Circling the wagons 'round the Weiner.

Yes, it has been a while since I've vented my spleen about some outrage or another. It's not that there haven't been any, I just find myself too busy to spare what precious time I have to point out the obvious. As any of you who have read any of my rants in the past will agree, the common underlying theme throughout most of them has been the media's penchant for liberal bias and extreme hypocrisy. Never has that been more prevalent than with the recent revelations of Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner's twitter scandal. I'll not rehash the salacious details but suffice to say there's been more than enough salaciousness to go around. I'd always hoped having a Congressman named Weiner would pay off in comedy gold and he certainly hasn't disappointed me. Lord knows I've had my fair share of punchlines at his expense but when a public figure tweets pictures of his junk AND his name just happens to be Weiner, the jokes just write themselves. I'll try my best not to take any more cheap shots at the Congressman. Not for lack of material mind you, but it's just a little too easy to be frank. Did I just say frank? Sorry. Let me once again stiffen my resolve. Oops, did it again.

See what I mean?

Sure, it's puerile and smacks of third grade humor but if you can't find humor in this you either have no sense of humor or...you're a Democrat. Which brings me neatly to my impending point. Not in recent memory have I seen the media rush to cleanse or at least, diminish, the news surrounding Rep. Weiner. In the past two weeks, the media has spent more time attempting to downplay the severity of the scandal. Make no mistake, it is indeed a scandal due in large part to the way in which he handled it at the outset. His immediate reaction was to lie about it then perpetuate it day after day, using the media as a willing accomplice until it was no longer manageable. When the truth eventually did rear it's incredibly ugly head, he finally decided to make a heartfelt plea for forgiveness from his constituents, his wife and the media he had used to his advantage. One may never know if his wife or his constituents accepted his apology. Losing his congressional seat or his marriage remains to be seen. The media, however, appears to have taken his apology to heart and have since rushed to defend the man in ways both comical and horrific. Chris Matthews laid partial blame at his wife's feet and later said "people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian conservative culturally - you can say backward if you want...don't like this kind of stuff."

Howard Kurtz laid the blame on his position of authority stating that men with powerful personalities could not be expected to remain faithful. Ultimately, these men who are conquerers, should be allowed to philander at will...as long as they're Democrats. Daily Beast contributor Lee Siegel postsed a piece recently entitled, "C'Mon, America, Nobody's Perfect". Really? NPR's Nina Totenberg asked the musical question, "If his name weren’t Weiner, would we still be talking about this?"

Surely you jest. You mean the scandal and it's resulting ferocity of attention are based solely on his name? Lawrence O'Donnell, host of "The Last Word," ridicules the idea that lying should be grounds for resignation, Rachel Maddow, host of "The Rachel Maddow Show," describes the situation as "more gossip than news," and Cenk Uygur, MSNBC political commentator, says that "he lied, so what."

A scant five years ago the networks piled on 152 stories about Rep. Mark Foley in the story's first 12 days in the fall of 2006, but they weren’t the only ones with a vast left-wing disparity. Time and Newsweek each devoted cover stories and multiple pages to the Foley scandal. Time put an elephant’s rear end on the cover with the words “What a Mess...Why a tawdry Washington sex scandal may spell the end of the Republican revolution”. Newsweek had a huge picture of Foley (with a small President Bush in front of his face) with the huge headline “Off Message” and the subhead “Foley’s Secret Life: How a Predator’s E-mail Sex Scandal Could Cost Bush Congress.”

A Republican sex scandal brought down the entire party in the 2008 midterm election but we're just supposed to let the Weiner story fade to irrelevance according to the aforementioned lions of truth in the media.

In simple terms, Weiner sullied the reputation of the country in the wider world, he defiled his marriage to the woman he promised to love, honor and cherish til death they do part...or a hot coed comes along. He lied to his constituents, the media and the entire country multiple times and we're expected to just ignore it and forgive him. He can't help it, after all. He's just a man with flaws and imperfections that we all possess. Trouble is, he's not like us. He's a lawmaker and he's supposed to be a role model for the rest of us. He's one of the many stewards that this country elects and we hold them to a higher standard for a reason. If Mark Foley, Arnold Scwarzenegger, Mark Sanford and Chris Lee are to be held to a higher standard, then Weiner should be as well. Lee, in fact, resigned even before the shirtless pic he sent through Craig'sList even went public. Not Weiner. He's a bulldog who refuses to give up the power he has and his apologists in the media will do everything in their power to see to it that he remains in Congress.

Never mind that he's a walking cautionary tale about the abuses of power of what happens when you're thought process starts and ends below the waist. They'll defend him at all costs regardless of how it looks. And truth be told, it looks pretty bad from where I'm sitting. The media has no soul or objectivity and it's impending demise can no longer be ignored. I say good riddance. I won't shed a tear for them just as I feel no sense of remorse for Rep. Weiner. You did this to yourself. You've no one to blame but yourself.