Anthony Weiner's Refusal to Resign Raises More Concerns About His Character

For ten days, America watched a sitting Congressman lie about Tweeting a lewd photograph to a co-ed in Seattle and compound that lie day after day after day. We also watched as he sat back and did nothing as those who blew the whistle on his misdeed and accurately reported on the story were attacked, both personally and professionally, by the organized Left. Motives were questioned, personal attacks were launched, and innocents were accused of various crimes–all in the name of Representative Anthony Weiner’s “innocence.”

One human being to another, it’s impossible not to feel bad for anyone forced to watch their dark side exploded across every newspaper, web site and cable news channel throughout the country. Most of all, you have to feel for his wife and family. However, there’s just no getting around the fact that Weiner chose to confess his lies only after he was left with no other choice. Monday morning he woke to find that at least two women were speaking out to the media, and that a series of increasingly explicit and embarrassing photographs had posted right here at Big Government.

What was Rep. Weiner supposed to do? The gig was up whether he liked it or not. His lies had been completely exposed, and therefore the only possible move he had left was to make a full confession, apologize to anyone and everyone, refuse to resign his office, and hope that this public act of contrition would finally put this all behind him. But because of his timing — because his lies had finally caught up to him and his back was up against a wall — I don’t necessarily buy it. In fact, based on his appalling behavior over the last 10 days, there’s no doubt in my mind that if the likes of Salon’s Joan Walsh, Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas, Media Matters, and certain members of the MSM had succeeded in their smear campaigns against Andrew Breitbart and others, Weiner would have allowed these people to be destroyed based on his own lies and likely savored every moment.

And so all this talk about taking responsibility reads to me like just another political move. How exactly is he taking responsibility? And all this talk about wanting to tell the truth and apologize to those he deceived and hurt falls utterly flat when you realize that he had no other choice but to do exactly that. Weiner’s decision to come clean today was a mercenary one, his last gasp as the truth closed in.

I believe in forgiveness and second chances and allowing people to apologize and move on. But I’m not seeing anything from Rep. Weiner that tells me he’s sorry for anything other than being caught. There’s no doubt that we saw a broken man confess his sins Monday afternoon, but suffering a public humiliation is not an act of contrition. If Anthony Weiner was truly contrite he would not only have confessed before he was caught red-handed, he would resign in order to allow his country and party to put this matter behind them. Now, however, the story marches on and if the MSM does their job, this story has only just begun. There’s not only a Congressional ethics investigation on the horizon, but a number of unanswered questions responsible members of the media will want answered.

Just for starters, was the eight-term Congressman’s confession a true one? Were all of the women in question of legal consenting age? Is it true that none of the taxpayer-funded trappings of his public office were ever used for these salacious communications? What about the lewd jokes to female reporters he made just last week? And how in the world will Democrats be able to MediScare America with this going on?

From the sound of it, Radar Online might have over 200 salacious Twitter direct messages at their disposal sent from Weiner to one of the six women, and if Radar’s history is any indicator, they’re going to do to Weiner what they did to Mel Gibson last year: drip-drip-drip the humiliation out over time in a form of Chinese PR water-torture. One of the first ones they dropped today already contradicts Weiner‘s assertion no government resources were abused in these, uhm, endeavors. Who knows what else is coming. But this charge of stalking tells us things are likely going to get much worse before events play themselves out. Democrats do not need a never-ending distraction.

Moreover, WeinerGate is not about sex, and anyone on the Left who thinks they can successfully rerun their defense of President Clinton will find they can’t go home again. This is about a sitting Congressman who compromised himself in ways we probably won’t fully comprehend until the full story is told in all its sickening detail. Over the past ten days we saw how ugly Rep. Weiner is willing to let things get for innocent parties in order to selfishly cover up his own misdeeds. This means he’s already proven that his fear of being exposed overwhelmed whatever sense of decency and right or wrong he might possess … which means he might have been a pretty good candidate for blackmail.

No, this isn’t about sex, and whether or not the Congressman ever compromised his office in order to save himself from being exposed is another question that remains unanswered. Had Weiner committed just one unselfish act during this whole ordeal — had he shown some sense of honor and resigned, maybe these questions wouldn’t seem so urgent. But someone willing to do anything to hold on to power is willing to do anything to hold on to power.