Representative Anthony Weiner Holds Press Conference Outlining "Terrible Mistakes"

U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, who represents New York's 9th Congressional District, held a press conference on Monday afternoon at a Manhattan hotel to outline the "terrible mistakes" he has made in relation to a number of online relationships he has engaged in with young women. Weiner has been embroiled in scandal ever since a lewd photo surfaced which was sent from Weiner's Twitter account to a 21-year-old female college student in Seattle, Washington. Weiner initially denied that he had sent the photo, and said that his Twitter account may have been "hacked." Bizarrely, however, Weiner did not ask the FBI or U.S. Capitol Police to investigate the incident, which just inflamed the firestorm surrounding him in the wake of the leaked photo. The media, rightly in retrospect, latched onto this detail along with some of Weiner's comments, to suggest that this was not merely a case of the Representative's Twitter account being hacked, and that he was hiding something. Today's press conference affirmed those suspicions. In yet another cringe-worthy public confession by a politician, Weiner admitted that the photo in question, along with others that have been released, are in fact him and that he sent them to the college student. He said that he has made "terrible mistakes" and that he is deeply sorry for both his conduct and the lies that he told to try and cover up the incident. He said that he lied because he was "embarrassed" and "ashamed." He repeatedly apologized to his wife and told the press that "he accepts full responsibility for his actions." He called his conduct "dumb" and "destructive," but said that he would not resign from the Congress because he does not believe that his behavior violated the oath of office and that it has not mitigated his ability to serve his constituents. He added that he has had around 6 online relationships, with the majority of them occurring prior to his marriage. The context of these relationships appear to be casual friendships with young women struck up through social media. These cyber-liasons also included the exchange of suggestive photos and possibly explicit conversations. Weiner said that his wife was aware of these relationships prior to their marriage, but the conduct did not entirely stop once he was married despite his assurances that they would end. Reports indicate that the Congressman only fully apprised his wife of his recent conduct today prior to his press conference. At the press conference, Weiner said that his wife "was not happy," but that the couple has no intentions of splitting up. He said that he loves his wife deeply and she feels the same about him. He added that it was his wife's wish that they work through this issue together. The Congressman was adamant that he has never met the women in question and that he "has never had sex outside of his marriage." The major takeaways from today's press conference are that Representative Weiner did send the leaked lewd photo to the Seattle college student, and he did, subsequently lie about it. Furthermore, he has acknowledged that he has engaged in other inappropriate relationships with young women through social media. Despite these admissions, he is not resigning from the House of Representatives. Weiner does acknowledge, however, that his constituents may not be forgiving when he comes up for re-election. Furthermore, while he has resisted resigning his Congressional post for now, it seems very possible that today's confession will bring significant pressure on him to tender his resignation in the coming days and weeks. Like so many others before him, Weiner's downfall is more about the lie and the cover up than the original mistake. After watching today's press conference, it is hard to ignore the bloodthirsty media's hunger for scandal and fanfare, and one has to wonder if Weiner's sins merit the attendant humiliation that he is currently enduring. On the other hand, the fact remains that he lied and attempted to cover the entire embarrassing incident up - and that seems to be where the real egregious error was committed.