Right, because Huma Abedin isn't pissed at all or doesn't have any power over her husband whatsoever. Or is it because Michelle Obama is a ball-busting bitch who'd henpeck her husband to death? What the fuck is that statement supposed to mean, Dan?

Why don't they just get it over with already and crucify him already. This is excruciating, time to nail him up.

I think it was dickish (ejem) for Obama to say that. Every single Democrat getting on Weiners case (including Obama) should be asked, point blank, if they regret that Clinton didn't resign after actually having physical sex and lying under oath about it. When they waddle and refuse to answer, ask them if actual sex with a subordinate is less than virtual sex with strangers.

That said, I tend to agree that Obama would have to apologize for dick-pics from his hospital bed. I love Michelle, but any intern with the iron-clad ovaries to approach Barack is a lot braver than I could ever be.

@3 my post was sarcasm. Sorry if it didn't come out that way. I support Weiner in having a private sex life. In fact I'm not even jazzed at Vitter since his stuff was all consensual. Ensign's seemed to have a tinge of coercion since his mistress depended on the paycheck so he sucks ass.

@5 it's not just about abuse of power, it's hypocrisy. In Vitter we have a holier-than-thou "abstinence only education" family values conservative. He helped introduce the federal marriage ammendment (you know, because gays are such a threat to the pure sacred institution of marriage). For Vitter, marriage is an institution between a man and a woman, and a sex worker, and another sex worker and another..

Fuck that hypocrite.

The only solution is for all the democrats to post their own dick picks. No, I'm Spartacus!

No, it would never happen to Obama, because Obama actually has half a brain and would never get himself into that situation in the first place.

Clarification, Dan, Obama said he would resign as a congressman if that were to happen. He never said anything about resigning the presidency. Then again, the reporter didn't ask that followup question.

@5, it came across as sarcasm to me.

@1: I was thinking the same thing: what is Michelle Obama's reputation that would make one think she'd tear Obama apart? Or is it because she's a black woman?

@4: Yep, if they think Weiner should resign, do they think Clinton should have resigned?

@10, @1 - for me the immediate association were Ms. Obama's upper arms... but I actually I agree that Dan's joke falls flat and feels a little off/problematic in its implication.

Maybe Obama's cool confidence stems from the probability that he has enough self control to not email pictures of his junk to random women. This isn't a black/white issue. The issue is that Weiner has demonstrated incredibly bad judgement and if he has any care in the world about the democratic cause he should hit the fuckin' door yesterday.

Pulease. Analyze whatever you like in what Dan said. Black woman, muscle-y woman, fierce woman, angry woman, whatever. He's only saying what most Americans are probably joking about.

Michelle wouldn't put up with it. Barack knows that. She's a strong woman who has worked hard all her life to get where she is and both of them have made it clear they are equal partners in their marriage (or as equal as anyone can be). They've been together a long time and the boundaries are established. I'm not sure Weiner and his wife of one year have that. Huma seems to be the same kind of woman as Michelle, but with less years married and pregnant to boot, her situation is different.

I like MIchelle, too, and it makes me feel good to know Barack has yet another check and balance on him!

So for crimes such as torture, Obama thinks we should just ignore them and look forward, not backward. Or when our leaders launch wars on false pretenses that result in hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians dying, those leaders are never held accountable. But if an elected official gets caught sexting, he definitely has to resign. Our country is so fucked.

Dan, it slides toward the scary over-masculine black woman stereotype, no matter how you meant it.

Well, it's a good thing Obama's dick pix are safely under wraps then!

I don't mind all party leaders making distance-y with Weiner. They're protecting the party as a whole from being castigated by the Repugs. It is normal. Me, I hope he recovers from his post-fuckup flailing and roars back, nothing to lose in continuing to look out for his constituents. Hell, I hope he does run for NYC mayor if he wants it.

As for the comment about Michelle, there seems to be a lot of eye-of-the-beholder angst in these comments. Me, I thought of her adorable bulldog underbite and winced.

Remember that Michelle is the one who said about Hillary: "my view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."

She made it clear what she thinks of women who "let" their men cheat. So, yeah, Dan's got it right: Michelle would fucking kill Barack if he cheated. And they don't approve of women who let it happen.

The whole comment was inappropriate. There's no way to hear it without thinking of seeing Obama's dick. And while I have certainly fantasized about getting to that point with the president (more when he was a candidate), it's icky for the whole country to be imagining Obama's dick today.

"I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,''

Not because of pics, but because of the shame -- Big O's dick ain't nowhere nearly as scrawny as lil' thing pokin out in Wiener's shorts!

What about the pictures of Bush's dick? Why isn't anyone bringing up those flight suit shots?

Obama has already been de-pantsed and cheated on all the progressive voters who thought he'd fight for single payer health insurance rather than meekly accepting the dictates of the insurance lobby. I'm surprised he didn't resign for that sorry excuse for "fierce advocacy." Oh yeah, he also immediately collapsed on his promise to stop the revolving door of government officials working for lobbyists/corporations.

It's funny. He regularly maims and kills civilians - including little children and old people - with his failed policies in Afghanistan and Yemen, while making the lives of sick and dying medical marijuana users more difficult and prosecuting heroic government whistle blowers. These things are selling points, but he'd resign if he got caught sending a picture of his dick via twitter.

Truly, these are presidential moral standards.

Or as Josh Marshall says:

Best way to make Weiner story go away is for new prominent Democrat to tell him to resign each day. Ideally early in each news cycle.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/20…

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have happened to Obama primarily because he actually knows how the internet works.

I still don't get this. I mean, it may be against his and his wife's understanding of what is acceptable within the bounds of their marriage (may, not for sure "is"), but it's certainly not the worst form of "cheating." There's no evidence (and you know if there were, the right wing would've posted it all over the place already) that Weiner actually touched any of these women at all, not so much as a tap on the shoulder or a peck on the cheek, much less had any actual sex. They weren't even in the same state.

This isn't going to get any other women pregnant, this isn't going to spread any diseases, or in any real way, make any of these women a rival for his wife's place in his life. He didn't say that these other women were "his soulmate" (ala Sanford), and he didn't pay them (ala Vitter). This, basically, would've been 100% harmless flirting, barring the fact that he was a bit too lax about his typing, and it's now become a national thing, rather than just a brief exercise in testing the limits of monogamy.

Hell, in all likelihood, he had the opportunity to actually cheat, with an actual woman, rather than just fantasize about one while he was beating off. But he refrained. Shouldn't this be the good way to go about it? It's human nature to want to fuck around, but instead of fucking someone else, he channeled this desire into his own hand, showing more self control than Gingrich, Clinton, Sanford, Vitter, Ensign, Edwards...

Our Democratic Surrender Monkey in Chief.

Sexting -- bad.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and Libya?) -- good.

Torture -- sorta bad, but let's look forward.

Got it. Indeed -- Americans have a reasonable priorities list. Right?