Former representative Anthony Weiner, who resigned in disgrace in 2011 after lying about sending illicit sexting messages to a number of women, has formally announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York.
Weiner did so by way of a video that was posted in the early hours of the morning.
“Look, I made some big mistakes,” he says in the video. “And I know I let a lot of people down. But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.”
The NY Post reports that the video was actually supposed to be released later in the day.
The video — which came out just a few days short of the second anniversary of the day Weiner tweeted a sext of his bulging undies — ends with a logo: “Anthony Weiner for Mayor.”Sources told The Post that the oddly timed video was legitimate, but that campaign staffers intended for the announcement to come out later today.The video was posted on a campaign Web site and was then taken down, and then put back up. It also could be seen on YouTube.
But not everyone believes Weiner deserves a second chance.
The Daily Beast was out Tuesday with a scathing article on Weiner’s character flaws that go well beyond his creepy sexting habit.
Here’s a guy who regularly condescended to every member of Congress but whose intellectual talents were such that he originally aspired to be a weatherman. In Congress, he was the political equivalent of a minor celebrity, famous mostly for being famous: in 12 years, he was the lead sponsor of one bill. He narrowly won his first race, for a seat on the New York City Council, after anonymously sending voters race-baiting fliers. That’s never a pretty sight, but considering he did it immediately after the Crown Heights riots, it puts him in the same slime bucket where anti-Semitic tax cheat Al Sharpton wallows.
The article also highlighted examples of Weiner’s hypocrisy.
Right before he resigned from Congress, Weiner took time from his sexting hobby to go after Clarence Thomas and his wife. Writing on his blog, he ripped into Justice Thomas for failing to disclose that Virginia Thomas, a private citizen, worked at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. (Everyone in Washington knew Thomas’s wife worked at Heritage—that being part of the point of her being hired—and Thomas amended the financial disclosure forms.)
Okay. But then The New York Times uncovers that Weiner’s wife —a State Department employee working as Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff—is getting paid handsomely on the side for consulting with private clients and not reporting it. That’s an abuse of public trust. […]
Right now Anthony Weiner is trying to build a future based on money taken from people he fooled. That’s called a scam. I don’t know if Weiner deserves better, but New York sure does.
Forgiveness from the electorate may take time. At a candidate forum on Wednesday morning that Mr. Weiner did not attend, there were ample reminders of his precarious place in the mayor’s race and the difficulty he may face winning over skeptics.
“I have two daughters. I wouldn’t vote for him,” said David Pollack, an attendee who runs a taxi industry trade group and speaks frequently with politicians in New York.
His nascent campaign has struggled to attract marquee political strategists, as it has faced the rejection of many potential recruits and instead hired Danny Kedem, a 30-year-old with little experience in New York, as a campaign manager.
“Secretary Clinton knows all of the candidates, she has worked with many of them, and is close with many of them, so won’t be weighing in one way or the other,” Hillary Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement to POLITICO.Likewise, Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said, “President Clinton has too many friends in this race who have been good to him and his family. He wishes them all well, but won’t be getting involved.”
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