one relentless blogger, independent web sites, and one very out-spoken woman from Texas, Americans might still be in the dark about the incident, or under the mistaken impression that the story isn't news.
Yesterday, to the chagrin of Nancy Pelosi, who vowed to clean up Washington and keep a tight reign on her party, Congressman Weiner, Democrat New York, finally admitted to posting a picture of himself in his underwear for all the world to see. He also apologized ad nauseum to everyone and their brother, sickeningly so, if you ask me. Too little too late and fuel for the fire to run him out of office, but at least now the national news media is reporting the story.
Not that they had a choice. Now, even late night talk show hosts are taking pot shots at Weiner. By the time that happens, you can stick a fork in the story and roast it for breakfast.