about his support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. For those who don't remember, Representative Weiner was originally a strident supporter of "Operation Iraqi Freedom." He even led "Support the Troops" Rallies in his district. Eventually he changed his stance. He soured on the war and did a 180. If you're interested, follow me over the jump and I'll tell you my story....
Back in 2005, Weiner ran in the Democratic primary to become the next Mayor of New York City. He worked the ground game hard. He was everywhere. It was a crowded field that included such luminaries as the Reverend Al Sharpton, fresh off his Roger Stone funded Presidential run. Rev Sharpton famously grilled Howard Dean about how many blacks HD had in his Vermont Cabinet during a horrendous "gang up on Howard" debate in Iowa. Rep. Anthony Weiner won a lot people over in this race. Had he actually gotten through the primary, he would have a chance to beat Bloomberg and his millions. In the end, Rep Weiner came within a few percentage points of triggering a run-off with former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Ferrer subsequently went on to run the feeblest campaign in the history of NYC politics and was crushed into powder by Mike Bloomberg. Anyway, I digress.
I liked what I'd seen from Rep Weiner in the debates but was still angry about his support for the war. While I was doing my usual record hunting at the 7th Heaven Street Fair in Park Slope Brooklyn, I spotted Weiner greeting voters and shaking hands. I walked up to Weiner and I asked point blank about his support for the war. He stood with me and discussed the issue for a good ten to fifteen minutes. He tried to explain some of his original reasoning. That it was post 9-11 and he thought if there was any possible threat from Saddam we needed to take him out. I asked how in the world he could have concluded that Saddam was a threat to United States - was it Saddam's apocryphal fleet of germ spreading aerial drones? Was the aluminum tubes that he was going to use to reconstitute his non-existent Nuclear program? What was it? When he realized that I was better informed than the average voter, he just came out and said he was plum wrong. He regretted his vote and support for the war. He said he made a mistake. What was significant about this to me, is that i had spent weeks protesting out in front of Chuck Schumer's building in Park Slope. He never once came out to speak with the protesters (his constituents) who peacefully gathered every Sunday to express their opposition to the war. At one point Schumer actually gave me me finger when I confronted him about supporting the War in Iraq (long story for another day). I also attended anti-war demonstrations in front of Senator Clinton's office several times. Hillary to this day, won't admit she was wrong to back the illegal invasion of Iraq. But here was Rep Weiner telling me to my face, in his plain spoken way, that he regretted his vote.
Ever since that day, I've been a supporter of Representative Weiner. I've watched him take on Republicans and fight the good fight. On health-care, on taxes breaks for the rich, and a host of other issues. I believe that admitting that you were wrong about a policy decision shows the true character of a politician. What makes me the angriest - beyond the lunacy of media feeding frenzy and the calls to resign of spineless, cluck-clucking Democratic lawmakers - is the idiotic notion that he should step-down because he lied. And somehow lying about one's personal life is a reflection on his "character." Put every one of those 435 Congresspeople in a similar position, confronted by matters of their intimate personal life, and I guarantee the vast majority would lie. So far it hasn't been proven that he's done anything illegal. This is a personal matter and never should have made it's way into the public sphere. Would I send pictures of my pecker to chicks online - probably not. But do I really care if other people do - HELL NO! His actions are totally unrelated to his duties as an elected member of Congress. To my mind this doesn't matter and I could care less. And the truth is, you shouldn't either.