Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Bret Baier Gets Best Weiner Interview of the Day: 'I Know for a Fact That My Account Was Hacked'
Man, maybe Weiner should've avoided the media sit-downs today. It's like Ann Coulter said, "He cannot have an investigation for the simple reason that it will show that he posted the photograph himself."RELATED: Howard Kurtz has a mini-roundup of today's interviews: "Anthony Weiner's Junk Defense."
Humiliating Tiny Stub of a Male Organ
From Ann Coulter, at Human Events:
Only a full and complete investigation will show that he had absolutely nothing to do with that humiliating photo of the tiny stub of a male organ sent to a 21-year-old coed from his Twitter address last Friday night.And not kidding:
The reason the congressman is so eager to forgive the hacker is that there is no hacker. He cannot have an investigation for the simple reason that it will show that he posted the photograph himself.
In a panic when he saw he had hit the wrong button and sent a private tweet of his pecker to his entire Twitter following, Weiner blurted out the hacker defense, quickly typing: "FB hacked. Is my blender gonna attack me next?"
Unfortunately, there was no lawyer in the room to tell him: "Don't say that! They'll have to investigate!"
On Sunday, his staff followed up with a press release, saying: "Anthony's accounts were obviously hacked."
So he can't now claim he didn't say it.
After hiring a lawyer, Weiner quickly backpedaled from the "hacker" claim and began insisting, in another press release: "This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more."
If it was a prank, then why did he hire a lawyer?
Weiner isn't a celebrity: He's a CONGRESSMAN. Whoever can hack into his Twitter account may be able to hack into other congressmen's accounts -- or into Weiner's briefing files from, say, the Department of Defense.
(Indeed, unless the alleged hacker is arrested, who knows how many Anthony Weiner penis shots could start circulating on Twitter?)
But when one of Weiner's colleagues, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., requested a congressional investigation into cybersecurity based on Weiner's self-proclaimed computer attack on his Twitter account, Weiner denounced and insulted Stearns.
The best Weiner can do now is try to take his utterly humiliating penis photo out of the realm of criminal law by eliding "hacked" into "pranked." Legally, it's not clear what the difference is.
Anthony Weiner Google Traffic
RELATED: An indication of how bad this is for the Democrats is how frantic are the efforts to debunk the story. The progressive blog Cannon Fire's getting some play on Memeorandum right now, but check Red State for the debunking of the debunking. Indeed, idiot progressives are further making the case for a formal investigation: "Case Closed? Leftblog Claims Definitive Proof Weiner Was Framed." Also, at Founding Bloggers, "BREAKING WEINERGATE UPDATE: Lefty Blogger Exposes Massive yFrog-Twitter Vulnerability! Weiner Might Not Have Sent The Wiener" (via Instapundit).
Also, at Christian Science Monitor, "Twitter scandal: a mess for Anthony Weiner, a lesson for Congress":Rep. Anthony Weiner has been unable to put questions about a lewd picture on his Twitter account behind him. The rest of Congress might become more wary of Twitter.Ya think?
Joan Walsh on #WeinerGate
Also, Weiner was on CNN, and I'll look for the video later. Meanwhile, Ace has comments: "Wolf Blitzer Asking Weiner The Most Candy-Cane Questions Possible."
Anthony Weiner Comes Clean! — UPDATE! MSNBC Interview Added (VIDEO)!!
"I was a victim of a prank ..."Developing ...
Rep. Anthony Weiner says he “can’t say with certitude” that the photo of a man’s crotch sent using his Twitter account isn’t of him.
“I didn’t send that picture out,” Weiner says.
“That’s not a picture of you?” he is asked by NBC News.
Weiner responds: “You know, I can’t say with certitude.”
The New York lawmaker continued to claim that his Twitter account was hacked.
12:15 PDT: The Other McCain reports: "Oh, My: In NBC Interview Weiner Won’t Deny Authenticity of Lewd Photo."
And basically the same story at CBS News.
I'm waiting for Rep. Weiner to sit down with Bret Baier at Fox News. This is gonna be killer!
12:45 PDT: Emily Miller tweets this photo:
Still waiting for further interviews. CNN says they have a sit-down with Weiner coming right up ...
1:10 PDT: Okay, here's the clip from MSNBC:Kashmir Hill: The Perfect Media Storm That Is 'Weinergate'
Unless you unplugged during Memorial Day weekend, and never managed to plug back in, you’ve heard of ‘Weinergate.’ Back story for those that have been in the hospital with firework injuries: a conservative blog reported over the weekend that New York representative Anthony Weiner tweeted a photo of the Congressional member’s member at a young woman in Washington. No actual nudity was involved, though an outline of the littlest member of Congress is visible in the photo of gray boxer briefs and a man’s thighs.You can say that again.
The story has been the perfect storm for news coverage, involving social media, political scandal, and fun word play given Rep. Weiner’s last name.
Weiner has called it a prank, saying initially that his Twitter account must have been hacked. Lots of media are reporting on the story but with little evidence to go on. The photo was taken down right away from Rep. Weiner’s Yfrog account, saved and noticed only by a Twitter user with a conservative bias with the handle PatriotUSA76. Topsy.com indicates the original tweet was retweeted just 16 times, which seems odd since Weiner has tens of thousands of followers on Twitter.
Weiner himself originally joked about the incident, but now, Day 5 into Weinergate, is making clear that he’s sick of answering questions about it. The scandal would have stamina regardless, but unfortunately for Weiner, this happened at a terrible time — during a holiday weekend, when there’s little other news. Weiner’s attempts to move on seem to just be making it worse.
More at the link.
Also at U.S. News, "PR Pros Say Weiner Is Bungling the Twitter Sex Scandal."
Fox News is reporting that Congressman Weiner will speak to the media shortly. I asked previously if Weiner would resign? I don't think so, but he may come clean and let the chips fall where they may. We'll see.
London's Daily Mail Reports on Anthony Weiner and Porn Star Ginger Lee (PHOTOS)
PREVIOUSLY: "Tony Weiner's Tweetin' Heart!"
Tony Weiner's Tweetin' Heart!
What a creep.And still more at the link. The Post indicates that it's about far more than who Congressman Weiner's following on Twitter (not insignificant in itself, of course), but what his handling of the scandal reveals about his fitness to serve --- especially as mayor of New York City.
As The Post reports today, it turns out that Twitter, for the recently married Rep. Anthony Weiner, is a cool place to meet girls.
Which may well explain why he was following the Twitter account of a winsome 21-year-old community-college student from Seattle, Gennette Cordova, who last weekend received a lewd photo apparently originating from the congressman's own Twitter feed.
And maybe why, during an extraordinarily contentious Washington press briefing yesterday, Weiner repeatedly refused to answer any questions on the incident.
Weiner initially claimed he was the victim of a hacker -- and then tried to dismiss the whole thing as a harmless "prank."
But by Monday night, the lawmaker had lawyered up -- saying he might pursue "civil or criminal" avenues, although he still hasn't called the cops and yesterday refused to say why.
That's strange: Identity theft involving ordinary people, let alone a congressman, is a serious crime.
So why the reticence to go after someone he says hacked into his accounts, and thus to clear his name as the candidate field forms for the 2013 mayoral race?
Does he hope that the story will just fade away? Not likely.
RELATED: Via Dan Collins, "Hard On Weiner?" Dan's looking to move on to some breast blogging! And well yeah, I'm, a little hung up on the Weiner story, but you gotta go for the SEO when the action's, er, hot. See AoSHQ on that as well, "No Seriously We're Going To Put Up Other News, But, Just This."
Anthony Weiner on 'Good Morning America'!
And interesting to see George Stephanopoulos reporting. Word has it that Step's mentor Bill Clinton did the honors at Weiner's wedding. Democrats all around would like this to go away, but news is news, and Weiner's making it hard to ignore.
And that's now all. Mediaite has more on the morning news coverage: "Breakfast Sausage: TODAY Shows Weiner Pic Sent From Rep. Weiner’s Twitter."
And The Other McCain takes stock:Yesterday’s televised meltdown was, I think, complete vindication for those of us in the online community who spent Memorial Day weekend trying to convince people that #WeinerGate was an honest-to-goodness genuine news story.
It’s not only real, it’s spectacular.
Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Landing
I'll post video later this morning.
Added: AP Video.
Paris Hilton Discusses Sex Tape on 'Piers Morgan Tonight'
Emotional:
Sarah Palin Meets Donald Trump
Also, "Palin punks the media — again," and "Matt Lewis: Palin’s bus tour causes media bickering on Twitter." Plus, "Palin fakes out reporters at Gettysburg hotel."
RELATED: At Los Angeles Times, "Sarah Palin's bus tour steals spotlight from GOP presidential candidates":Reporting from Philadelphia
Sarah Palin's bus tour took her to Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and a pizza dinner with Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, moves that may not have telegraphed serious presidential intentions but at least gave her another day of something immeasurable: attention.
Republican candidates who are intensely wooing early-state voters found themselves eclipsed for another day by the former Alaska governor, who repeated Tuesday that she was pondering whether to run. Unlike them, Palin found herself surrounded by reporters and voters, her bus tour bringing her back to the forefront of GOP politics regardless of her ultimate decision.
"Whether she runs or not, Palin needs to stay relevant in order to leverage her celebrity, influence and earning capacity," said Mark McKinnon, a Republican consultant who helped coach Palin when she was preparing for her vice presidential debate with Joe Biden in 2008. "She just proved that she still can generate crowds anytime she wants. Her machine just got oiled and taken out for a test drive."
McKinnon said that because of Palin's unique status — 100% name recognition and ability to raise money quickly — she could delay her decision longer than any other potential candidate. "And there's no downside to teasing the possibility just as long as possible," he said.
Republicans on the ground in the two earliest voting states agree.
"I do think she's being very smart, sort of helping to keep all her options open," said David Carney, a political consultant who is helping Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire. He has seen no evidence that she is organizing there, but said that if she chose to run, her effect on the race would be "huge."
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Andrews Breitbart Calls Out Jeffrey Toobin for 'His Own Sexual Scandal'
“Look, there’s clearly a double standard with the mainstream media,” Breitbart said. “If this were a Republican, like Mike Lee or Larry Craig or Mark Foley, it becomes the single most important story in the history of the media for three weeks, four weeks. We are inundated with it and then the Nancy Pelosis and Anthony Weiners of the world come out there and say there has to be the ethics investigation because this is how Republicans are but yet the Democrats right now are going out there on TV just like Jeffrey Toobin who has been involved in his own sexual scandal – Jeffrey Toobin who sought out during Monica Lewinsky tried to investigate into Henry Hyde’s sex life going back years and this guy is going on television today to say we shouldn’t pay attention to an alleged hack into a congressman’s computer? It’s ridiculous.”More at the link, including video.
I'm adding this Anderson Cooper clip, with Dana Bash and Jeffrey Toobin. Bash works hard to be a respectable journalist and Toobin, well, he's another ASFL:
The Other McCain's having a huge traffic day as well, and he's probably resting now, but will no doubt be pumping out blog posts when he wakes up in a few hours.
Meanwhile, at Ace of Spades, "In Which I Attempt To Explain Human Behavior To the Reality-Based Community."
Anthony Weiner Resignation Forthcoming?
PLUS, Ace of Spades suggests we "Place Your Bets." Okay, I'm betting Weiner's running outta lifelines. Resignation coming soon? Folks joking about it on Twitter. We'll see though.
Anthony Weiner's Angry Exchange With CNN's Dana Bash
I'm going with CNN's clip, "Weiner says he's done talking about Twitpic":
And Doug Ross has the transcript: "Kudos to CNN's Dana Bash: Absolutely Shreds Anthony's Weiner Over His Refusal to State Whether He Tweeted the Weiner (Transcript)."
Kaboom! Anthony Weiner Scandal Explodes!
And check out Andrew Breitbart's interview on CNN:Be sure to listen through to Jeffrey Toobin's ridiculous comments about how Breitbart's statements are "outrageous" and that, "look, this is a lighthearted story ... and everybody knows that on the Internet stuff happens ..." And get this: "Look, Twitter is not a very secure environment ... sometimes the information is unreliable ... it doesn't even come from the people it appears to come from ..."
Right. My god, that's almost a criminal. Any wonder everyday Americans get so angry at the pompous cable talking heads who don't know shit, frankly? Well, it's not all bad. See also Liberty Chick, at Big Journalism, "Blame Breitbart!: Salon.com Editor Joan Walsh Lies and Bullies on Weinergate."
So, yeah, I was wrong about this story peaking. Coverage continues to build, at ABC News, for example, "Rep. Anthony Weiner Gets Combative With Reporters About Lewd Twitter Photo."
And of course, keep up on things at Big Government.
Added: Don't miss Michelle's essay, "Weighing in on Weiner." (Fit is hitting the shan.)
Also, at Hot Air, Weiner has a heated exchange with CNN's Dana Bash!
Jim Tressel Resigns
And a good read on this, from Chris Dufresne, at LAT, "Ohio State's Jim Tressel dug himself into a hole with handling of scandal":
Hubris is part of the plague of being one of the most powerful people in town, as Tressel was in Columbus. Control freaks think they can control things. Control freaks with power think they can control everything.RTWT.
Tressel's 106 wins in 10 years, 2002 national title and 9-1 record vs. Michigan made him virtually unimpeachable.
It must have made him think he didn't need to disclose NCAA violations even as he signed a "certificate of compliance" form in September certifying he knew of no violations in his program.
That was grounds right there for his dismissal.
Tressel kept lips zipped in December when the violations became public. He stood by as his players took five-game suspensions for the 2011 season.
His lie was the worst kind — confessed only when discovered by canvassing his emails.
Not only did Tressel know of the violations, having been tipped by Columbus attorney Chris Cicero, he forwarded the information to one of the player's mentors.
You'd think the adults couldn't mess it up more than that, but they did.
So Respectable: Paris Hilton Eager to Shed Party-Girl Image
When you're sitting in Paris Hilton's living room, plenty of things catch your attention. The half-dozen dogs, three Munchkin cats (bred to have absurdly miniature legs), and one 150-pound pot-bellied pig sashaying around the backyard pool. The Pepto-Bismol-pink Maserati in the driveway, next to the powder-blue Maserati. The throw pillows emblazoned with pictures of her famous face. The two gigantic nudes of herself on opposing walls, displayed above gold-trimmed couches.More at the link above.
But it's the voice — that's the thing that stands out most when you sit down for a talk with Paris Hilton. It's mature. Deep, even. "Yeah, I have a normal voice," Hilton said. "That's the one thing people say when they meet me. That I don't speak like I do on TV. I don't speak like a baby."
Poised and perfectly coiffed, with long, white-blond extensions tumbling below thin shoulders, the hotel heiress is promoting her latest reality series (her third, for those keeping track). "The World According to Paris" airs Wednesday on Oxygen, a basic-cable channel that targets women and is owned by NBC. It's pitched as being different from anything else she's done because this is, as Hilton puts it, "the real" her.
"I wanted to get at this whole spoiled-heiress perception," said the great-granddaughter of hotelier Conrad Hilton. "There are a lot of heirs out there that don't work because they don't have to. That's not me. I've had success on my own. I bought this house myself, I've bought every car I own. It's all me and my hard work."
Sociology and Other 'Meathead' Majors
Substituting "political science" for "economics" at the essay also works. (Recall this post.)
David Horowitz: 'The Totalitarians Within'
RTWT at the link.On May 11, 2011, I spoke to a student audience at UCLA for about an hour. My speech was video-taped and recorded on audio. Frontpage Magazine posted the video and an edited transcript of the speech. We are now posting an unedited transcript (accessible here) for reasons I will make clear in a moment.
On May 24, the Undergraduate Students Association at UCLA, by a 10-0 vote passed a resolution proposed by the Muslim Students Association declaring that “UCLA is a UC Campus Against Islamophobia.” I don’t mean to suggest that my appearance was the sole trigger of this resolution but it didn’t surprise me to find that among the numerous “Whereas” clauses in which the reasons for the resolution are stated, I am the only individual mentioned, or that it just came two weeks after the “controversy” surrounding my appearance which was really not so much a controversy as a series of one-sided assaults on myself and the College Republicans who invited me. “Islamophobes! Racists!” Call it an opportunity that I presented for the MSA and its supporters to extract concessions from the broader student population and to attempt to reach into their pockets in the process. Since student governments are proving grounds for future politicians, it is also a moment for the rest of us to reflect on what is in store for the country if these university elites can repeat their gains in the world beyond the campus.
Here is how the Muslim Students Association formulated the concept “Islamophobia:”
Islamophobia is defined as ideologies, beliefs, and actions that perpetuate inaccurate and xenophobic views toward the culture and practice of Islam and the personification of its followers, such as being seen as monolithic, seen as a separate and ‘other’ culture that does not share common values, seen as inferior to the West, seen as violent, aggressive, and supportive of terrorism, seen as sexist and oppressive of women, seen as a political ideology used for political advantage, anti Muslim hostility, and exclusionary or discriminatory practices against Muslims from mainstream society;
Please note, “Islamophobia” is manifest in statements about Islam that are “innaccurate” (and by whose standard you might ask); by statements that reflect the view that Islam “does not share common values” (as for example, a belief in the separation of church and state?); by attitudes that regard Islam as “inferorior to the West” “as sexist and oppressive of women” (in other words no more noticing that in sharia-governed countries women are consigned to a second class status that renders them the virtual chattel of males); nor can one entertain the opinion that Islam is a political ideology (as it indubitably is in Iran, Saudia Arabia, Lebanon and Gaza, just to name a few zones where the lines between politics and religion are invisible). In other words no noticing that the “Party of God” (Hezbollah) or the Muslim Brotherhood which is now the most powerful political party in Egypt are actually political. Nor can you link the Islamic beliefs, codified by a warrior named Mohammed who urged his followers to slay infidels and cut off their heads with terrorists who invoke those beliefs when slaying infidels by cutting off their heads.
My recent speech at UCLA is adduced as evidence of the Islamophobia directed against Muslims in this clause:
Whereas, On Wednesday May 11th controversial speaker David Horowitz made false allegations on campus against the Muslim Students Association and the Afrikan Student Union, and further instilled hate against Muslims by stating that “Islam is a sick, sick culture” (5)(6);
Two footnotes are attached to this clause as if there were some actual connection to facts of my appearance at UCLA on May 11. One of the footnotes links to a column by a UCLA Muslim, Asra Ziauddin, which seizes on the “Wall of Lies” that I had written and that College Republicans had erected to counter the slanders of Palestinian Awareness Week at UCLA. Palestine Awareness Week claimed among many similar blatant falsehoods designed to demonize Jews and the Jewish homeland, that Israel is an “apartheid state.” Our response: Israel is not only not an apartheid state, it is the only real democracy in the Middle East. To this Ziauddin countered — “Myth: Israel it is the only democracy in the Middle East. Fact: This democracy only works for Jewish citizens.”
Actual Fact: Israel’s democracy works for 1.4 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens as well. To prove his fallacious point Ziauddin writes: “Six million Palestinian refugees have not been granted the right of return.” I don’t for a moment believe that Ziauddin’s invented figure “six million” is a coincidence, but there is no such right of return except in the minds of Palestinian revanchists.
It's a tough battle, but truth prevails.