The "Go to Hell" Defense

by J.S. Holland

I'm still stunned that there's been such a hue and cry over Rep. Anthony Weiner's "twittergate" incident, and now I'm flat out astonished that Mr. Weiner caved in so quickly and gave in to the Klingon Politics that whipped the hysterical villagers into calling for his resignation.

Weiner had a perfect opportunity to force a national dialogue about sexual freedom of expression onto a nation unwilling to confront it. And he totally blew it. He should have aggressively gone pit-bull on the TV talk shows, and asked his detractors, "Hey sicko, why are you obsessing over my penis, anyway?". Instead of being cowed down by the media hate machine calling him a pervert, he should turned the tables and even more loudly started calling his attackers the real perverts - which they most assuredly are. He should have stonewalled the whole investigation at every turn, dragged it out as long as possible (think Blagojevich's style) and made his enemies exhaust themselves with their absurd smear campaign.

Unfortunately, Weiner's enemies seem to include half the damn Kool-Aid drinkin' country, including his Benedict Arnold colleagues who have now outed themselves as fake Democrats and fake liberals. A real liberal would have fought to defend Rep. Weiner's right to be as foolish and undignified a rake as he likes, as long as he breaks no laws. Is his conduct morally repugnant? Well, why not leave that up to his constituency to determine next election day? Rep. Weiner's sex life is none of my business, and it sure as hell isn't any of yours. And the fact that part of it accidentally leaked out into the public arena makes it no more anyone else's business than before.

Just once, I would like to see someone in similar circumstances walk up to the podium on live national television and say, "Yeah, I did it. So what? I may even do it again, what's it to you? Go to Hell. Thank you and goodnight." If you think you're going in flames, at least go down with your head held high and your principles intact.

I defended Weiner all through this insane controversy, but now that he's resigned, I've changed my mind and I'm glad he's gone - anyone that spineless doesn't belong in Government. If he can't aggressively stand up for himself, why on Earth would anyone think him capable of standing up for his citizens?