Salon.com > Anthony Weiner

Who is the real Anthony Weiner?

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:46:00 +0000

The news that Anthony Weiner raked in serious cash last year as a corporate consultant – an ambiguous job that seems a lot like lobbying -- may seem jarring to national observers who viewed him as a liberal firebrand. But, playing a loud progressive on cable TV doesn’t necessarily make you one. And for Weiner, this stint as not-technically-a-lobbyist signals merely the latest turn for a politician who's craftily straddled the line between outer-borough Ed Koch-style moderation and Alan Grayson-style liberal activism.

The question is how much longer he'll be able to straddle.

Weiner's professional political life began in 1991, when he ran his maiden race for City Council. As Steve Kornacki detailed for Salon, he won a long-shot bid as a 27-year-old, in part by anonymously sending mailers linking his opponent to African-American figures (namely, Mayor David Dinkins and Jesse Jackson) unpopular in his white district. Appealing to the white ethnic constituency, he cultivated an identity in office as an outer-borough moderate, focusing on issues like graffiti, airport regulations and fire alarm boxes.

Anthony Weiner is raking it in as a corporate consultant

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:13:00 +0000

Since resigning from office, Anthony Weiner has found a lucrative career as a corporate consultant to more than a dozen companies, including a medical records provider called CureMD, and an international law firm, Covington & Burling.

From the New York Times:

He and his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, disclosed last week that they had a combined income of $496,000 in 2012, most of it from Mr. Weiner’s work. The money provided a lifestyle-changing infusion for the couple, who moved from a modest home in Forest Hills, Queens, to a large apartment on Park Avenue South in Manhattan.

Mr. Weiner’s rapid rise from disgraced lawmaker to in-demand strategic consultant demonstrates the enduring power of Washington’s revolving door.

“I am a good capitalist," he told the Times.

Weiner “can’t say” whether there are more pictures out there

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:53:00 +0000

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who resigned after accidentally tweeting a lewd photo of himself, says that he "can't say" if there are more pictures out there, or more women willing to come forward.

“If reporters want to go try to find more, I can’t say that they’re not going to be able to find another picture, or find another person who may want to come out on their own, but I’m not going to contribute to that. The basics of the story are not gonna change,” Weiner said, speaking to RNN-TV’s Dominic Carter.

Weiner has recently been making the media rounds, possibly in the hopes of running for mayor of New York City this year. A recent poll put him in second place behind Christine Quinn in the primary, though trailing 26-15 percent, with 50 percent of Democrats saying they would not vote for him.

Watch:

Poll: Weiner in second behind Quinn in mayoral race

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:21:00 +0000

If he decided to run for Mayor of New York City, Anthony Weiner would be in second place behind Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary, according to a new NBC New York/Marist poll.

The poll puts Quinn in the lead among Democratic voters with 26 percent, followed by Weiner at 15 percent. NBC New York points out that Weiner would need 40 percent to avoid a runoff against Quinn. Additionally, 50 percent of Democrats surveyed still said they would not vote for Weiner.

And, as Nate Silver points out:

[embedtweet id="324340079025848320"]

According to the poll, John Liu trails Weiner at 12 percent, with Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson each getting 11 percent. 22 percent of those surveyed are still undecided.

Weiner continues his post-scandal media tour

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:24:00 +0000

In his first TV interview since his scandal broke, Anthony Weiner continued to cautiously edge toward a possible mayoral run, telling NY1's Errol Louis: "I want to be part of the ideas primary. That's for sure. That primary I want to do very well in."

"If I run for mayor and if I become the mayor, I want people looking at me and saying, 'You know what, you are in charge, you did this. You are accountable,'" Weiner said.

Louis also had to push Weiner to answer questions about the lewd photos he tweeted out, asking him how many people received the messages. From NY1's transcript of the exchange:

Must-see morning clip: Anthony Weiner gears for a comeback

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:22:00 +0000

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner is considering a mayoral run for New York. Cue the obligatory sex jokes, à la "The Colbert Report":

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Would Weiner even be a good mayor?

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:11:00 +0000

Long before Anthony Weiner was an unfortunately named joke, he was a national TV presence, high-profile member of Congress and a leading candidate for mayor of New York City. For national progressive activists frustrated with their incrementalist in the White House, and fearing an ascendant and unhinged right, Weiner’s bombastic liberalism was a salve and a rallying point -- and he relished the role of movement leader.

But now that the former congressman is hinting at a comeback, with an emotional tell-all interview in the New York Times Magazine and open talk that he's eyeing a run for mayor of New York City, can he recapture that glory on the left? And critically, was he even a good congressman to begin with? Good enough to run the nation's largest city?

Even among his Democratic compatriots, Weiner was always a bit of a divisive figure: a great communicator and powerful leader, but one who didn’t play well with others. “He operated as a lone ranger, giving a voice to the progressive movement, but not operating as a partner with a larger set of House members or progressives on the outside,” one senior strategist for an outside progressive group said, contrasting him with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who works closely with partners to advance her agenda.

Anthony Weiner is mulling a run for mayor

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:12:00 +0000

The New York Times Magazine has a big profile out Wednesday of former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin, in which Weiner says he is considering a political comeback, possibly as soon as this year for New York City's mayoral race.

Weiner, who resigned from the House in 2011 after he accidentally tweeted a lewd picture of himself and then lied to the press about it, told the Times that he has spent $100,000 in polling and research for a possible run in 2013. “I don’t have this burning, overriding desire to go out and run for office,” he said. “It’s not the single animating force in my life as it was for quite some time. But I do recognize, to some degree, it’s now or maybe never for me, in terms of running for something."

“Also, I want to ask people to give me a second chance," he continued. "I do want to have that conversation with people whom I let down and with people who put their faith in me and who wanted to support me. I think to some degree I do want to say to them, ‘Give me another chance.’”

GOP’s backward sexual politics

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Long before Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Sen. David Vitter, Abraham Lincoln paid prostitutes. And he contracted syphilis. Long before -- and here you can supply whichever name comes to mind first -- James A. Garfield was a great womanizer, who told his wife (repeatedly) that it would never happen again. The two presidents did not have to face the press and answer questions about their private conduct –- and it’s not because they were assassinated first. Nineteenth-century voters did not know national politicians in the intimate way we’re getting to know the private predilections of ours. So while it’s true that the media of that time didn’t stalk candidates in the ravenous manner it’s done today, in most other respects, the moral definitions of the 19th century are still very much with us, and we seem oblivious. It’s not just the 1950s the Republicans wish to return to -- they’re actually stuck in the 19th century.

Sexual politics are changing, but we don’t see it happening. Gay marriage acceptance is one -– right now, very noticeable -– part of it. We are at a turning point, with or without a Hillary Clinton presidency. In her new, attention-grabbing book, "Lean In," Sheryl Sandberg points out how backward our country remains insofar as women are still being evaluated by more rigorous standards, and men are still given to commit acts that would not be tolerated from women occupying the same position.

Tucker Carlson, you’re no Andrew Breitbart!

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:45:00 +0000

Strangely, the night before the latest humiliation of the Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson -- by a Washington Post report that the Caller’s key source for its “scoop” that Sen. Robert Menendez patronized prostitutes now says the website paid him to find women who would lie about it -- I watched the documentary “Hating Breitbart,” a hagiographic 90 minutes of the late Andrew Breitbart ranting, vamping and raging for the admiring camera of his friend Andrew Marcus.

I wasn’t going to write about it, not because I hate Breitbart – I didn’t, and don’t – but because, sadly, it’s kind of slight. It doesn’t do justice to its outsize subject, however much it worships him. But the Carlson news juxtaposed with the documentary reminded me how much more talented Breitbart was than the pale imitators he left behind – as well as how much his rage-fueled, by-any-means-necessary character assassination posing as journalism lives on, albeit ineptly.

Why is Sanford’s comeback easier than others’?

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:47:00 +0000

Disgraced former Gov. Mark Sanford came out ahead in the South Carolina primary Tuesday night, and is the favorite to win the run-off for the nomination and the special election for the seat. But just a few years ago, Sanford was at a low point, giving a tearful press conference and addressing his hike on the "Appalachian Trail," which turned out to be a cover for an affair.

So what is it about Sanford that made him so forgivable, while politicians like Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer have not been?

One theory is that in New York, the tabloid culture is so pervasive and persistent that it made it much harder for Spitzer and Weiner to survive after their scandals broke, and to rehabilitate themselves for a potential comeback.

Is Anthony Weiner back on Twitter?

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:22:00 +0000

After a sexually explicit photo on Twitter landed former Rep. Anthony Weiner in a sexting scandal (dubbed "Weinergate" by the media) the New York representative resigned from Congress on June 16, 2011. His Twitter account has, unsurprisingly, remained inactive since then.

That is, until today. Perhaps inspired by the dire need for relief from Hurricane Sandy, Weiner tweeted a link to a video called "Rockaway needs us" to his followers:

[embed_tweet id="266192356708077568"]

Although it might signal nothing significant for Weiner, the Observer points out that the tweet could be "an attempt to dip his toe into the water for a return to the public eye," as some believe he may eventually seek to reboot his political career.

Anthony Weiner gets feminized

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:28:00 +0000

In Anthony Weiner's first joint interview with wife Huma Abedin one thing sticks out (aside from the photo of their absurdly adorable 6-month-old): He's doing the laundry. Abedin tells People, "Anthony has spent every day since [the scandal] trying to be the best dad and husband he can be," and the magazine immediately follows up the quote with proof. It turns out Weiner "does all the laundry." What a catch, that guy!

Sorry to be cynical here -- I mean, I hope he really does do all the dirty laundry -- but there's a Downy whiff of political calculation here. Is there a more obvious way to show that the sext-crazed ex-congressman has been reformed than to paint him as a laundering hausfrau? Behold, domesticated, feminized Weiner! The Daily Mail went so far as to accompany its coverage of the People interview with a photo of him picking up Abedin's dry cleaning. You know a man's in the doghouse when he's doing women's work. Next up I expect a GQ photo shoot of Weiner -- laundry basket on one hip, baby on the other.

To be clear, I don't care how the couple has privately dealt with his sex scandal. What interests me is how Weiner may be attempting to "make it up" to the general public, especially amid rumors of a run for mayor of New York.

The best and worst tweets of the year

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

One hundred and forty characters can make or sink a career. They can start a movement. They can make history. We've witnessed for years now the power of social media – from bearing witness to the protests in Iran to providing a ringside seat to MIA's feud with Lynn Hirschberg. But in 2011, Twitter once again didn't just offer a bite-sized window into the news of the day – often enough, it became it. Whether they were funny, harrowing, or just plain ill advised, these were the tweets heard round the world.

"It's always wrong, that's obvious, but I'm rolling my eyes at all the attention she'll get."

While covering the Egyptian protests back in February, CBS reporter Lara Logan was separated from her crew and endured a horrifying sexual and physical assault. And when the news filtered out from Tahrir Square, New York University Center for Law and Security fellow Nir Rosen fired off a torrent of scathing tweets about the attack, admitting "She's so bad that I ran out of sympathy for her," and adding "it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson [Cooper] too." In the wake a furious backlash, Rosen swiftly deleted the tweets, apologized for his words, and resigned from NYU. Today, he's back on Twitter after a brief sabbatical, but as he wrote for Salon last winter, "with 480 characters I undid a long career."