Weinergate: Las Vegas Bettors Playing The Odds

According to breaking news today in mainstream media and on blogs, more women, more photos, more tweets containing photos of Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) bare-chested, including a photo of himself with two cats accompanied by a double entendre subject line, “Me and the Pussies,” have been published on the Internet.

It looks like Congressman Anthony Weiner will not be running for mayor of New York. He will be lucky if he runs for re-election. A good bet today with Las Vegas bookies would suggest 2-1 that Weiner resigns his Congressional seat within the next 72 hours.

Celeste Katz, a political reporter at the New York Daily News is reporting an update with a head line titled “Weinergate Worsening?” accompanied by the referenced photos above with the words “Lighter Fluid” printed across them in tandem. And Politico.com has an “Anthony Weiner” button at the top of its website that takes you directly to new updated “Report: Shirtless Weiner photo sent.”

Last week Americans and New Yorkers alike were treated to a litany of  public statements by Weiner who with great difficulty explained that a tweeted photo to a 21-year old co-ed in Washington State depicting a bulging crouch shot may or may not have been of himself, claiming his Twitter account had been hacked.  Andrew Briebart, the right-wing blogger of BigGovernment.com announced this morning that he would release more photos, emails and tweets throughout the day.

Weiner curiously refused to say whether the photo tweeted was of his crouch or not. Over the weekend he disappeared and did not show for the politically important Israel National Day breakfast or parade on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.

Why is this important to our LGBT readers?  Well just so happens openly lesbian Christine Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council is a likely candidate for mayor and is showing all the signs she intends to run. The only impediment in her way would be vigorous brawl in the Democratic primary with Anthony Weiner. Quinn is quiet and was at the parade over the weekend and the breakfast. When your opponent is self-immolating, it’s time to just stand back and watch.

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.

Read Tanya Domi’s most-​recent previous article at The New Civil Rights Movement, “New York Times Promotes Diversity With 3 Prominent Editorial Additions.“