Weiner-gate… what a sham

I just don’t get why this is a story. Other than the obvious, “you shoulda fessed up right away, Anthony!” I can’t see how this is newsworthy for more than one 24-hour news cycle.

First of all, I’ve seen the photos. You can find them online easily. The pictures are embarrassing, and clearly his sending them to women other than his wife is disappointing. But it’s only a huge moral insult to Weiner’s wife, not something the entire country should be analyzing and judging him for. And certainly not something for which he should face GOP calls to return campaign donations.**

Second, Meagan Broussard — the alleged “other woman” — has a story that’s as full of holes as the Swiss cheese I had at lunch.

Check this exchange from a New York Times article :

[Megan Broussard came to the Congressman’s attention] when she posted a single word on his Facebook page: “Hottttt.”

“He sent me a friend request the same day,” Ms. Broussard said. “I just thought, that’s weird.”

That seemed odd to Megan “Ditzy” Broussard? Really? If that’s true, I call Megan Broussard a world class idiot. She’s right up there with the Miss America pageant contestants who seem to truly believe that their so-called talent of baton twirling makes them the go-to spokesperson for ending world hunger.

Cuz that’s what I thought Facebook was… you know… for. I thought the purpose of Facebook was to make new friends and keep in touch with existing friends. I posted a comment on Dax Shepard’s Facebook page and he sent me a friend request the same day. I didn’t think it was odd for a minute. But I also didn’t reply beyond, “cool, thanks! I love your movies” because I thought (1) it’s probably Dax’s personal assistant doing the facebooking for him, and (2) it would be… you know… stalker-ish of me to send him more than a simple “thanks.”

Broussard goes on to claim that it was Congressman Weiner who took the conversation towards a sexual nature. He’s got a history of this sort of thing so it’s probably true. But didn’t it occur to anyone to analyze the staggering level of inappropriate-ness of Megan Broussard’s posting “hot” on the Facebook page of a U.S. Congressperson??  Did she mistake Facebook for Perez Hilton or Entertainment Tonight?

I’m Facebook and Twitter friends with LOTS of public/political figures and I wouldn’t dream of posting anything other than policy comments, kudos or questions on their pages. The only people who come to mind where it would be OK to post “Hot!” on their social media pages are people like Bradley Cooper and Angelina Jolie, who’s job description is “be sexy”. In that case, posting “hot” on their page is basically an “Atta boy!” and nothing more than a kudo for a job well done.

Posting “hot” on the Facebook page of a U.S. Congressperson is just disrespectful. Which loops us nicely back around to the entire point of Weiner-gate: this is a case of two silly people doing things online they shouldn’t have, which were disrespectful to each other, and others in their lives.

Barring future evidence of an actual… you know… crime…..  Weiner’s pictures aren’t grounds for him to return campaign funds, resign his Congressional office, or anything else of that nature. The only thing Weiner needs to do is beg his beautiful, powerful wife not to kick his silly ass (and well sculpted abs) out of her house.

But apparently that’s not how the Shame Game is played in Washington, or on Fox News, who I hear quickly booked Megan Broussard on the Hannity show.

** On the other hand, maybe this is the economic stimulus program we’ve all been waiting for! We should make a list of every politician currently in office who’s been outed for sexual or financial mis-deeds and force them all to return campaign donations they received. Probably a good one-third of Americans would get a check in the mail and we could all go out and spend that money to boost the economy!