Today Congressman Anthony Weiner came forward and admitted that it was indeed him that sent the photo in question of himself. During a press conference he seemed contrite in apologizing, admitting that he did it and explained that he panicked after tweeting the photo and claimed that is was a hacker because it was easy, and stuck with the lie for a whole week.
One of the things I must do in the field I work in is that I have to consider all possible scenarios based on all the facts received before coming to a conclusion. Doing otherwise can lead to a disaster, since we work with attorneys who work civil cases all day long. In my previous post I stated that I believed that the work was that of one of his staffers. That belief was based on what I knew about the incident (which wasn’t everything). I actually tried to take a personal, political, and information security perspective on this story, and combine the three, which is why I came to the conclusion I did. Perhaps next time – keep it simple. The more you know, however, the easier the conclusion becomes, but since this story had new twists and turns later on, it became a lot less clear what was happening. Despite the fact that I missed the subject of the incident (Congressman Weiner) the timeline seems to be spot on.
Many women I know say they have personal experience with getting private messages or emails of someone’s private parts from men including older men and even married men. From their point of view, it was easy to come to the conclusion that Congressman Weiner pulled this prank. I, for one, do not do this and never will. I was raised far better than that, and therefore, I will never fully comprehend the thought process of sending a picture of your penis, especially unsolicited, to a random female. “Men” do not do this. Trashy men do this. Sleazy men do this, but there are men out there that do indeed have a high sense of discretion and realize that this isn’t a good idea before it’s too late. That is another reason why this boggles my mind.
I only feel marginally sorry for Congressman Weiner. As a teenager in middle school and high school, I’m sure he was picked on unmercifully solely because of his last name. I can certainly empathize with him because I too have a last name that is the butt of many sexual innuendos and other jokes, and I had to deal with that too. I would try to avoid people who did that and/or ignore those jokes; however, that is quite difficult to manage when you also play on the football and baseball team.
However, the Congressman, in this case, brought this on himself. That’s why I only feel “marginally” sorry for him. He’s a sitting Congressman and a recently married man, and he should’ve known better. However, some people think they either will not get caught or think they are above the rules. Congressman Weiner may be sorry he did this, but given the new details that keep emerging, he seems to have a pattern of this behavior. I tend to believe that he’s sorrier he was caught, especially since he refused to resign.
One last thing I want to say regarding the politics of this manner. Former Congressman Chris Lee resigned almost immediately when it was revealed that he had a shirtless picture of himself on Craigslist. In the wake of Weinergate, it’s clear that Democrats will refuse to resign, regardless of their actions. All you have to do is look at Charlie Rangel and Anthony Weiner for visual aids. Therefore, if you’re a Republican and you get a tip that a scandal is brewing about you, don’t resign. Instead, just change your party affiliation to Democrat until the scandal blows over, and then change back to a Republican.
Just once, I’d like to see how that plays out.
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