Weiner Schnitzel

OK, so I admit I was only looking for a hook, a way to get you interested enough to read on, and this was the best I could do. But at least I admit to my shortcomings at the outset, which is more than Anthony Weiner was about to do when confronted with his electronic indiscretions. And before we continue I should state emphatically that this post has absolutely nothing to do with the traditional Austrian dish made with boneless meat thinned with a mallet, then fried. Except that Anthony Weiner must have been fried when he started exhibiting his short comings while engaging in "several inappropriate" tweets with (supposedly) six women over three years.

So why does this latest episode of a politician's sexual peccadillo differ from the sexual folly of any number of other politicians from either side of the aisle? Because this seems to be a sexual scandal without sex! Currently we have California Assemblyman Michael Duvall, Nevada Senator John Ensign, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger to name the most recent of memory. But lest ye believe this is a purely American phenomenon, witness the private behavior of Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, or President of the French Republic's Nicolas Sarkozy. In an electronic age such as ours do these politicians really believe they can keep sexual improprieties out of the public eye?

 

That there are images of Weiner's bulging gray shorts is not disturbing in and of itself. That he sent one or more personal tweets to a seventeen year old high school student might show a lack of mature judgement if the tweets were suggestive. But, as of this writing, there is no verification that this was anything more than an innocent, perhaps politically informative, tweet.

Yeah, right!

So, what have we learned from politicians of the past and present who have been exposed as philanders? Delay, evade, obstruct, deny. That is what seems to bother the self-righteous members of congress at the moment. That Weiner denied and actually lied about his affairs. Does it now prevent him from performing the duties of his office with dignity. Perhaps. But did that prevent President Clinton from performing his duties with dignity when exposed for what he was. Or for what was always on his mind. And going back even further in time, what of Thomas Jefferson?

It is no longer possible to ignore personal attacks, as our third president was able to do when the claim that he fathered children with Sally Hemings, a personal slave, was made public. He never gave these allegations credence by commenting or acknowledging them. And Sally Hemings left no known accounts of any affair.

So I, for one, can find some solace in the fact that- no matter how powerful, how influential, how sage the man- sex has even more power to reduce him in age and intellect to behaving like a 13 year old boy. 

It helps to know that I am not alone!