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TheDC Morning: Anthony Weiner is working, hard for you

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1.) Anthony Weiner is working, hard for you — Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) sure had a fun weekend. On Friday, Delaware police announced they were investigating his communications with a 17-year-old girl. On Saturday, he announced he was seeking a leave of absence from the House and checking into “treatment.” (For what? Chafing?) On Sunday, TMZ released the latest creepy Weiner pics, this time featuring the lascivious legislator showing off his bod in what appears to be the House gym. So far Weiner has stood strong, insisting he has no intention of resigning. But now that’s changing, according to the NY Daily News: “Rep. Anthony Weiner finally began considering Sunday the possibility that he may have to resign, as yet another cache of embarrassing photos appeared. A source close to the congressman told the Daily News that he had been adamant about keeping his seat – even amid daily new revelations of his reckless sexting. But the unrelenting media coverage, the demands from his party’s leaders that he step down and the appearance of more humiliating photos made Weiner realize he may not be able to bull his way through the crisis after all, the source said.” None of this is helping the morale of his DC office, where they’re fleeing like rats from a sinking schmuck. Looks like Weiner’s problems began and ended with his staff. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) shows wisdom that has so far eluded his cocky colleague, tweeting: “Getting lots of questions about Members of Congress, Twitter, social media, etc. My advice: keep your shirt on, keep your pants on, don’t be an idiot.”

2.) E-mails reveal Palin did pretty good job as governor; media hardest hit — With Friday’s release of 24,000 e-mails from Sarah Palin’s tenure as governor of Alaska, the NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, and the other usual suspects acted like they’d found Amelia Earhart and D.B. Cooper having a drink with Ponce de Leon in the lost city of Atlantis. These former news outlets even enlisted the Palin-haters in their ever-dwindling audience to help them dig through the pile of evidence for any possible dirt. But their zeal soon turned to zzz’s, with headlines like “Palin Had Her Eye On VP Slot Months Before Receiving Nomination,” “Sarah Palin Emails Mostly Confirm What Was Already Known About the Ex-Governor,” and “Palin Bought 1% Instead of Skim By Accident.” Allahpundit at Hot Air predicts: “Rest assured, a ‘bombshell’ will emerge even if it isn’t an actual bombshell bringing to light some important, heretofore unknown fact. The press isn’t going to hype this crowdsourcing to the insane extent that they have and end up with Al Capone’s vault. If need be, they’ll choose some uninteresting e-mail from the batch and declare it to be important and scandalous and proof that the whole effort was worthwhile. Take it to the bank.” So far Palin has avoided that, but she’s still dealing with some terrible, terrible news: John Ziegler doesn’t like her anymore.

3.) First new pics of Gabby Giffords released — This weekend saw the release of the first pictures of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since she was shot last January. She appears to be improving greatly, but there are conflicting reports of her progress. TheDC’s Alec Jacobs writes: “This week, Giffords’ chief of staff Pia Carusone told the Arizona Republic that the congresswoman is still struggling to express thoughts verbally. Carusone also wasn’t sure Giffords would ever run for elected office again. ‘We’d love to know today what her life will be, what her quality of life will be, which will determine whether she’ll be able to run for office…But we just don’t know yet,’ Carusone said. But DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had a totally different story. She told Roll Call, ‘Each time I’ve visited [Giffords], it’s been two or three words, and then more and more complex…For the first time, she said things to me that weren’t just in response to what I said, and I was really surprised.'” Either way, the pictures of a smiling Giffords are an encouraging sign.

4.) Second prize is TWO dates — Pimpin’ ain’t easy. Just ask Hillary! CNN reports: “An effort to pay off Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign debt gives two lucky winners the chance to spend a day in the Big Apple with the current secretary of state’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. By contributing as little as $10 online, people are entered to win a trip for two to New York for a day of adventure with the 42nd president.” Are you ready for an adventure? Just make sure to wear something that wipes clean.

5.) Tracy Morgan says stuff and people get mad, again — It’s been a while since 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan ticked people off. Last February he enraged Palin fans when he went on TNT during a live broadcast and said the former governor is “good masturbation material.” But after his latest rant, this time attacking gays, even his co-star Tina Fey isn’t backing him up. She made the following statement to TMZ: “The violent imagery of Tracy’s rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community.” Presumably Fey was fine with Morgan’s vulgar comments on Palin, but she finally had to speak up because this time he angered people who might actually buy her book.

6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Twitter feed — “My drink is four shots of espresso in an iced coffee. It’s called a Nazi… Because it kicks your door down in the early morning, pulls you out of bed… And slaps you across the face a few times.” [Ed. note: Another good drink is called an Alec Baldwin. It doesn’t matter what you put it in, because nobody’s going to see it.]

VIDEO: MKH says only a nation can fix… this DC Metro escalator.

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