Congressman Weiner finally resigns

[Masquerouge]

I think I will never understand politicians who:
1. despite knowing that every single atom of their private lives is under the microscope, do stupid stuff like this
2. once caught, lie about it despite knowing that the truth will come out.

Idiots.

 

[LucyDuke]

If you bomb a country and kill a million and displace two more, then you lie about it constantly and change your justification every two weeks, none of that matters. But if you dare to have a relationship outside your marriage, everyone will demand your resignation (and, incredibly, investigation). Good that the US congress has finally found its standards!

To be clear, I don't give a flying crap about any of the twit-dick stuff. The only thing I object to is that he lied about it.

 

[Princeps]

To be clear, I don't give a flying crap about any of the twit-dick stuff. The only thing I object to is that he lied about it.

He lied about a deeply personal and private issue: he didn't lie about anything that is even remotely important to you or his country.

And don't give me that "I don't care" piffle. If this issue didn't involve dicks, but rather some other private issue, like a personal illness (that he'd lie about), you wouldn't care about him lying.

 

[LucyDuke]

He lied about what was all over the news. It's stupid that it was all over the news to begin with, but I don't run the show.

Hey, do me a favor and don't tell me what I care about, k? You don't know what motivates me.

 

[Theige]

If you bomb a country and kill a million and displace two more, then you lie about it constantly and change your justification every two weeks, none of that matters. But if you dare to have a relationship outside your marriage, everyone will demand your resignation (and, incredibly, investigation). Good that the US congress has finally found its standards!

George W Bush wasn't in Congress, and he had the lowest approval rating of any president in our history. Screw off.

 

[Arwon]

I'm not sure reflexive lying about embarassing personal life things is really grounds for removal from public office.

 

[GoodGame]

I think this is another one of those "being caught in the lie was worse than the actual behavior that was lied about", especially for an elected official. Been there, done that.


And, so this means porn stars can't become elected to office in America? They fill up my emails all the time with lewd messages.

 

[Arwon]

But why? Responding to excessive purient interest in one's personal life, with something other than instant and total openness, hardly makes somebody unfit for public office.

 

[Cutlass]

I'm not sure reflexive lying about embarassing personal life things is really grounds for removal from public office.

Maybe. But depending on the situation, it can render the person unable to be effective in their office.

 

[GoodGame]

But why? Responding to excessive purient interest in one's personal life, with something other than instant and total openness, hardly makes somebody unfit for public office.

He lied in public. It'd be better to say that he and is wife were just reconciling. He didn't really have to respond publicly to it. He could have waited to see if it blew away or could be settled.

I'm not his constituent, but I'd have more respect if he said "nunya" in "nunya business" than if he tells a straight lie and is caught. It matters only that he lied to the people he served, not whether his constituents were puritans or whores.

 

[metatron]

No, he should not have resigned.

1. The sexting doesn't matter. Congresspeople are unfaithful to their partners all the time.

2. The lying doesn't matter since it's simply nobody's business anyway.

At that point everybody who feels differently should imagine the very same situation with everyone's sex reversed (bear with me for the dualism).

And, of course: So, David Vitter is not a liar who has to resign cause nobody bothered to ask him "Mr. Vitter do you frequently use the services of prostitutes" in time?

Maybe we should ask every congressman a series of such questions upon inauguration, to avoid any confusion about this lying thing.
Do you have any children we should know about?
Did you bang and blackmail your wifes best friend who happens to work for you?
Are you gay?*

You get the idea.

*Note that i am not interested in #3.
Come to think of it: I'm not that interested in #1 either.
But apparently many people are.

 

[downtown]

David Vitter should be gone, and so should Weiner. This sort of thing is an american cultural thing that I don't think our European friends are going to understand...but you cannot lie about this kind of thing. If you lie about this, completely publicly and fragrantly, your credibility on other issues is going to be in question.

 

[Arwon]

If you lie about this, completely publicly and fragrantly, your credibility on other issues is going to be in question.

Yeah, that's the bit that bothers me. That link hasn't been demonstrated and I don't think it can be.

 

[bhsup]

Well, you're shown to be a liar. You simply cannot be trusted on anything you say after that.

 

[metatron]

Well, you're shown to be a liar.

Erm...and that's not true for other politicians?
Can't he just say "it wasn't intended to be a factual statement"?

No, seriously. Most people cheat. And lie about it.
And almost everybody lies about something.

Isn't there more important stuff to lie about than sex?

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Looks like he couldn't rise to the occasion after all.

 

[Save_Ferris]

Does this mean we can get on to important news now?

-Save_Ferris, not a resident of New York

 

[Arwon]

Well, you're shown to be a liar. You simply cannot be trusted on anything you say after that.

Oh, OK. I guess that rules out, well, everyone in the world.

So nobody is fit for office. I'm on board to abolish the state and build an anarchist society if you are.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I'm really not concerned about the lying: I can say, with some certitude, that it's not as if anyone actually believed him.

I did. His original denial was so specific, that I assumed he had to know what happened, but it wasn't him sending it.

 

[Millman]

I will apologize for my outlandish behavior in public too.

But when you commit crimes against humanity, incite riots, endanger the public, violate your oath of office by doing this. That's more than enough imo.

Unfortunately we don't know the whole story and things are probably worse elsewhere. If all they do is stare at one another in a building and talk about the same thing over and over again, why bother at all?

I guess the verdict is a bad job is better than no job. :eyeroll: