NY Congressman Anthony Weiner announced Monday that he had in fact tweeted to a young female Twitter follower a lewd photo of himself in underpants and sporting an erect penis. Weiner admitted in a press conference yesterday to sending sexually-explicit photos, and engaging in inappropriate online conversations with several young women. He denied having any physical contact with the young women.
Weiner’s confession comes after a lengthy media tour wherein he insisted that his Twitter account had been hacked but could neither confirm nor deny that the photo in question was of himself. The turn of events now places on the table whether Weiner can withstanding withering attacks on his veracity on the whole and Republican demands to step down from office. As it stands, Minority Leader Nacy Pelosi has requested an ethics probe into the matter, which might keep the incident in the media for sometime. But Conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart apparently sees a bigger opportunity to milk this unfortunate event for all it’s worth.
Breitbart, who reported that a photo of a man’s crotch had been sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account to a female college student says he has an X-rated picture he’ll publicize if the New York Democrat attempts reprisals against him. He told NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday that he considers the image “an insurance policy” against attacks from Weiner. He added that if Weiner wants to open himself to further investigation, “there are a lot of women” who could come forward. Asked directly if he considered the purported unpublicized picture an insurance policy, Breitbart replied, “I don’t like to think of it that way.”
Comedians also weighed in on the matter. David Letterman presented to his viewers to tweet about a doctored photo of himself as a smiling, sunkissed, shirtless, pantsless man in underpants, commenting that these photos have become one’s calling card in today’s culture.