Anthony Weiner, I do not forgive you.
This is a veritable war that we are engaged in to preserve our democracy from this plutocratic takeover and a lot of us are suffering terribly. Jobs, health, housing crash, weather disasters, assaults on unions, threats of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid being dismantled, etc. Just terrible. Do you know how terribly we are suffering? We depend on those who fight for our side to fight the war well and help us as much as they can. We had invested a lot of trust in you. We believed you!
However, when one of our leaders, our generals, by their own choice selfishly indulges in behavior that begs for them to be caught by the enemy, well I find that unforgiveable. It is as though you were arrogantly daring the enemy to find and capture you. And then to top it off, you lied. Lied to us!
And now, we are left with a former general whose public power is neutralized and ineffective. You have been made a fool of and by extension, so have we. Do you realize how much YOU HAVE DAMAGED US?
I do not forgive you.
We rose to support you. Many on this site spent hours trying to find a 'smoking gun' to exonerate you. And yet you kept up the lie for a week and made fools of us. Made fools of the Democratic party and the progressive side.
And the people's business has gotten overshadowed by your narcissistic games. And Clarence Thomas has gotten away. What Congressional business did you do this week, Anthony?
Bill Clinton did the same thing. As correct as the Clinton's were about the 'vast right wing conspiracy' wanting to trap them in anything, he knowingly conducted a game of sexual brinkmanship and lost. For that I will not forgive him. Nope. Because not only did he lose, but he dragged our party down with him. And for that I will not forgive him.
You guys don't seem to realize that this isn't just about YOU! Edwards was wrapped up in his own narcissistic delusions and nearly lost the presidency for our party. And another promising lion in our party, played with fire as well and lost: Eliot Spitzer. In all of these cases, it is not just about the randy politician and his family who loses, all his supporters lose as well. More importantly, his cause loses.
For a soldier in war to personally choose and to purposefully engage in risky behavior that begs them to be captured by the other side, well I don't forgive that behavior. On the other hand, I will defend and fight for someone genuinely wounded in battle. And many on this site were doing just that, trusting in your innocence.
But this was an expression of your narcissism and recklessness. I am thankful to Breitbart that he exposed you, because you would have posed a greater damage to the party the more power you got. Just like Edwards you needed to be taken down.
It doesn't matter to me that your behavior didn't include physical sex (that seems to me at this point like debating "the meaning of 'is"") and I disagree with Andrew Samuel's "this was not so bad, we all make mistakes" take on the matter.
YOU WERE UNFORGIVEABLY RECKLESS AND YOU LIED. YOU SET YOURSELF UP TO BE CAUGHT AND LET YOURSELF BE CAUGHT! MAN DOWN! Yes we are all human, yes we all make mistakes, but you weren't gambling with your "money," you were gambling with ours! And as usual, the coverup and lies are what got you.
The bottom line for me, is that you willingly and knowingly engaged in very risky behavior which exposed you to the enemy and allowed the enemy to capture you and then repeatedly lied about it. And by so doing, you weakened our side a lot. Let us down. Damaged our trust. Lied to us. Just tell me how you can be effective championing our cause now????
DONE.
The tragedy is that we desperately need the talents and temperament of both you and Eliott Spitzer to fight for us now.
It is up to you to regain our trust.
And you need to start at ground zero for me.
UPDATE
This comment really explains the potential consequences of behavior such as Weiner's,
h/t by inHI:
Imagine what it would've be like if we didn't have defend Bill Clinton. Al Gore would have been President. There would have been no Iraq war with thousands killed and 2 million refugees.
9/11 might not have happened.
We need leaders who respect us and our cause enough that they don't put us in this kind of position.