Anthony Weiner is an idiot!

as much as I think all of this is crazy to consider when looking at candidates, I do think you're correct on this

Its what makes our local and national politics an undying source of high comedy. Anytime an opponent can create some "SLOP" about a candidate, no matter how silly or illogical, they will do it and with our media being the whores they are (Both left and right), most of these issues quickly develop legs and whole camps of "concern". Then, after a dew weeks, they burn out and, thanks to our national ADD, we move on to another squirrel/

Look at the IRS and Bengazi kerfuffles, they've pretty much burnt out and , even though the IRS issue was completely bogus, no one of the left media is even reminfing us that the right wing media and talking heads were pretty much full of ****.

Sex scandals can be useful if timed right. (Now is not the time that the GOP will use Weiner , and associate him with Bill Clinton until 2016. )

nice bit of hyperbole

most Democrats aren't paying attention to this unless they're following what I'd call political tabloid writers

That makes sense. The Civil-Rights Act on one hand, an out-of-control pubic area on the other --- who would want to vote for that?

Seriously. I don't get it.

like belly dancers when there's a sequin in sight

Me neither. I was being sarcastic.

I know

I agree with that position...ie that it is nobody's business, etc......however, given that the US puritanical political climate is, or should be, well known to candidates.....I do think he's a bit nuts if he continues his sexual behaviour AND seriously wants to be elected.

If he's decided to challenge the hypocrisy and the prevalent intrusion into candidate's non-illegal personal activities, then more power to his elbow!

Good point. Yes, I wish that when the scandal first broke, he had owned it. "Yea, that was me. This is the twenty-first century. Strangers sext each other. Get over it, people!" I don't blame him for being in the closet about it --- lots of people are closeted about their sex lives, lie to other people about them, and that's fine. But coming right out and owning it would have been awesome.

Yes damn it half our presidents and for the most part the better half of our presidents was not faithful husbands and that go even more so of the founding fathers.

I would love a politician to tell the news media that my private life is just that and the only ones who I will discuss it with is those that are part of that life.

Neither the media or the people as a whole are stakeholders in that aspect of my life.

unfortunately, you aren't the one that makes that decision. Pot Watergate empowered a whole new bunch f new generations of journalism. Hell, "Bloggers" don't, for the most part, do any original research. They are bottom feeders themselves

As I said tell them in a very public manner to go to hell and my bet is that more people will respect them for doing so then not.

It would at least be wonderful it someone would try that for a change.

The Democrats who are already elected office holders, and those who are the Democratic party officials, and leaders, and organizers, and contributors, certainly are paying attention. And they should be paying attention. And the Democratic voters, who plan on voting in the primary, would certainly be paying attention too--only Democrats can vote in the primary, and those who turn out for primary elections tend to be the most actively involved and concerned voters.

Weiner is a candidate on the Democratic primary ballot--and he got on that ballot before this latest scandal, and round of lies, erupted. This election isn't to choose the next mayor, it's to choose the standard bearer for the Democratic party in the mayoral election. The people who are involved in the mechanism that keeps the party running, and Democratic voters, have every right to be concerned about a Democratic candidate who has clearly been lying to them for quite some time, and who might be jeopardizing the election of a Democratic mayor because of that--Weiner's behavior affects not only him, it affects how the Democratic party is viewed, and it affects the viability of whoever the Democratic candidate for mayor will be.

Weiner is committing political suicide by defiantly remaining in this Democratic primary race. His defiance is just as reckless as his sexting with woman he doesn't know, and shouldn't really trust, if he ever again wanted to run for, or hold, public office.

You said, regarding Obama...

No I don't, he didn't have a problem with abuse or addiction, and his youthful experimentation with drugs occurred long, long ago. I didn't have a problem with Bush's past history of alcohol abuse either, since that was also in his distant past.

But if a candidate has a current problem with substance or alcohol abuse, or emotional problems, or reckless behavior in any "private" area, including his sexual conduct, yes, I think I'd like to know that--it says something about the person's stability. And when the candidate keeps lying, publicly, yes, I want to know that. And it should affect whether he should have the public trust, or my vote.

What's going on with Weiner isn't in the past, it's ongoing. And, because he can't say how many women he was involved with, or how many more are likely to come forward with embarrassing and sordid details, as Sydney Leathers just did, this business can continue to disrupt a very important election, as well as his ability to function effectively if he ever managed to get elected. Think about the possibility of pictures of his penis, and the contents of his sexts, surfacing all over the internet, after one of these women releases and distributes them, and keep telling me this is a "private matter" with a straight face, if you can.

There is no longer anything "private" about this aspect of Weiner's sexual behavior. If it was a "private" matter, you wouldn't be here commenting on it. And he's responsible for not being more truthful about it, rather than continuing to lie, before he got himself on the Democratic primary ballot.