An alert FrontBurnervian points us this essay by former D Magazine staffer John Bloom (aka Joe Bob Briggs), who defends the kooky actions of Anthony Weiner. Sample:
The Democratic Party is supposed to promote the rights of gays, lesbians, transvestites, transsexuals, hermaphrodites, midgets, circus performers, and biker gangs. It’s supposedly an article of faith among Democrats, especially when it comes to gay marriage, that there’s no such thing as normal. As long as no laws are violated, every American determines his own definition of a normal life, including a normal life in the bedroom, the swingers’ club, the bathhouse, or anywhere else he, she, or it decides to aardvark around. If suddenly the Democrats have decided that Anthony Weiner talking dirty on Facebook and emailing his Love Log to Vegas blackjack dealers constitutes “unacceptable” and “bizarre” sociopathy — if the standard is that low — then God help them the first time a lesbian Congresswoman from Vermont gets “outed” by her college roommate at Swarthmore who has decided to reminisce about the mostly forgotten Group Grope in Parrish Hall back in ’97 by establishing a Facebook page dedicated to recalling every detail of every girl who may or may not have kissed said Congresswoman or otherwise touched her in a compromising manner.
Read the whole thing. It’s funny. And Joe Bob makes a good point.
1 comment
The commenter ‘Maggie Ragaisis’ to Joe Bob’s article said it best:
“This is all just right-on. Weiner should never have resigned over pictures of his whang. He should have resigned because he doesn’t have enough common sense to know that NOTHING you send via email/phone/or internet is EVER private. That’s a whole big, heaping bowl o’ stupid right there, which right there, should make him unqualified to make decisions regarding the rights and well-being of OTHERS.”
If you are stupid enough to jeopardize your career for the sake of your fetish, to allow yourself to be open to attempts at blackmail, to jeopardize your relationship with your pregnant spouse, to jeopardize friendships and political alliances, etc., you do not deserve to act in a position of public trust. On the other hand, if he was a known exhibitionist (or any other fetish for that matter) and still got elected to office, then I would wish him all the best and hold my opinion for the people who voted for him.
On that note, I really see no fundamental difference between Weiner and JWP. They both like to show off in their underwear. One just had a well thought out plan on how to capitalize on the notoriety…