[EL] Congressman Weiner

[Tom Matzzie]

Would anybody care to evaluate Mr. Breitbart's statements that he is
holding "x-rated" material regarding Congressman Weiner that he may
choose to release at some future date should Mr. Weiner offend Mr.
Breitbart? Would official acts by Congressman Weiner offend Mr.
Breitbart, including votes in the U.S. House? Would inquires to
agencies for which Mr. Weiner conducts oversight offend Mr. Breitbart?

It would seem that Mr. Weiner is caught in a protection racket. If the
photo is released, it may be journalism and protected speech. If it is
not released, it smacks of extortion. And done through the media, that
is an interstate communication. Any thoughts?

While humbled, Mr. Weiner is still a member of Congress and while he
has no immunity from criticism, he is afforded protection from
extortion.



On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Thomas J. Cares <Tom at tomcares.com> wrote:
> I definitely agree with Rob and Paul. I hope he survives this and that it
> sets a new standard of how we judge policymakers - by their policy-making.
> I'm not saying personal indiscretions shouldn't matter at all, but it should
> be more like 5-10%, when it seems like 90-95%. How many pieces of
> legislation get this much attention per decade? maybe the Bush tax cuts, the
> Iraq War, maybe the Patriot Act, TARP, the Stimulus, maybe the auto industry
> bail out, maybe cap and trade proposals (though probably not), Obama's
> health care overhaul... not many.
> It's a little bizarre that this is the number one thing people resign over.
> Voting to authorize the Iraq War, without due diligence, is a more worthy
> thing to resign over. The consequences of California's energy deregulation
> that led to the 2000/2001 electricity crisis would be a more worthy thing
> for a California Legislator to resign over than Mike Duvall's bragging about
> an affair with a lobbyist.
> Moreover, as citizens, we accept these entertaining pseudo-political stories
> more and more as substitutes for important civic news. It's come that this
> is what we think is important when it comes to composing our Republic, and
> our Republic does not seem the better for it.
>
> On the ethics issue, the biggest question in my mind is whether it may have
> been a bona fide violation to have his congressional staff spend time
> conveying his lie that his twitter account had been hacked. Mostly, I think
> Democrats feel the need to call for an investigation to save face.
>
> Thomas J. Cares
> Tom at TomCares.com
> 202-64-CARES
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