Representative Anthony Weiner finally came forward and admitted that his Twitter® account was not, indeed, hacked; but, rather, it was he who tweeted lewd photos. (
source). Now, his constituents are torn as to whether he should resign while he has said he will neither resign nor separate from his wife. (
source)
Not being a holier-than-thou type, I hate to be critical in any way of Rep. Weiner. I would like to say, however, that what really bothers me about his story and situation was that he tried immediately to lie his way out of trouble. He could have come clean right away and maybe gotten the respect of some, but lying about the hacking which, by the way, makes Twitter® the company look culpable and was unfair to their reputation, somehow negates my ability to feel sorry for him in any way or to find forgiveness. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that I'm getting a little sick and tired, however, of people who run for public office in the USA on platforms and soap boxes about morals and ethics and the American ideals who let power and fame and fortune go to their heads. There have just been way too many since the fall of William J. Clinton to count. More and more, I'm growing convinced that human beings can barely stay committed to a life partner, so why bother or try. Nonetheless, we can be honest to ourselves and our constituents if about nothing more than our own human frailty.
My big problem with the Rep. from NY is that his plan to escape his own poor judgement was to lie his way out of it. I like neither what he did nor his escape plan. To me it demonstrates an unsound arrogance based on the rights and privileges (aka extraordinary liberties) afforded members of Congress of which countless in the past two decades have proven unworthy. You want a key to the executive washroom, you darn well better wash you hands when you leave, in other words.
The right thing for Mr. Weiner to do is resign. His constituents deserve better, as does our nation which is affected by his votes. We deserve congressmen who don't cheat on their wives with multiple online-affairs and then lie about, don't we?