Wounded Weiner

In the end, the reason that Anthony Weiner is unlikely to survive the sexting scandal comes down to what I call the ick factor.I thought the New York congressman had a chance of winning reelection if he hunkered down, the story ran its course and he asked his constituents to forgive him a year from now. But now it seems doubtful that he can hang on, and not just because members of his own party are increasingly urging him to walk the plank.The transcript of his heavy-breathing chat with a Las Vegas blackjack manager, helpfully published by Radar, didn’t help. Nor did the pictures he sent a single mother in Texas, who has been making the television rounds. And, of course, each disclosure makes it all the more remarkable that Weiner had gone on a televised tour of indignation to claim that his Twitter account had been hacked.But when I saw the reaction of several women to the news that his wife Huma was pregnant, I realized it was a game-changer. There was a physical revulsion, a sense of disbelief, at the notion that Weiner was sexting away with multiple women while his wife of less than a year was carrying his child. Just when it seemed his reputation couldn’t sink any lower, it has.At almost the same time as the New York Times was reporting that news, Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers—who once dated Weiner—was calling him a misogynist and urging him to resign. The fact that he personally lied to Powers, knowing she was going to go on Fox News and defend him, added another layer of betrayal to the narrative, especially given her pained realization that she had no choice but to speak out.I’ve seen some pundits say things got even worse for Weiner when the photo he snapped of his private parts leaked out. Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart had promised not to release it, but when he showed it around at the Opie & Anthony radio show, someone took a picture of the picture, unbeknownst to Breitbart. We knew the photo existed, so I’m not sure why the grainy version now bouncing around the Net ratchets up the pressure on Weiner. Except that the ick factor keeps rising, along with the humiliation level for the embattled Democrat.Luckiest man in America this week: the previous ick factor champion, John Edwards.

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Howard Kurtz

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