The “Weinergate” scandal finally came to a close yesterday as high profile New York Democrat Anthony D. Weiner resigned from Congress. It came to light that he’d sent a young woman pictures of himself wearing tight pants on the internet, as well as admitting to the sending of lewd messages to six other women. A full-blown penis shot emerged later too.
As far as high profile prurience goes, which in international news circles is quite some distance, this is a particularly amusing story. There’re none of the harrowing marriage ending affairs or secret children of the Schwarzenegger case and none of the creepiness of the Strauss-Khan scandal. In fact, there wasn’t even any real attempt at shagging at all.
What’s amazing is the chain of thought Weiner must have gone through in order to take these pictures of himself, and publish them without thinking he’d be found out. Did he put the camera on a timer, pull down his trousers, and waddle back in front of the lens? Or did he just hold the camera at arms length and point it at his groin?
Having taken these photographs, this 46-year-old married man and mayoral candidate, obviously decided that they were pretty damn good, because he would then have had to upload them from his camera, evaluate them on the screen and save them onto his computer, before sending them to a girl he’d never met, trusting her not to tell anybody.
Incredibly, none other than notorious White House philanderer Bill Clinton stepped in to hastily condemn Weiner, claiming that he is “livid“, and extracting an apology from the shamed Weiner.
In a further twist to the tale, Weiner happens to be friends with Ben Affleck, having met him while the actor was researching his role for the film State of Play in 2009. Affleck plays a young congressman who gets involved in a sex-scandal that eventually destroys his political career.
Update: For those unaware of the phenomenon of “sexting” – essentially sending pictures of your junk over the internet – this helpful video explains the dangers and offers a warning. A warning that Weiner ignored.
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