Anthony Weiner should go now

By Richard K. Barry 

(Update: Apparently President Obama also thinks Weiner should go. And Weiner himself is apparently in "despair" and "on the fence" about resigning. -- MJWS)

I was away from my computer for a few days and am just now catching up on the latest news, which still seems to be dominated by Anthony Weiner stories leading me to what is, I think, an obvious conclusion.

Weiner should resign because he knew the rules of the game when he decided to run for office. We can talk about the morality of what he did in a context that has nothing to do with politics, which some people seem to think is the point. It isn't.

This is about politics. This is about winning elections and passing legislation and moving the yardsticks for your side as deliberately as you can. Thanks to Congressman Weiner, that is all marginally more difficult now for Democrats.

Maybe it's too bad the media pays way too much attention to this kind of thing. In fact, I am sure it's too bad. But Weiner has been, much of the time, a smart politician, and he knows that the risks he took would, if found out, hurt his party and hurt progressive causes.

He took a really stupid chance and got caught. End of story. 

Again, it doesn't matter if this kind of behaviour is or should in any way be okay outside of politics. That's not where it happened. There is no margin for error here. The other side will always make sure of that. 

Politics should be conducted differently, you say? Yeah, well, not this week.

When this thing broke, I had hoped that things would not develop as they have, but that was then.

He should go. 

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost.)