Dare we hope that Weiner (and his wiener) is finally gone from the public scene?

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Anthony Weiner concedes, flips off reporter
By Katie Glueck, September 10, 2013

Anthony Weiner’s circus of a mayoral campaign came to a thudding halt on Tuesday as Weiner offered his concession speech, dropping out of New York City’s Democratic primary.

With three-fifths of the vote counted, the disgraced ex-congressman had 5 percent and was in fifth place in the crowded race.

“We had the best ideas,” Weiner, who at times seemed to be holding back his emotions, said. “Sadly, I was an imperfect messenger.”

On Tuesday Weiner voted with his young son in tow, and later held an Election Night party at an Irish pub in Manhattan. His wife, Huma Abedin, did not appear with him, and she and their son weren’t mentioned in his concession speech.

“There was never any quit in this campaign,” he said in his concession speech, as he outlined his policy positions and thanked volunteers, family and staff — especially the “wonder women in this campaign.”

Weiner, a former lawmaker who resigned from Congress in 2011 over a sexting scandal, initially looked like a plausible candidate. But it all ended with graphic new revelations that he continued to have illicit online relationships even after leaving Washington.

When Weiner entered the race in May, he painted himself as a reformed family man and a fighter for the middle class. In a campaign announcement video, he appeared with his wife and their child.

“Look, I’ve made some big mistakes and I know I’ve let a lot of people down,” he said in the clip. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it for my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.”

For a time, Weiner was competitive: a poll released right as this summer’s scandals broke put him in first place, with 26 percent, and he looked headed to a run-off.

Abedin appeared by his side again in July, under drastically different circumstances. A woman who would later be identified as Sydney Leathers came forward late that month with explicit evidence of her online relationship with Weiner. The couple held a dramatic press conference to address the charges, the first acknowledgment that Weiner’s extramarital sexting habits continued for some time after leaving Congress.

That admission was the beginning of the end for Weiner. Two days later, he said he had engaged in sexually charged online relationships with six to 10 women over time, with up to three of those dalliances occurring after he left Congress. For weeks he was the subject of salacious stories and tawdry headlines, and his poll numbers plummeted. After the initial press conference with Abedin, she disappeared from the campaign trail.

Questions have persisted about the state of their marriage. Abedin, a top Hillary Clinton aide who had taken a vacation during the primary, according to a Weiner campaign source, was already back with Clinton in D.C. on Monday at an event for the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Weiner still earned media coverage in the weeks leading up to the primary, but several times the subject matter concerned his various heated exchanges with reporters and voters. On Monday — the night before Election Day — he engaged in a fiery tussle on TV, complete with swear words, with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. Last week, he exploded at a voter in a face-off that went viral. Weiner later suggested the shouting match was triggered by an incendiary comment made about Abedin, but he was tearing into a voter, an Orthodox Jew, nonetheless.

Throughout, Weiner maintained that he still had a shot at winning, even as his poll numbers were in the single digits.

In the contentious interview with O’Donnell, Weiner was asked what he plans to do after he loses.

“I don’t plan on losing,” he said, adding, “Maybe I’ll come on this show and kick your ass every night, like I’m doing now.”

Moments after his concession speech, Weiner flipped his middle finger at a reporter as he left, according to journalists who tweeted about the interaction.
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