Once More Into Anthony Weiner's Breeches! Or, How He Confused His Own Sword With the "Tip of Al Qaeda's"

A new poll of folks in Rep. Anthony Weiner's New York district finds that 56 percent want him to stay, 33 percent want him to go, and 12 percent are undecided. Amazingly, the same poll finds that nobody thinks he's really worth a damn:

Only 44 percent of voters in his district said he's doing an excellent or good job in office; just 38 percent see him favorably; and only 48 percent think he can be effective or very effective in office if he says.

Go figger. The survey, done by New York One and Marist College, was conducted before the full monty was released to a world via the Opie & Anthony radio show's Twitter feed. The image is fuzzy, to be sure, but I can't imagine it's going to boost Weiner's ratings, whether with his constituents or with the ladies.

A lot of people say that there's lying (not a good thing) and then there's lying about sex (also not a good thing, but a more understandable thing). But then there's lying about cellphone porn and tweetpics by saying that the attacks on you may be the "point of Al Qaeda's sword," or some sort of super-terrorist cyberhack of a sitting member of Congress. Which is what Weiner says above (via CNS News).

That's such an awful lie on every possible level that I think it should really remove any doubt about his fitness for office. It's one thing to do stupid things and cover them up with misstatements and obfuscations. That's wrong but understandable, at least within certain limits and when it doesn't directly impact his job. But to play the Al Qaeda card in an attempt to throw folks off the scent of an embarrassing (not even illegal!) misstep is really something else. For god's sake, it would be like, I don't know, the president of the United States bombing two Third World countries just to misdirect people's attention from grand jury testimony. Or something.

Will Weiner stick it out and remain in office? I've got no idea, though he's got to take some comfort from that 56 percent of his district what thinks he should. But when wise columnists and other smart-fellas start talking about incredible negativity the voting masses show toward pols, it'll be worth remembering that an elected member of Congress, from the very city that suffered the greatest terrorist attack in U.S. history, was willing to trade in the worst sort of bullshit to buy himself a few hours' respite from the truth.