Anthony Weiner Enters 2013 New York Mayoral Race (VIDEO)

[BVictor1]

Source: Huffington Post

Anthony Weiner Enters 2013 New York Mayoral Race (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | By Braden Goyette
Posted: 05/22/2013 12:53 am EDT | Updated: 05/22/2013 12:57 am EDT

Anthony Weiner officially kicked off his New York mayoral campaign late Tuesday with a video announcement posted to YouTube.

The former New York congressman resigned in 2011 after posting a lewd photo of himself on Twitter. Weiner-- who is married to former top aide to Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, with whom he now has a son-- lied and said his account had been hacked. He later admitted to sending inappropriate online messages to six women.

Since his resignation, Weiner had remained largely out of the spotlight until last month, when in a New York Times Magazine profile, he didn't rule out the possibility of running again for mayor of New York City. He launched a campaign in 2009, but later dropped out.

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Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/anthony-weiner-2013-mayoral-race_n_3316704.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

[hrmjustin]

1. I think in the end i will likely vote for him if he is on the ballot.

[DesertFlower]

2. i would too if i were in new york.

[Nye Bevan]

3. I've always said, if the voters of NYC don't mind having a mayor who tweeted his cock

to a college girl, that is their prerogative.

[sabrina 1]

5. The voters in NY knew what was going on and had the party leadership not forced him out,

his constituents who are mature enough not to worry about a politicians personal life, in his case cyber sex, and understand that Breitbart and his gang of right wing thugs were after Weiner for going after Clarence Thomas (who breathed a sigh of relief when he was forced out of office) they would have re-elected him in a heartbeat.

If he had done something illegal, then you would have a point. He did not, and since when did the Left become such prudes? I thought that was for the hypocritical 'family values' party?

Good for him, most of the NYers I know will be happy to see him back in politics.

[BlueCaliDem]

7. ^^^This!^^^

Although I'm a Californian, I'm very happy to see Weiner has decided to run for Mayor of New York.

I had always believed that Weiner should have never left Congress, espeically because of BrainFart. I was furious with the Democratic leadership for bowing to the Rightwing and forced him to leave. Furious.

I'm happy to see that he's decided to run for Mayor and I hope New Yorkers will show their strong independent streak, and cast their support behind and their votes for him.

[Bigredhunk]

9. +1

Totally agree with Sabrina & BlueCaliDem.

What he did was stupid. Someone in that position thinking that they can do things like that without getting in trouble - SMH. But what did he do? Sending pics of himself in his underwear to of-age women is a big deal? Again, stupid given that he was an elected official. But really not a big deal.

[Plucketeer]

37. You said it!

Given how TERRIBLY I miss this guy calling out the GOP (AND DEM) hypocrises, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. Sure he's "cocky" (pun intentional), but that boldness is what makes Anthony a real gem of a public servant. This West Coast resident is gonna send a few bucks to his campaign. We desperately need some straight talkers leading the way. Hell, if his wife can forgive him, who the hell are we to be critical???

[pacalo]

10. I'm right there with you, sabrina. I'd LOVE to be able to vote for him.

[merrily]

38. The voters of New York never had a chance to rule on whether Weiner should have kept his seat.

They tried as hard as they could to force Rangel out, keeping him under investigation for over two cycles. Even Obama spoke out, saying he should resign. Both times, voters sent him back.

Voter's in Weiner's district never got that chance. The drum beat for his resignation was more incessant than the drum beat for the invasion of Iraq.

This is going to be a harder thing that getting re-elected to Congress would have been. If I lived in Weiner's district, though, I'd vote for him for Mayor ten times, if I could, given that they took away my right to decide about Weiner's keeping his seat.

I am not saying what he did was right or wrong. I'm saying only (a) Democrats seemed to have a much different standard when it was Clinton, who actually broke the law; and (b) it was up to Weiner's district, not the DNC.

[sabrina 1]

41. I agree. Polls at the time showed he would have been reelected regardless of all the

publicity. Maybe that is why he was forced out before they got the chance to elect him. And as predicted, we got another Repub in his place airc.

I was thrilled when Rangel won and will do all I can to help Weiner also.

If only our party leadership held Republicans, war and Wall St criminals eg, to the same standards they hold actual progressives to.

[merrily]

31. If they didn't mind Ghooliani....

[sabrina 1]

4. Good for him. I hope he wins. I will be happy to help him do so. n/t

[Rowdyboy]

6. Still would support Christine Quinn if I was a New Yawker....Weiner should have run for comptroller.

But we'll see what happens. Either way, its a step up from Bloomberg.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

8. May he fail miserably

I still haven't forgiven him for his merciless piling on of Helen Thomas, for starters.

But the big deal is that he lied to everyone on the progressive side, knowing full well he sent those pics, but still had no problem with people staking their reputations on defending him.

He knew what we were up against in the form of the teabaggers, the Kochs and this unhinged GOP, yet he still chose to put his own horniness above everything else and couldn't have given a shit if he damaged the left.

He's a self-absorbed prick and his ego could receive no better punishment than irrelevancy.

[Little Star]

19. Yep. Plus, he's a deceiver & a liar with poor judgment. n/t

[sabrina 1]

33. He lied about cyber sex, and it was no one's business. Since we move on from War Crimes

and Wall St crimes, I can overlook someone lying about something that is not illegal and that is no one's business and it sure didn't kill anyone, or torture anyone or illegally invade anyone's country, or do what Breitbart did to him, stalk any legislators with a gang of thugs etc etc.

We on the left are not the family values party, hypocritically denying someone the right to run for office because we snoop into their personal sex lives.

If your standard is lying and poor judgement, I would suggest that you apply those standards to their POLITICAL careers. Weiner had excellent political judgement and never lied about the issues the people elected him to represent them on. He was one of the best progressive reps in Congress and I don't care about his personal life, I care about his political record.

He was forced out of office against the will of the people who elected him because he had the guts to go after Clarence Thomas. That was the ONLY reason, and it worked. Thomas was protected and the people lost once again.

[KittyWampus]

87. He is a narcissist. It's all about him. Weiner did jackshit in Congress.

All he did is run his mouth.

But for some on DU, that's all that's necessary.

[graham4anything]

11. I hope he flanks for future Mayor Quinn, then takes a position in President Clinton's cabinet in17

this will keep the oxygen out of the Mayor's race for any of the others and as I want Quinn, that to me is a good thing.

and if he wins, it would not upset me.

[tblue]

12. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.

Really didn't like how he was treated and disowned by his own party. I don't care about his personal life and I won't comment on it here. He was a Democrat with a backbone and those are few and far between. If only I lived in NY, I sure would campaign and vote for him.

[Skittles]

15. it's not about his personal life

it is the poor decisions he makes

[merrily]

32. If every politician who made poor decisions in public or private life were drummed out of office,

we might have the much-needed privilege of starting over from scratch.

I assume that you would have liked to have seen Clinton drummed out of office for his poor personal decisions and his very public perjury about them?

[Auntie Bush]

82. If Mark Sanford can get reelected after lying, skipping town from his responsibilities and having

a sexual affair while married...then so can Weiner! I'd vote for him!

[sabrina 1]

36. He made excellent political decisions. We move on from War Criminals and Wall St. Criminals

and we have lots of people on the Left now willing to do that. So I can ignore someone lying about Cyber Sex especially since at least it is not illegal. He did nothing legally wrong and he and his wife appear to have handled their own, personal affairs which are none of our business, unless we are now the hypocritical party of family values.

When he lies about war and torture and Wall St crimes, then I will consider his judgement to be poor. But on the contrary, for the most part his political judgement was excellent for the most part, nor do I recall him ever lying about important political matters. He went after Clarence Thomas, that is the ONLY reason he was driven out of office. To protect Thomas.

[Skittles]

74. we need to find people who can do all that

AND refrain from sending pictures of their junk over the internet

[DeadLetterOffice]

13. Oh hell to the no

I am a New Yorker, though thankfully not a New York City one.
I would not vote for him for much of anything, ever.
I am not a prude, I don't care about his sex life, such as it is.
However, I DO care that he is stupid enough to do something that totally idiotic, arrogant enough to think it wouldn't get airplay, and selfish enough to lie about it while letting others defend him.
If a repub had done something that boneheaded we'd be all over him. Democrats shouldn't be held to a different standard.

[sabrina 1]

42. I haven't seen Dems do or say anything much about Republicans who do way worse than

engage in cyber sex. Have they been 'all over Sanford' yet? Or War Criminals, like Cheney, Rummy, Condy, Gonzales et al? Or how about Jamie Dimon and his gang of Wall St. criminals?

Unless you think a little cyber sex is way worse than lying about war and destroying the economies of countries around the world, through corruption and lies, if we can overlook real crimes committed by elected officials and 'move on' from them, I can overlook a little legal cyber sex especially when someone has been on the right side of most of the issues.

Cyber sex V Wall St crimes. That's an easy one for me. I'll be working hard to help him get elected. And let me know when Dems are all over any Republican these days. All I hear is 'we can't prosecute criminals as it would be bad for the country' mainly from top Dem Leadership.

[DeadLetterOffice]

75. Oh THAT'S a ringing endorsement...

"Cyber sex V Wall St crimes" -- really? Hardly the only options, don't you think?

That there is what's known in logic circles as the fallacy of the false dilemma. And it seems to plague an awful lot of political discussion. Which is quite sad, really.

[sabrina 1]

89. No, not a false dilemma at all. I consider it a real dilemma that we have actual dangerous criminals

who have affected the lives of millions of people but our leaders tell us to just forget about driving them out of politics, or off Wall St even, let alone prosecute them.

So put it this way, there is no dilemma for me in deciding that if criminals are not only tolerated in our government, but are honored and respected, if that is how our system works, the false dilemma is pretending that someone engaging in cyber sex, which is no one''s business and was known only because of a known Right Wing deceiver, is some kind of crime big enough to be removed from politics. It simply isn't, not by OUR standards in this country. THAT was the 'false dilemma created and apparently bought into by a few on our side.

Thankfully most people weren't impressed with the choice made by the leadership of our own party. They ignore war crimes and Wall St crimes, but go after someone who was in the process of stopping Clarence Thomas's deceptions on the SC. Now why would Dems want to protect that particular individual?

[LittleGirl]

57. +1 eom

[Skittles]

14. inspired by Sanford

yup

[onehandle]

17. One disappeared from his Governorship, cheated on his wife, stole from taxpayers...

One got caught dabbling in Internet male fantasy.

The voters in that SC district clearly prefer a criminally negligent asshole.

What will be the call of NYC voters?

[Little Star]

20. Both got caught lying out their asses also.

[sabrina 1]

43. Well, lying politicians seems acceptable these days. So we have to decide about the degree

and/or harm to the country of these lies. I don't recall anyone dying as a result of Weiner playing cyber sex games on the internet. I do know that we have been lied to about way more important issues, that we are also being asked to ignore war crimes and liars and just 'move on'. On a scale of one to ten, cyber sex in politics doesn't even make the scale for me. But protecting war criminals from prosecution, that is about a 20 on my scale. But then, maybe I'm not looking at things in the 'right' way.

I'll be helping him and am thrilled he has decided to run. If liar and cheater Giuliani could be mayor of NY, Weiner looks like a saint by comparison. I doubt a little cyber sex will bother NYers too much if they look at his political record.

[annabanana]

16. I like it. Heaven knows. . . .

[Bucky]

18. He's pressing forward. I'm impressed by him. His ambition can't be contained.

Sometimes in life you just gotta grab the bull by the horns and plow on a head. From all I've seen of the man, I think he's really ready for the big push and eager for a happy ending. Are things looking up? You bet! Things are primed for an explosive conclusion!

[jwirr]

21. One of the big mistakes we make as Democrats is resign when we are wrong. I would have liked to see

him stay and ride out the storm. I am also glad to see him getting back in the race. As mayor of NYC he will be heard.

[NBachers]

22. Maybe Eliot Spitzer can be rehabilitated, too.

[flamingdem]

35. Eliot is a prince compared to Weiner

He was going after the banksters, and he was effective

[sabrina 1]

44. Weiner was going after Clarence Thomas and his wife. THAT is the only reason he was

stalked and pursued by the Breitbart gang. To protect Thomas. He was making progress also which made it even more important to stop him.

It worked, we were finally getting somwhere because at least one Democrat had the guts to go after a compromised SC Justice. Then both parties went after Weiner, and Thomas has been safe ever since.

[flamingdem]

45. Aha I didn't know that

somehow this was never mentioned in the coverage - at least what I heard on cable.

[sabrina 1]

51. Yes, and he was making a lot of progress. That is why Thomas' friends, Breitbart et al

had been stalking Weiner on the internet for months just waiting for an opportunity to get him. He was demanding that Thomas be asked to come clean, or at least his wife, about their conflicts of interest re SC decisions from which, Weiner insisted, correctly, (Citizens United especially) Thomas should have recused himself. Had he been an honest man, considering his ties, and his wife's, to Citizens United, and done what SC Justices are expected to do and recused himself, we would not have that 'Corps are people' ruling.

Weiner was a bulldog on this issue. He was also co-sponsoring a law that SC Justices had to reveal conflicts such as Thomas' in the future, since surprisingly there is no such law, apparently we just trust them to do the right thing.

His fight on this was gaining traction and that was when the Breitbart crowd stepped up their stalking and harassment of him. Sadly our own party sided with them in the end. He never should have resigned imo. He did nothing illegal. But with pressure from Dem leadership, he had no choice in the end, and Thomas was off the hook and that law never went anywhere.

[flamingdem]

58. Wow, might be worth posting about this here

if you think others are unaware. This changes my opinion of him. We need bulldogs!

[sabrina 1]

62. I remember at the time this was all happening I did write some OPs as did others, about

his pursuit of Thomas. Try searching google for Weiner/Thomas as many others had been writing about it before this all happened. I don't think I can access them on DU3. If I can I will post some links as there was a lot of discussion and information on his fight against Thomas back then.

I doubt he will continue that fight now having been silenced so completely. But he sure tried and was getting a lot of publicity in the press and online for his efforts before this all happened. I was upset with him for doing anything that would give Breitbart and his right wing friends any fodder at all. He made a mistake and they jumped all over it. I hope he has learned that when you go after the big criminals you have to 'watch your back' every second as they WILL go after you.

[AngryAmish]

23. What a weirdo

And all you folks who would vote for him, if he lied to your face once, would you trust him not to lie about something that was actually important?

[bitchkitty]

24. If he lied about something

that was none of my business to begin with, then there is no crime, as far as I am concerned.

I hate genital politics. I hated seeing Democrats clutching their pearls and squealing over that tweet. Who gives a shit? The guy has a penis, he sent a picture of a bulge in a pair of briefs to another adult. Who gives a flying fuck?

I wish I lived in NYC, I'd vote for him in a New York second!

[former9thward]

25. Maybe you don't know how the internet works.

First there was no knowledge that he was sending to another "adult". Second when you send something out on the internet anyone can see it, especially on Twitter. Not restricted to adults or anyone. Would you find it acceptable for your kid's teacher to send them pics of his cock?

[Renew Deal]

29. It was his wife's business and he lied to her.

So why wouldn't he lie to you?

[sabrina 1]

46. If he lied about important issues, if he protected war criminals from prosecution, or Wall St.

criminals, I would be more than a little upset. But lying about Cyber Sex? I'm not a fundy, family values hypocrite. I care about issues that affect the country. And so does he.

I know he didn't lie about issues, he fought hard and with great courage for issues that are important to progressive democrats and he had the guts to demand that Clarence Thomas be asked to recuse himself from SC decisions where he had a conflict of interest. THAT is why they went after him, not because he lied, not even about real sex, but about cyber sex.

I guess for some it's okay to be a War Criminal so long as you don't engage in any sexual activities. That is why we are where we are. The priorities people appear to have.

[Pterodactyl]

86. Exactly right. He's a proven liar.

There are plenty of qualified people who don't lie. He is replaceable.

[geek tragedy]

26. Compulsive liar, anti-Arab bigot, race-baiter,

and pathological narcissist.

No thanks.

[Renew Deal]

28. Isn't his wife muslim?

I know that there is a difference between Arab and Muslim, but those two are pretty difficult to seperate, especially considering she once lived in Saudi Arabia.

[geek tragedy]

30. The anti-Arab bigotry and race-baiting are part of his political

value system--no idea on what he truly values, other than women praising his junk.

While in Congress, he was a member of the radical, rightwing, racist Zionist Organization of America.

[sabrina 1]

47. Now I know I will be supporting him as I always have. He is married to a Muslim woman and

has no history of prejudice against any ethnic group. Do you support politicians who protect war criminals btw? THAT would be a good reason not to support a politician imo. But cyber sex? Lol, we are Democrats, we don't think people will go to hell for thinking about sex. That's the other party.

[geek tragedy]

52. Are you familiar with ZOA?

While in Congress, he was a card-carrying member of that anti-Arab hate group.

http://zoa.org/wp-content/uploads/media/user/images/ZOAReportF09.pdf

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) gave his customary greeting that he hails from “the ZOA wing of the
Democratic Party.” He strongly rebutted the notion
that the U.S. should be funding the Palestinians:
“Until they demonstrate that they are not supporting
terror, they should not be getting one dime of
U.S. taxpayers’ money.”

http://zoa.org/2007/11/10630-jta-dinner-with-zoa-two-morts-a-weiner-bibi-sr-a-berkley-hawk/

Under the leadership of its president, Mort Klein, the ZOA has been the most consistent and, often, the most effective American opponent of Israeli territorial concessions and U.S. support for the Palestinian Authority.



The ZOA’s base is a mixture of secular and Orthodox right-wing Zionists, who can come together on at least one point: their belief that Arabs are murderous Jew-haters who will be motivated, not mollified, by Israeli and American appeasement. There were loud cheers when Klein insisted that peace could only be achieved after the Arab side was dealt a decisive military defeat and when he said that Jerusalem was more important than peace — that no deal would be acceptable, even if it were to bring peace.

...


another Jewish Democratic congressman with strong ties to ZOA, Brooklyn’s Anthony Weiner, continued his annual tradition of showing up for the dinner and giving an impromptu speech. And, of course, he broke out his usual line, saying that he and Berkley “come from the ZOA wing of the Democratic Party.”



Weiner took what everyone I talked to understood to be a swipe at AIPAC:

That's right--Weiner considers AIPAC to be insufficiently anti-Arab.






He got his start in politics by engaging in anti-black racism.

http://www.salon.com/2011/06/07/anthony_weiner_1991/

It was at this point that Weiner’s campaign decided to blanket the district with leaflets attacking his opponents. But these were no ordinary campaign attacks: They played the race card, and at a very sensitive time. They were also anonymous.

Just weeks earlier, the Crown Heights riot — a deadly, days-long affair that brought to the surface long-standing tension between the area’s black and Jewish populations — had played out a few miles away from the 48th District. The episode had gripped all of New York and had been national news. It was just days after order had been restored that Weiner’s campaign distributed its anonymous leaflets, which linked Cohen — whose voters he was targeting in particular — to Jesse Jackson and David Dinkins, who was then New York’s mayor. It is hard to imagine two more-hated political figures in the 48th District at that moment. Jackson just a few years earlier had called New York “Hymie town,” and it was an article of faith among white voters in Weiner’s part of Brooklyn that Dinkins had protected the black rioters in Crown Heights — and thus endangered the white population — by refusing to order a harsh police crackdown. (Two years later, Dinkins would lose to Rudy Giuliani by an 80-20 percent margin in the 48th District.) The leaflets urged voters to “just say no” to the “Jackson-Dinkins agenda” that Cohen supposedly represented. At City Hall, Dinkins held up the flier and branded it “hateful.”

Fuck Anthony Weiner.

[sabrina 1]

53. Yes, I am familiar with his position on the I/P situation and that was the one issue on which I

disagreed with him.

But his record on all other progressive issues was impeccable. Being on the side of Israel in the Dem Party?? Name one who isn't, name one Dem, other than Cynthia McKinney who dares to criticize AIPAC and you might have a point. Obama? Ever heard him slam AIPAC? Last I heard every Dem politician is a supporter of Israel and if they are not, like McKinney, they will not last in the Dem Party.

Got anything else? And, for the record, I never agreed with his or any other Dem's stand on that issue. Including some of my favorite Dems, such as Grayson eg. How about Hillary? Bill Clinton? Ever heard them criticize AIPAC?

Some day maybe we will stay out of the business of Israel and the Palestinians, but right now, I cannot think of any Dem, Kucinich maybe who is also no longer in Congress, who would dare to criticize AIPAC.

[geek tragedy]

54. Weiner did criticize AIPAC.

He criticized it for not hating Arabs enough.

Anything to say about how he launched his career--with anti-black racism?

To me, racism is an automatic disqualifier. YMMV.

[sabrina 1]

56. Please publish that quote 'for not hating Arabs enough'. You ignored my

factual points and questions. Name any prominent Dem who has publicly criticized AIPAC including Obama, Clinton, Biden or anyone else. Name one Dem who has taken a public stand on the side of the Palestinians.

I'll wait for your Weiner quote and for a list of Dems who have openly criticized AIPAC, have not 'condemned' Palestinian 'terrorists' or voted against aid to Israel for their treatment of the Palestinian. It shouldn't be hard, you were quick to point at Weiner so you must follow this issue pretty closely.

[geek tragedy]

59. Weiner is to the far right of AIPAC on Israel/Palestine. He hates Palestinians.

Weiner took what everyone I talked to understood to be a swipe at AIPAC:

There is no organization in Washington, no organization at the grassroots that is more in keeping with making sure that Israel stays strong and our relationship stays solid than ZOA. Without fear of contradiction I’ll say this: more so than even that better known organization that does some very very important work.



ZOA is the organization, Weiner said, who can be counted on to take positions “without the fear of who’s going to say what and is it really the right political thing to say.” He added:



With Shelley Berkley and I standing up now as we are to make sure that we don’t make this ridiculous deal where we’re selling high-tech armaments to Saudi Arabia, some organizations are trying to figure out the right thing to do — ZOA knew instantly what the right thing to do [APPPLAUSE]. When we took the floor and said that this was folly providing more and more money for the Palestinians, not a single dime, not a single shekel should go. While other organizations hemmed and hawed, and looked to the editorial page, ZOA said we agree, there shouldn’t be any more funding [APPALUSE]. When Shelley and I said, sure maybe we should be providing some aid to Egypt, but should we provide it with high-tech military hardware, year after year after year after year? Some organizations prevaricated, ZOA said absolutely we should not and stood with Shelley and me [APPLAUSE].

Weiner’s comments come at a time when AIPAC is already facing heat from one of its top donors, casino mogul and GOP supporter Sheldon Adelson, for supporting a congressional letter urging more financial support to boost Abbas.

Just so you understand how it worked: Weiner lined up with SHELLY fucking ADELSON to squeeze AIPAC into supporting a cut off of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

When we took the floor and said that this was folly providing more and more money for the Palestinians, not a single dime, not a single shekel should go. While other organizations hemmed and hawed, and looked to the editorial page, ZOA said we agree, there shouldn’t be any more funding [APPALUSE]

Weiner was worse than Obama, worse than either Clinton, worse than either Bush, worse than Olmert, worse than Ehud Barak, worse than Bibi Netanyahu.

He's somewhere between Avigdor Lieberman and Baruch Goldstein.

[sabrina 1]

63. Still no quote that he 'hates all Arabs'. The I/P situation is a political situation in which the US

has never been an honest broker. He is no different from any other Dem sadly, on that issue.

I'm still waiting to hear how taking a Dem position, wrong though it may be, on a highly charged political issue which will get you thrown out of the party if you dare to speak out about it, translates into 'hating all Arabs'.

He is married to a Muslim woman which has often made him the target of the Far Right. Have YOU seen some of the nasty attacks on his wife, 'terrorist' and on him because of his marriage to his wife?

Again, I totally disagree with his and the Dem Party's position on the I/P situation. I have asked you to give me some names of other Dems, other than Kucinich who is no longer in Congress, who have dared to oppose AIPAC. So far, none. Obama and he Clintons and all of our top leadership, Pelosi et al ALL fully support Israel in this conflict to my knowledge.

Where he differed from the leadership was on issues of importance to progressives. Such as a SC Justice, in this case Thomas, refusing to recuse himself from the Citizens United vote because of huge conflicts of interest. On Gay Rights, Minority Rights, and a host of other progressive issues. He was often a lone and very strong voice on those issues while the leadership remained silent or told us we 'can not do this right now' etc etc.

[geek tragedy]

65. "He is no different from any other Dem sadly, on that issue. "

That is simply false. He is WORSE than virtually any other Democrat.

What you're not getting is that he thinks AIPAC is too squishy in its policy advocacy.

He wanted the US to STOP ALL HUMANITARIAN FUNDING FOR THE PALESTINIANS.

Don't believe me? Believe Juan Cole:

http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/top-things-anthony-weiner-has-said-that-are-worse-than-sexting.html

Weiner:

1. Called for Columbia University professor Joseph Massad to be fired for being critical of Israel; Weiner thus spearheaded a new McCarthyism.

2. On the Israeli attack, in international waters, on the Mavi Marmara relief ship, Weiner sputtered: “”If you want to instigate a conflict with the Israeli navy it isn’t hard to do. They were offered alternatives. Instead they chose to sail into the teeth of an internationally recognized blockade.” The blockade of Gaza civilians is a breach of international law; it is not internationally recognized and has on the contrary been condemned by almost every nation and human rights organization.

3. Alleged that the New York Times is anti-Israel: “Amnesty International in particular, has always had bias against Israel, and frankly I would argue that in many cases, the New York Times has, as well.”

4. Alleged that the Palestine Liberation Organization is still listed by the US as a terrorist organization. It was dropped from the list over 2 decades ago.

5. Tried to bar the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations from New York.

6. Alleged that Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine Authority, is not the head of the PLO. He is.

7. Refused to condemn the use by Israel of cluster bombs on the civilian farms of south Lebanon in 2006.

8. Alleged that the Israeli army does not occupy the West Bank and that there is no Israeli Army presence in the West Bank.


9. Called Israel’s war on Gaza a “humane” war. 400 children were killed.

10. Voted for Iraq War authorization in 2002, before later turning against the war.

ZOA--of which Weiner was a card-carrying member, is much worse than AIPAC.

[sabrina 1]

66. Still no 'he hates all Arabs' quotes. I guess you won't be voting for any Democrats in the next

election then? Because I see you still have not provided the name of one other Dem who opposes AIPAC or Israel in that conflict? That is going to narrow your choices considerably.

There is no 'worse than' on the issue of the I/P situation. The Dem Party's stand on that issue is horrendous. Dems all viewed Israel's war on Gaza as necessary to 'defend themselves' against those terrible Palestinians.

Degrees of how they publicly express their support for that human rights violation are not relevant, not one of them condemned it, did they?

So, who will you vote for since this issues is a Dem issue and you cannot provide one Dem name that has had the courage to stand up against it, other then a few who lost their seats, as they will if they do.

[geek tragedy]

67. Weiner has called out Obama for being insufficiently 'pro-Israel'

He called out Bush for providing aid to the Palestinians.

That makes him worse than just about every other Democrat in Congress.

Quite frankly, he's worse on Israel than just about any Neocon, from Elliot Abrams to Richard Perle to Dick Cheney--one can think of.

Weiner wants to cut off all humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people. He wants them to starve and die of disease.

I call that hate.

[karynnj]

69. Supporter of Israel - yes; aligned completely with AIPAC - no

As to names - here are two of the biggest, who at an AIPAC convention in 2005 or 2006 spoke of things like the need to stop Jewish settlements in the West Bank - Kerry and Biden. BOTH were considered to have challenged AIPAC positions - at that AIPAC meeting.

(You may want to review some right wing AIPAC aligned sites - they are not fans of Obama, Biden or Kerry.

J Street - which challenges AIPAC has been VERY active recently promoting support for the two state solution and SoS Kerry's work. More Jews (by far) have agreed with the J Street position than the AIPAC one.

[Renew Deal]

27. I was pretty disappointed with him

And I'm not convinced that he really was sorry for what he did. When the news came out, he lied, and lied, and lied some more. The lying was after he was caught sending pictures to college girls while his wife was pregnant. I used to think he was a great representative, but I get the feeling that he's another opportunistic jerk.

[flamingdem]

34. When I read VIDEO in your title I thought:

video of his weiner?

[BlueStater]

39. I never gave a rat's ass about his peronal life to begin with and I don't get why so many here do.

It only affected him and a few other people and had absolutely nothing to do with his job. The rest of us had no fucking right to know in the first place.

Mark Sanford can return to Congress. David Vitter can remain a senator. Weiner and Spitzer, on the other hand, have to resign their jobs and have their political careers ended, no questions asked. I'm sick of this disgusting double standard and if Weiner is the one to put an end to it then I say he should go for it.

[sabrina 1]

48. If it wasn't for Breitbart and his band of Right Wing defenders of Clarence Thomas, we would

never have known. They were after him because HE was after Thomas. I am very happy he is returning to politics, he never should have left.

[DCBob]

68. Well, I am actually thankful we found out what a scumbag he really is.

It would have been worse if he won then found out.

[Renew Deal]

71. That's the old John Edwards argument

And I think it's legitimate. Edwards staff was going to kill his campaign if it got too far.

[Renew Deal]

70. Actually, if he didn't tweet his junk instead of direct messaging it we wouldn't have known

And if he didn't tweet it to a college girl while his wife was pregnant we wouldn't have known.

[sabrina 1]

76. Actually he didn't tweet his junk deliberately to a college girl, but if you were listening to

Breitbart I guess you would think that. And no, if Breitbart, Clarence Thomas' stooge had not been paid big money to shut him down, to save Thomas, we would not have known what he was tweeting to anyone. Because no one would have been stalking a US Congressman.

How did you feel about Clinton btw? Personally I didn't care about that either, his junk to do with what he pleased, so long as it didn't affect the country. Same story there, he had political enemies just waiting to pounce and they did. In the end, as with Weiner, the public decided that people's personal sex lives are their own business and he left office more popular than ever.

You go right ahead and worry about cyber sex if that is a priority for you, that is your right. I am more concerned about having real progressives in office and I don't really care or want to know what people do in their personal sex lives.

[Renew Deal]

81. You're right. It wasn't deliberately tweeted.

He meant to send it as a direct message. He accidentally tweeted it. He sent it to a "21 year old college student" according to the CNN video below. And there is no dispute that his wife was pregnant at the time.

You believe it is about sex. It's actually about honesty. Many of us posting in this thread were political "friends." He went on TV more than once and lied his ass off hoping that it would go away. We took his word for it and said it was a "smear" and a lie. Turns out he was the smear merchant and he was the lier.

You are welcome to support anyone you want in an election. Your vote sometimes says something about you. In this case it says that you're willing to vote for someone sending pictures of his junk to young women while his pregnant wife was working and someone that lied repeatedly to cover it up. If he's willing to his wife, he's willing to lie to you.

[PlanetBev]

40. Jeebus, what drives these guys?

You'd think what he went through would have convinced him to steer clear of public life and take a low profile.

[Safetykitten]

50. The political perk life is so exclusive, it's like making a wealthy person poor. It's awful to be..

not important anymore. It's a life they crave and desperately want back.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

49. If his wife forgave him

that's good enough for me. I always felt, as with Eliot Spitzer, it was more about shutting down their passionate political stances than any sexual piccadilos (sp?). They are both guilty of huge egos, but were on the right side of issues. Fearless.

[clarice]

55. I just hope that

He doesn't run out of money and peter out.

[marshall]

60. Bravo! He's exactly what New York needs

Hopefully he can put an end to the senseless bureacracy that is eating away at the city.

[madville]

61. Newsom was able to get past his sex scandal

and make a comeback in CA, Weiner could be able to do it in NY. Clinton got past his. People don't rank lying about one's sex life all that high these days.

[DCBob]

64. This guy needs to find another career.

suggestions: used car salesman, male stripper, or perhaps a hot dog vendor.

[adieu]

72. I'd vote for him

He's strong enough to flex muscles and not be beholden to any political machine.

[Golden Raisin]

73. He exhibited an

entitled fratboy’s sensibilities, betrayed his own supposed high intelligence, literally couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, and then LIED publicly and repeatedly about it. The perfect storm for a USA politician. I don’t care about his personal/private/sex life but his stupidity, arrogance, immaturity and lying add up to someone totally untrustworthy. Nor do I think he’s “seen the light” and grown up. He seems driven by ambition and arrogance. I wouldn’t vote for him for dog-catcher. I’m sure there’s a nice, comfy corporate berth somewhere for him. We already have enough lying politicians.

[sabrina 1]

77. Um, his dick never left his office. Photos are not the same thing as eg, actually using it. Cyber

sex is legal last I heard, and we are Dems who don't hypocritically condemn people for engaging in sex inside or outside their marriages. It simply is none of our business. Like Clinton, it was not our business as the public eventually decided.

I am far more concerned with what kind of record on progressive issues a politician has, and Weiner's for the most part, was one of the best. That's all he promised the voters and he kept those promises. His personal sex life is his and his wife's business, and she seems to not share your 'concerns'.

[midnight]

79. I agree... Progressive issues are more important now than ever.... We have Democrats voting

to cut food stamps....

[bigdarryl]

78. If that FUCKER from NC an inter back onto politics. I don't see a problem

[SummerSnow]

80. Republicans would love him if he was a Republican..Switch your party..the Re thugs will vote for you

then while in office switch back to Democrat.

[Arctic Dave]

83. I wish i could vote for him.

Since I can't, I will donate to his campaign.

[RBInMaine]

84. Vitter the prostitute john got to stay. Sanford in SC just got back in. Weiner never consumated

though he did lie. Bill Clinton is now beloved by Dems who can't get enough of him. I think if this guy has repented and gotten counseling, he has earned a second chance too.

[bklyncowgirl]

85. His campaign slogan: Vote Weiner! Let it all hang out!

Seriously, between this clown, Vitter and Sanford, I miss the days when disgraced politicians stayed disgraced.

[NYC Liberal]

88. No thanks.