Weiner: What's in a name?

A week ago I defended Congressman Andrew Weiner's version of the twitter incident. His explanation sounded reasonable to me, as lewd pictures sent online to random young women seemed like the actions of an immature, over sexed male. I believed he was probably punked by a young person with the skills to hack a twitter account and manipulate photos with the lack of life experience not to use those skills in an incriminating manner. A kid who lived in the fantasy of the internet more comfortable with Computer games than common sense.Some hormone lead pimple face boy who couldn't tell the difference between titillation and stupidity. Certainly not a person who was in the public eye with a career on the line.
In his public demeanor Andrew Weiner seemed the very opposite of that. I liked most of his ideas, and he expressed himself maturely, and he was after my nemeses Clarence Thomas. It was that old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Well, you never know some one by there "on stage" personality. I should know that from my years around actors and comics. Politicians have their public performance and their private actions. I was completely fooled.
In this 24 hour new cycle when there is really not enough news to go around, and anything involving pretty girls and sexting is tantalizing, how could a person in the public service think a lie would not be discovered? I am not addressing the insanity of sending shirtless photos to young women taken in his congressional office with pictures of his wife and family in the background. I am specifically thinking about the lies afterwards. Did he think that we would eventually buy the concept that a prankster had not only hacked his twitter account, but gained entrance to his congressional office as well? If he is that stupid, that arrogant or that dismissive of the intelligence of his constituents, then he should leave office.
He will contend that no laws were broken. It is the exact defense that John Edwards will use in his trial. When will we stop using the law as the line of decency? There are plenty of things that are technically legal but ethically wrong in a situation. Unfortunately, in this country over populated with lawyers it is only wrong if you get caught. Even then if you can beat the system you can still claim in innocence. Sometimes the court system works and it finds people innocent, but mostly they find them not guilty. It is not the same thing to me.
I don't want to get on a soap box here. I am just pissed off that I was taken in by a political performance for a News conference and wasted a blog on him. (This makes two now) Although I will say that by the very next news conference with the Weiner, as he started to hedge, it made me wonder why his innocence seemed to be so difficult for him to defend.
To paraphrase Sheakspear: A weiner by Any other name.... Is still a Weiner. A Weiner is also a hot dog, but in his case a dog that is not very hot.
As you were,
Jay