New York Mayor candidate Anthony Weiner (Photo: A framegrab from his official video at www.anthonyweiner.com)
It is almost criminal how former U.S. Congressman and current aspirant for New York mayoralty Anthony Weiner’s private conduct lends itself to such easy lewd humor. As a matter of self-restraint I am not going to pun the heck out his last name because it is so obvious. Why shoot a sitting duck?
Among the oddest things about Weiner’s serial debauchery is that he is 48 years old and yet has not lost any of the lustful vigor of a freshly pubescent teenage boy. It is almost as if he has just discovered his genitals and can’t keep his hands off of it.
I am trying hard to separate his conduct while sexting with a 22-year-old woman from his value as a politician bent upon becoming the next mayor of New York. While The New York Times has already advised him to fold up his campaign and leave the stage, his resolve appears to be harder than what is inside his pants.
People are analyzing whether he is a genuine repentant sex addict or an arrogant remorseless narcissist. Narcissism is intrinsic to his chosen profession as a politician. So that is neither here nor there. As for arrogance, remorselessness and sexual addiction, I do not have enough material to make a judgment one way or the other.
He has handled the latest revelations about his sexting habits in 2012 after he had quit as a Congressman in 2011 the best he could. He was fortunate to have his fetching wife and highly regarded public servant Huma stand by his side and reaffirm her commitment to him publicly. One is not privy to the behind-the-scenes turmoil that may have occurred prior to Weiner’s press engagement the other day. However, going by her public pronouncements, which may well have been dictated by the demands of realpolitik, it appears that she is willing to look past and beyond Weiner’s crass indiscretions. I can’t second-guess her motivations and say that she is abetting his flaming political ambitions.
Is Huma’s support for her husband enough for New Yorkers to disregard his private conduct and focus on his political talents? One can never tell. If I were a New York voter, would I vote for him irrespective of his behavior? Yes, if I were an ideologically inclined voter. Of course, there is the real question of his personal conduct in so much as one can ask whether such behavior can manifest and spillover into other areas of his public life. Is there a larger pathology to hide stuff or is this just the only weak point in his life? In the end it is a judgment call that individual voters will have to make.
I am conflicted whether the latest admission is enough for him to get out of the race as suggested by the Times. Soon after the revelations of his behavior were first made in June, 2011, I wrote this: “I am sure Weiner would eventually sort out what seems to be an addiction for him, but my general response to this fake controversy is characteristically broader than just him. We live in times when the bulge in a man’s underwear could be a stick of RDX and not his barely concealed arousal. Aren’t we better off with men in whose underwear the bulge is what it should be and not something wired and triggered by an insane ideology? Just a thought. You might disagree.”
With these fresh revelations all that I can muster up is mockery in the form of this limerick thoughtfully titled Mayor Swinging Dick. Somehow, it sounds just right for New York, a city that does the same to the world.
There was once Anthony Weiner
Whose dick so big that he couldn't grapple
Slithering through the streets like a serpent
Until it found the Big Apple