Why Anthony Weiner Is Right to Avoid Legal Action

[sasha031]

Over the past few days, Anthony Weiner has gone from being a mildly interesting Brooklyn congressman to the center of a very 21st century scandal involving a West Coast college student, dick pics, allegations of hacking, and (what else?) Twitter. As various reporters (and gossip columnists) have dissected the aptly named Weinergate, many have expressed confusion over the fact that Rep. Weiner (D) has declined to launch an investigation into an alleged hacking of his Twitter account -- some even suggesting that Weiner's hesitancy to pursue legal action might be an indication of his complicity in the naughty direct message. But I don't think that refusing to pursue legal action is an admission of some sort of guilt. Quite the contrary: I think it's the smartest move Weiner has made so far.

Americans tend to view legal action as the solution to all of life's little problems -- as though bringing a case before a judge is a panacea that will make all bad things shrivel up and disappear. Would that that were so, but the truth is that involving courts in a situation like this one means transforming a molehill of one leaked, barely viewed johnson shot into a mountain of a (likely lengthy) legal battle -- complete with fact finding, depositions, and plenty of opportunities for Weiner to have to answer embarrassing questions while under oath. And that's not even getting into the fact that taking this story to court means extending the story's press cycle: something I can guarantee that Congressman Weiner does not want to do.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/06/why-anthony-weiner-is-right-to-avoid-legal-action/239862/

[joeybee12]

1. And as long as people like Breitbart can do what they do without threat of lawsuit,

they'll keep on doing it and the media will follow like the ignorant scum they are.

[xchrom]

2. Interesting. Nt

[KittyWampus]

3. He specifically didn't say we was avoiding legal action. He's got a firm investigating first.

THEN when he finds out what happened, he'll determine the next move.

Whoever wrote this doesn't know the facts.

[tularetom]

4. I don't think Weiner is telegraphing his intentions to the press

He's smart enough not to tell the idiot media what actions he is or isn't taking or what is going on behind the scenes.

He's also smart enough not to let this drop.

We haven't hear the last of this yet and I think the fact that the TV pundits have sort of ignored it over the last 24 hours is that they realize they were punked and facts are coming to light that may expose the whole clusterfuck.