The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Weiner’s Wiener?
UPDATE: Who Is ‘Gennette Nicole’?
UPDATE: Questions Piling Up

Posted on | May 28, 2011 | 93 Comments

New York Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner allegedly sent an alleged photo of his alleged penis to an alleged woman via Twitter.

The photo shows a man in gray undershorts with a bulging erection. Weiner is claiming he was the victim of Internet hackers, and I think we should believe him.

Because his penis is probably much smaller than that.

Via Memeorandum, with blog commentary by Patterico’s Pontifications, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, No Sheeples Here, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers and American Power.

UPDATE: Velvet Hammer at Ironic Surrealism examines “Gennette Nicole,” the self-described “progressive” journalism student in Seattle to whom Weiner allegedly sent the photo, and who had previously described the married congressman as her “boyfriend.” Her Twitter account has now disappeared down the memory hole.

UPDATE II: Gennette Nicole Cordova is a student at Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, Wash., where she is a reporter for the student newspaper, Horizon.

Hat tip to “ThoughtsAloud” on Twitter for the original ID and photo.

It must be emphasized that at this point we have no idea whether Ms. Cordova actually knows Rep. Weiner, whether her Twitter claim of him being her “boyfriend” was just a joke, or whether Rep. Weiner actually communicated with Ms. Cordova.

Let’s hope Rep. Weiner will clarify this confusion, before the media scrum descends on Ms. Cordova.

UPDATE III: Jesse LaGreca at Daily Kos is trying to turn this into a story about Andrew Breitbart, which is ridiculous. We seem to have actual facts here, facts which require some plausible explanation.

Very simple questions: Was Rep. Weiner exchanging online messages with Ms. Cordova? If so, why? If this is all just a misunderstanding — if Rep. Weiner was the victim of hackers — why was Ms. Cordova the recipient of that message? Why would a hacker randomly select a student journalist in Washington State to send that to?

The congressman’s office can either answer those questions — and answer them PDQ — or else wait until every political reporter on the West Coast is camped out in front of Ms. Cordova’s house.

UPDATE IV: I just got off the phone with Andrew Breitbart, who denies any insinuation of wrongdoing on his part in reporting the story now known by the Twitter hashtag #WeinerGate.

Frances Martel at Mediaite writes that the story is “a reminder that Andrew Breitbart’s editors and writers do not aim to abide by accepted journalistic standards.” Exactly how the hell “accepted journalistic standards” should be applied to a congressman (apparently) Tweeting a picture of his penis to a college student, I’m not sure.

But here is a question Breitbart posed during our phone conversation: If someone hacked Rep. Weiner’s online accounts, isn’t that a crime? Isn’t it, indeed, a national security threat?

OK, so has Rep. Weiner reported this crime to the police? Is the FBI investigating? When will we have a press conference at which Rep. Weiner vows to get to bottom of this crime against him, and bring the perpetrators to justice?

There is a dog there, you see. And as Sherlock Holmes might point out, that dog is not barking.

RB at the Right Sphere doesn’t think the hacking story holds water.

UPDATE V: Ace of Spades reminds us that Weiner is Meghan McCain’s favorite Democrat. Some jokes just write themselves, don’t they?

UPDATE VI: “Anthony Weiner’s Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend is a 21-Year Old Coed, only 25 Years Younger Than the Married Congressman.” But who are we to judge?

UPDATE VII: Thanks to Soren Kay in the comments for linking this useful collection of online WeinerGate resources.

UPDATE VIII: WeinerGate has been at the top of the Memeorandum aggregation for hours, and yet it appears that no traditional news organization finds it newsworthy. Da Tech Guy decided to do some reporting:

I took the liberty of calling congressman Weiner’s office, the recorded messaged referred me to a press number to call after hours. I called the number and the gentleman named Joe who answered claimed I had the wrong number so I called back the congressman’s office to confirm the number in question (it was correct) and called the press number again. It now goes directly to voice mail. I left my name and home and cell numbers at both locations, and I’ll let you know if anything pans out, but I found that reaction…interesting.

Weiner’s press secretary dodging phone calls? Perhaps more reporters ought to call 202-225-6616 and try to get some answers, because the questions keep piling up out here. Dan Riehl asks, “Why Would Rep Weiner Care What Time It Was In Seattle?”

Liz Benjamin notices something else: “The woman to whom the picture was sent has since deleted both her Facebook and Twitter accounts. Very odd.”

Indeed, it is very odd. If Ms. Cordova was merely the victim of a hacker’s hoax, why would she delete her accounts?

Linked by Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative, Fire Andrea Mitchell and Pundit Press — thanks!

UPDATE IX: Linked by Gateway Pundit and No Sheeples Here — thanks!

UPDATE X: Linked by Joe at Valley of the Shadow, who grew up in Weiner’s district.

UPDATE XI: Neil Stevens at Red State observes that Ace of Spades hilariously eviscerated Weiner’s “I was hacked” explanation. I’d imagine the congressman spent most of Saturday evening trying to come up with a plausible defense.

UPDATE XII: Linked by Moe Lane, who notes that somebody spent a lot of time Sarturday trying to scrub the name “Gennette Cordova” off the Internet — even having her byline removed from articles she wrote for her college newspaper!


Category: Congress, Democrats, New York, Scandal

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