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TheDC Morning: Weiner hidden

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1.) Weiner Hidden — Whatever else happens, Weinergate has produced one tangible benefit: It has driven Anthony Weiner away from his beloved television cameras. On Friday he cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Wisconsin Democratic Convention, telling them that “given the circumstances he is going to stick around New York and hang out with his wife.” And presumably she was hanging onto his cameraphone for him. Meanwhile, Weiner’s tale of nefarious hackers who made it look like he sent a naughty photo of himself to a college girl continued to disintegrate. The Daily reports: “As the world has attempted to make sense of Rep. Anthony Weiner’s claim that his Twitter account was hacked, a key clue has been missing: exactly how the notorious groin pic was posted online. But according to data provided exclusively to The Daily from TweetCongress.org, a nonprofit website that captures each member of Congress’s Twitter feeds in real time, the shot seen round the world was transmitted using TweetDeck — a popular Adobe desktop application that links up with social networking sites. A review of Weiner’s Twitter stream from May 27, the day of the crotch pic, shows that Weiner had been posting only from TweetDeck — one of many ways to post messages to Twitter — that entire night… A widely circulated explanation for how Weiner’s Twitter account could have been hacked by email would also seem to be incompatible with the fact that the message in question originated on TweetDeck. If email had been used, the message probably would have originated via the photosharing site Yfrog, where the infamous picture was posted.” And according to Yfrog, their security “has not been compromised in any way.” Note to all politicians who try to blame their poor behavior on the technology they use: The people who created it are smarter than you, and they’re not about to let you harm their business just because you can’t admit a mistake. To make matters worse for Weiner, now his womanizing past is under the microscope, as are his communications with that porn star he was following on Twitter for no particular reason, honest.

2.) The selective outrage of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz — Last week DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz dismissed Weiner’s wiener-wagging, telling Wolf Blitzer it’s a “personal matter.” But as William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection notes, DWS wasn’t always so sanguine about these things. Here’s what she said about Mark Foley back in ’06: “This goes beyond Rep. Foley, it goes to the values of the Congressional leadership and the fact that when children felt that sexual advances were being made against them by people in positions of authority, the Congressional leadership of this Congress did nothing.” Sexual advances on young people by those in positions of authority are bad, and Congress needs to do something about it, but only when those in positions of authority are Republicans. Gee, it’s almost like she doesn’t really mean anything she says, isn’t it? But then, that’s why she got the job.

3.) From Weinergate to Wienergate
— Remember this one the next time Michelle Obama scolds you for failing to be the perfect human specimen she is. The Daily Mail reports: “When his wife unveiled the USDA’s new nutritional plate yesterday, there definitely wasn’t a space for chili dogs. But that didn’t stop Barack Obama wolfing down two in Toledo today – with fries and an extra bowl of chili on the side. The president happily munched on the unhealthy meal before he visited the city’s Chrysler factory, and even teased one of his hosts for ordering ketchup, a faux-pas in his home town of Chicago.” Whether it’s the food you eat or the taxes you pay or the car you drive or pretty much any other part of your life, the message from our fearless leaders is clear: Here are the rules, you rabble. We are above them, and we’re certainly above you.

4.) Palin’s shot heard ’round the leftosphere — It must be Monday, because our intellectual superiors on the left are screeching about yet another Palin utterance. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports: “This explanation probably won’t pass muster with many of her critics, but Sarah Palin insists she didn’t commit a gaffe last week when she said Paul Revere warned the British on his historical ride that signaled the beginning of the Revolutionary War. On this weekend’s Fox News Sunday, the former Alaska governor took on her critics, including one of her Fox News colleagues, Shepard Smith, who had said Palin was on a publicity tour… ‘You know what, I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere. Here’s what Paul Revere did. He warned the Americans that ‘the British were coming, the British were coming’ and they were going to try to take our arms… But remember that the British had already been there, many soldiers, for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere’s ride — and it wasn’t just one ride — he was a courier, he was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn British that were already there. That, ‘Hey, you are not going to succeed. You are not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have.’ He did warn the British.'” B-b-but… that’s not how they told it on Schoolhouse Rock! This is reminiscent of the reaction when Palin told us all to “Party like it’s 1773,” and lefties everywhere proved that they didn’t know the date of the Boston Tea Party. When you’re as smart as they are, facts just get in the way.

5.) If you can read this headline, you’re not the guy the story is about — Here’s one for starving English majors everywhere. TheDC’s Alec Jacobs reports: “Andreas Panayiotou, a London real estate tycoon worth £400 million (roughly $650 million), lives on a 20-acre estate and owns several private jets. At just 45, he’s come from humble beginnings as the son of Greek immigrants and is now ranked as the 200th richest man in Britain. And he can’t read. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Panayiotou described his days in elementary school. Embarrassed, he’d sit terrified in the classroom as his teacher would go around the room, calling on students to read aloud. Instead of learning to read, the mogul was able to get away with memorizing what certain words looked like. He would eventually drop out of school, at 14. Despite his illiteracy, he’s become an extremely successful businessman.” [Insert Palin joke here, libs.] And now Panayiotou is joining the Evening Standard’s literacy program for British youth. That’s right, kids: Learn to read, or one day you’ll end up becoming… um… a multimillionaire with your own fleet of private jets.

6.) Alec Baldwin wants to help Republicans pick a candidate — Thickset thespian Alec Baldwin (The Marrying Man, Heaven’s Prisoners) has entered the Shatner Phase of his career a decade or two earlier than the original, but if anything he’s even funnier. He signed up for Twitter recently, and while he’s managed to avoid posting any snapshots of his junk (so far), he’s still embarrassing himself. Here he is opining on the chances of the GOP field in 2012: “Romney has that Plymouth Rock last name… and Ken doll appeal that a lot of right-wingers go for.” As for the rest: “Who then? Newt? Huckabee? Christie? Obama would slice and dice them.” (Hey, remember when violent rhetoric was bad?) But now Baldwin is backing away from the “Ken doll” thing, writing at HuffPo: “I did not write that Romney is a Ken doll. He is anything but. And the sooner Democratic political operatives agree on that, the better for Obama. I referred to that iconic retail figure to highlight those types that are lean of frame and square jawed, like Romney, who seem to hold the public’s attention more easily.” Did you get that? Baldwin didn’t really say what he said, for reasons that don’t make sense to anybody who’s been paying attention to what he’s talking about. No wonder he wants to go into politics.

VIDEO: The extent of Palin’s critics’ research on Paul Revere

BONUS: Why a Weinergate limerick? Why not a Weinergate limerick?
There once was a fellow named Weiner
With a highly unpleasant demeanor
When his cameraphone
Sent a pic of his bone
He said, “What college girl? Never seen ‘er!”

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