Maddow Asks Weiner About Photo: "Am I Allowed To Say I Wish"

[Grassy Knoll]

Run time: 02:03 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL5gVXUbvQA   Posted on YouTube: June 02, 2011 By YouTube Member: FinkelBlog Views on YouTube: 16   Posted on DU: June 02, 2011 By DU Member: Grassy Knoll Views on DU: 8682

 

[Ineeda]

1. Great quip. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. That's what I figured he was saying when he said that pictures can be doctored.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Everybody is pissing and moaning but I think he's handling it well.

And his quip was hilarious. Moreso, his follow-up about digital manipulation should give everyone an indication why he's not wanting to give a definitive answer. As I've said this whole time: My gut feeling is he didn't get a boner, snap a picture of it, then send it out. If he did do something like that, then he should be sanctioned appropriately. But I'm just not seeing it.

People seem to be getting the impression that he's maybe being dishonest because he's not standing up and saying "This is not a picture of my junk!". I would refer them, again, to his mention of photo manipulation- in other words, this could have, in some way, been a rather innocuous picture which has been distorted in some way to give him the appearance of, turgidity.

Or something else. But he's treading cautiously because the fuckwads who may have attempted to manufacture this situation could have their payoff several moves down the line.

He's not making the predicted moves in response.

PB

[freedom fighter jh]

31. Even if he did snap a pic and send it out . . .

. . . should he necessarily be sanctioned?

I think it would depend on who he sent the pic to. If it just went to his buddies, well that sounds kind of juvenile but not like something that merits sanctioning. The man deserves some privacy.

On the other hand, if it was in any way connected with his work as a congressman, then indeed he should be sanctioned.

[Thrill]

3. He should just stop with the I'm not sure crap

It makes him come across as a liar. How do you not know if something is or isn't photo of your cock? Lets be real. You know how your Dick looks and you know if you own a pair of draws like that. You also know if you've taken a picture of yourself in those draws. So just be real about it.

[bigmonkey]

5. I think what he's cautious about is that some element of the photo may be traceable to him.

If he says "That's not me, I didn't take the picture", then the Breitbart-types know what to focus on: Determine or assert that some part of the photo is him, or that he took some part of it. Then they get to say "See, he's a liar! We told you so!" and Weiner has to deal with that.

The problem is that the right wing has been manipulating a chink in how the public determines the truth, and they're playing it for all it's worth. The main media have been playing along, rather than cautiously investigating. The right wing accuses, then a careful, honest investigation takes time to respond. They (the right wing agents) are never held to a high standard - the whole context of their activity is not much better than the "I have heard people say that Breitbart has syphilis" thing, except that they receive a serious treatment in the press. Since they treat it seriously, any flippant response (which the prank actually deserves) is portrayed as disrespect of what styles itself the press corps.

[Thrill]

6. He could have ended this by saying

"look its a picture of me that my girlfriend took while we were fooling around. Someone hacked my account and sent it out. Its a private photo that should have never been accessed by anyone but myself."

The whole, I don't know if its me thing is complete bullshit. And we all know that. He needs to stop with that as soon as possible. We need him in Congress. One of the most important members.

[bigmonkey]

12. Breitbart types spend all their time scheming this kind of thing.

They think of it, and I guess they get paid for it, as political activity! What I'm thinking is that Weiner is wary that there may be a trap there, that some small harmless element of this is traceable to Weiner, but one that he may not even be aware of. According to that theory, the RW guys have included that element in the photoshop, so that if he denies it's a picture that he took, then they can accuse him of lying. All digital photos are editable.

This is all about a stretchable lie that they can entangle him with. It doesn't matter if most of it is completely bogus, or if a normal person would dismiss the whole thing. The MSM aren't behaving like normal people any more when they react to this stuff. Think back to the Bush and National Guard thing - the RW Freeper types were able to trump up an accusation that the documents were forged because either the font didn't exist (it did, I'm an old guy and remember), or that they were photocopies and hence unreliable. Weiner is being cagey, if you ask me, because he doesn't want to give them any rope at all.

In a normal era, this would have blown over now. Here we are discussing details.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. That's exactly what I've been thinking too. Remember all those Palin

photoshops that were being tossed around the internet? Nobody asked her if the images were of her.

[Bette Noir]

13. Why the fuck are you giving credence to any of this?

He's married. Why do you assume he has a girlfriend? Why do you assume anything Breitbart does has any relation to the truth?

He was set up. No one saw the picture but some guy who has been harassing lefties for ages-- he followed me when I was tweeting Keith Olbermann-- who gave it to Breitbart with some cockamamie story about Wiener having a penchant for underage girls.

Is this how we let the Enemy treat our side?

[Thrill]

16. If he is married

just replace girlfriend with wife.

[NorthCarolina]

34. "Some element" of the photo still does not make it him.

There are only 2 possibilities, those being (a) it's him, or (b) it's not him. If it is a photo shopped image wherein "some elements" are him, but some elements are not, then it falls into category (b). His plausible denial rhetoric is distressing and signals some measure of guilt. He needs to say it could not be him because he neither took nor uploaded any such picture to the web, end of story. If someone snapped a pic of him in a locker room or something and uploaded it fraudulently to the web, well that is beyond his control.

[AlbertCat]

10. How do you not know if something is or isn't photo of your cock?

He clearly says he doesn't recognize the photo.

[Thrill]

14. Does he own a pair of draws that color?

Has he ever taken a picture of his cock in those draws? Things are simple things he should know

[JDPriestly]

18. Because a man named Weiner does not need to take a picture

of himself in his underwear. That is probably the last thing he would do.

It's like a man named Balding probably would not want to take a picture of his bald head.

A man named short would probably sensitive about pictures in which he is the shortest person.

There are many similar names that represent body parts or traits that people would probably rather not focus on.

This whole controversy sounds like it was dreamed up by someone with the emotional development of an 8-year-old boy.

[SemperEadem]

23. you're not going to be happy until he shows us all a picture of him

with a hard on in some grey cotton underwear.

He doesn't have to do what you say. If you dont' want to believe him, then don't and be on your way. I choose to believe what he is saying and I'm not moving off of that.

[K8-EEE]

4. OMG I am so crushing on this guy!

I've always liked him but now seeing him in a whole new light....YEOW!

[The Hitman]

7. Stewart says its not him

"He's more Anthony than Weiner."

:rofl:

[LadyHawkAZ]

8. I'll second that. n/t

[Renew Deal]

9. How can he not say "that's not my junk because a picture like that doesn't exist?"

It's bizarre.

[JDPriestly]

19. He explained this. Maybe you need to listen to the video again?

[Renew Deal]

37. I watched it. He didn't explain anything.

There's a big difference between "no" and "maybe."

[JDPriestly]

41. Beyond, this could be a doctored picture of me in my clothing,

what can he say. If he doesn't know anything about the picture, how is he to explain it?

What he explained was that the picture could be, in part or in whole, a legitimate picture of him, but that he does not recognize it.

[tclambert]

26. Yeah, that equivocation hurt him.

He seemed to say he was worried that this might be a doctored photo that did start out as a photo of him. But in that case, he should just say, "That's not me." If some "part" of it is traced back to him, it could have been photoshopped in. That still doesn't make it his photo.

His response left me wondering if there are underwear photos of him out there in cyberspace somewhere.

His real defense is that they know who hacked his account and put the photo there. I heard it was a 21-year-old guy with a screen name of @patriotusa76, or something like that. Sound Tea-Partyish to anyone else?

[still_one]

11. Typical political response to a yes or no question. Kerry was notorious with that kind of babble

everything is nuanced

People in general do not like people who don't answer a question

[Bucky]

52. I wish people would quit saying he's handling it well or he's not handling it well.

Frankly, it's none of our business how well he handles it. But you're right. He's trying to be cute about it. He needs to either fess up or to give a categorical denial. No politician successfully hem and haw their way out of these sorts of accusations.

[TheeHazelnut]

15. to me this shows the folly of Twitter for politicians

He has brought part of this on himself by using Twitter in the first place. It encourages casual off-the-cuff postings and attempts at being humorous which can be lethal for a politician. He responded immediately by saying "I've been hacked" rather than taking time to think about what he was going to say or having the facts. And then once a statement is out there in the public record it can't be taken back and he's open to questions about "why aren't you having the hacker investigated."

I think this whole thing is bullshit, but trying to be a friendly, accessible Twitter pal to the public seems like a bad idea for a politician.

[JDPriestly]

17. Excellent explanation.

I'm glad that he explained. One of my daughters' friends photoshopped a picture of her. It wasn't as mean as this, but my husband and I were furious because our daughter is pretty, and the photo wasn't. That's the way parents are -- no sense of humor when it comes to distorted pictures of their kids.

Weiner's answer is clearcut and honest. What more can anyone ask?

I feel satisfied that he did not send this silly photo to any of the young women who follow his account.

Thanks, Rachel, for giving one of our favorite Congresspersons a chance to respond to those who want to embarrass him and us.

[TheKingReturns]

20. honestly

what Rep Weiner does with his own time is his own time. he's a seriously decent guy who cares about his constituents and the american people


the right needs a diversion from the ryan budget failure because they know they'll lose.



stay the course, Rep Weiner. we support you.

[Sky Masterson]

21. If by some chance it is him

and his account was hacked then there is a chance that other pictures may have been in the account of him or his wife and he could be weary of admitting it because if someone hacked his account(Which is very feasible and is probably true)then they could have worse.
Weiner is a human and a man who has a pretty cute wife.Couples play,they take pictures of stuff.
The only real question that I have is why would he send it to a 21 year old girl that he probably has never even tweeted to?
I believe without a doubt that he wouldn't do that so someone else did,meaning he was hacked.

And BTW..I'll bet 95% of everyone reading this has probably in the past taken risque pictures of themselves(I'm like in the 5% :sarcasm:).

[SemperEadem]

22. Photoshop CS5 content aware fill--anyone can alter the truth

and if you do not have the original, raw, undoctored file at your disposal, you can manipulate any image to make it lie.

Instead of a picture being worth 1000 words, now, it's now " a picture is worth 1000 lies".

Thanks, Adobe for your contribution to the Liar's Guild.

[SemperEadem]

24. Plain and simple--this is going to divide DU into

those who believe he's done nothing wrong or inappropriate and those that do and need to have their puritanical sensibilities in full pearl clutching outrage over a stupid prank of no consequence.

[1monster]

49. And those like me who think the whole thing is ridiculous. Even if it were

a photo Weiner, I'm not offended; I don't think it is lewd; and the only part that is a problem is that Weiner's is being called to account for something he did not do. I believe he was hacked and that this photo was sent out in his name to another innocent victim. I don't care if it was him. (But I am wondering if some of those reporters who are coming after him so persistantly are either seriously jealous or are coming after him for more personal reasons.)

[SemperEadem]

51. exactly... I'm so over this "oh em gee!!! It's his wee wee!!!!"

christ almighty! Grow up people.

[Joey Liberal]

25. Weiner is not handling this well.

He should have said his account was hacked. End of story. He sounds guilty to me. Not that its a horrible offense. He's a good guy, but this plays right into the hands of the republicans.

[peace13]

27. Isn't it so funny how Rethugs can...

Literally *hit their diaper with a prostitute, tap feet with strangers at the airport and even attempt to fondle the aides but they still keep their jobs. They remain in the public eye and no one says anything to them. This is a ploy of the rights to grab on to the nads of the left and not let go. So what, even if this was one of his photos in his bucket. Maybe its a sock with an apple in it. He said he had been hacked! Who really cares. Why are their two standards and why do many of the folks here think that he is guilty. Really we need to get over ourselves. This guy stands up for the average person over and over and over and over. Let's judge him on that if we must judge.

[RedCloud]

36. Even if those are his legs, that is NOT his photo, now is it?

I don't get why he is being so evasive in his answers.

I really don't care much about this issue but I would rather hear, "Of course I don't have such photos waiting to be hacked..."

[Laf.La.Dem.]

28. At least my beloved Vitter (R) did not take a picture of his shorts

oops I mean his diaper:evilgrin:

[JJW]

29. Corporate sponsored media

notice how this gets more airtime then global warming, child poverty, war crimes, and the criminal banksters.

Thank goodness, I terminated Comcast cable.

[florida08]

30. he's already said he didn't send it

All this fake outrage about intimate body parts. Ever looked at the Washington Monument..a giant phallic symbol. Ted Haggard is a prime example of the hypocrisy that permeates this country. There are far worse matters that need attention. I hope Anthony will end it now. It's just too ridiculous to spend time trying to placate people that feign some kind of high standard of purity while it bombs the hell out of innocent people with drones or rapes sovereign countries for it's resources. It's quite disgusting.

Even if he did send it..so what? Will it stop the republicans from destroying medicare and SS?

It's a matter between him and his wife not him and the country. Certainly doesn't garner a week's worth of coverage. We just spent nealy 2 years on Obama's birth certificate. The GOP certainly know how to divert our attention with childish capers. We are so predictable, sanctimonius and full of ```` at the same time. And they're not going to let it go away. It's just too juicy.


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56083.html

[rainlillie]

33. I take it Arnold and Maria are old news, now the MSM has to focus on this

nonsense. The American MSM really sucks!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

35. What I want to know is

how is Shirley Sherrod's (sp?) lawsuit against Breitbart coming along?

[wxgeek7]

38. This is whole thing is sooo stupid

The fact that this non-issue was made into a mountainous issue is so stupid. What the f*** is wrong with the media these days? It's stuff like this that easily makes one think the general media is not on the up and up.

If this happened to the average joe, and he did it on purpose, he'd just be considered a pervert (it was sent to an adult, not a minor). But if his account was cracked into, he'd probably just contact twitter about it and maybe apologize to the recipient of the pic.

But noooo, the media (ie CNN/Faux) is asking him if he's going to contact the police or the FBI (are they f***in serious!!??), or indicating that he should be reprimanded, or even step down from office.

What a crock o'crap!

[PDJane]

39. Thank you. Precisely.

[florida08]

40. +100

[TatonkaJames]

42. Has anyone asked to see his phone bill ?

Wouldn't that show if he sent it ? When and where was he when it was sent ? Isn't this that easy to figure out and
why wouldn't he want to help prove it by disclosing that info ?

[awoke_in_2003]

43. If getting arrested for soliciting

oral sex in an airport bathroom doesn't get you kicked out of the Senate, then nothing should happen to Wiener.

[texshelters]

44. I can only conclude from his statement,

and lack of denial that the photo is him but he didn't post it.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[BEZERKO]

45. His poking fun at his name is

very smart. It has an inoculative effect against what the conspirers, if someone did hack his account, are trying to do. It's been shown that if you shine a light on the attempted use of subconscious associations and explain what detractors are trying to do to you, like in the "macaca" incident, it can possibly negate, in Jim Webb's case, and even backfire. Though in Cong. Weiner's case, I think the best he can hope for is limiting the damage.

[teabaghater]

46. Don't mess

with "fat Tony and his pet negro" or this is what you get!

[Dont call me Shirley]

48. Looks like he was Breitbarted...

payback for the other NY Rep (R) who was caught with his clothes off.

[txwhitedove]

50. I think he's handling it very well. Why all the broohhaha? Who cares

whether or not it is an actual picture of him? More important question is who punked him, who started this whole mess? It's not the blue dress, and it's not women being snuck into the white house, so.... SO WHAT!