Anthony Weiner vs . Carlos Danger: the politics of the post -paramour era

There wasn’t supposed to be any
downside for Anthony Weiner in running
for mayor of New York.
He found it.
In an extraordinary news conference
Tuesday beside his wife, Huma Abedin,
Weiner confirmed an account on the
gossip site the Dirty, which reported a
series of explicit conversations and lewd
photos that the former congressman
exchanged with a young woman, all
apparently under the nom de plume
Carlos Danger. Weiner, who resigned
from office when his habit of tweeting
dirty selfies became public two years ago,
has repeatedly stated that other such
digital indiscretions could surface, a
point he made again Tuesday evening. But
as his wife looked on, he also confirmed
that some of those erotic messages were
sent after his resignation from Congress,
and well into his redemption tour,
including after a July 2012 People
magazine article in which Abedin said
that Weiner had spent “every day” since
the scandal working to be the “best dad
and husband” possible.

Weiner, wearing a pen in the pocket of
his blue shirt, said Tuesday he hoped the
city’s voters would still “give me a second
chance.” But this time, the acclaimed
political showman served as the opening
act. Abedin, who followed his comments,
smiled broadly, nodded supportively and
spoke confidently.
Abedin, who is perhaps Hillary Rodham
Clinton’s closest aide, appears in Weiner’s
ads and on the campaign trail.
Nevertheless, she said she was “very
nervous” in her first speaking appearance
at a news conference, addressing
reporters from in front of a cubicle wall.
She said that through effort and “a lot of
therapy,” the couple had worked out their
problems. “Anthony has made some
horrible mistakes,” Abedin said.
Mistakes and chances have become
unknown variables in the new political
math.
Weiner, after all, is operating in a
political equation that allowed voters in
South Carolina to forgive former
governor Mark Sanford for his lusty non-
hiking excursions and reward him with a
seat in Congress. If anything, Weiner has
emerged as a pioneer in post-paramour
politics. This month, Eliot Spitzer, the
former New York governor who resigned
in disgrace after a prostitution scandal,
announced that he, too, would again seek
office, that of New York City comptroller.
That’s the very position Weiner
considered before deciding that losing a
relatively low-stakes race could prove
fatal to his future political ambitions. A
respectable loss in a race for mayor, on
the other hand, could help restore him to
political viability.
And soon after entering the race, he
didn’t seem to be losing at all. On the
campaign trail in June, Weiner paused
during an interview in front of a train
station in the Forest Hills neighborhood
of Queens, remarked that the station had
been dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt,
accepted a shout of “Good luck” and
rejected the notion that he was running
for mayor because it was a no-lose
situation.
“Look,” said Weiner, wearing an
American-flag tie. “I don’t think anyone
goes through this, as hard as it is, and as
much as you subject yourself to, if you
don’t want the job. Or if you don’t think
you are going to win. I just don’t believe
that that happens. It’s certainly not
happening in this case.”
Moments later, he talked about how his
wife had been a “enormous asset” in the
race thus far. On Tuesday evening, as
even the prospect of a respectable defeat
was endangered by Carlos Danger, Weiner
had to lean on her more than either
would have wanted but probably not
more than either expected. “I love him,”
Abedin said. “I have forgiven him, and as
we have said from the beginning, we are
moving forward.”
The opponents Weiner has all but eclipsed
since entering the mayoral race were less
willing to move on. Thus far reluctant to
traffic in his sex scandal, on Tuesday
they seized on the new exchanges as a
chance to put the spotlight squarely on
Weiner’s weakness. One said “enough is
enough”; another talked about
“pornographic selfies.”
Back in June, Weiner, in an interview,
described his time away from politics as
restorative. “It was very nice,” he said.
He talked about getting up early with his
young son and sipping coffee on the
couch with Abedin as they traded
sections of the New York Times. He
recalled a breakthrough when Abedin
looked at him with astonishment that he
would rather read a story about miners
than a profile about the Republican who
took his congressional seat. “ ‘Who have
you become that you don’t read the
political stuff first anymore?’ ” he
recalled her asking. “And I realized
something had happened. But in answer
to the question, no, I was not watching C-
SPAN 3 in the middle of the night.”
He then interrupted himself to yell at a
volunteer.
“You got to move the sign people closer to
me. People look at the sign and then they
look for me — that guy’s got to come over
here.”