Ultra-liberal DNC chairman calls Weiner’s behavior “sordid” and “indefensible” and his continued service “untenable”

From the New York Times, here are bits of Minority Leader Pelosi’s and DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s hard hitting statements:

“Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help,” Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. “I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress.”

Ms. Wasserman Schultz called Mr. Weiner’s online exchanges a “sordid affair” that had become an “unacceptable distraction” for the congressman, his constituents and the House.

“The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Rep. Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said….

The leaders’ statements reflected the panic within Democratic circles that Mr. Weiner would return to Washington this week, after a Congressional recess, and bring yet another round of controversy and distraction to House Democrats.

But now the big question is: will the Democratic leadership accept Weiner’s announced “short” leave of absence as a sufficient response to their demand that he resign?

UPDATE: And here’s the answer to my question (from the Washington Post):

Weiner’s decision to stay in office despite the urgings of his party leadership was not greeted warmly. “That is unacceptable,” said one senior Democratic party official. “The die is cast. He needs to move on.”

I assume the senior party official is none other than Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

And here’s an even bigger surprise: the die was actually cast two days ago:

… the calls for his resignation were the result of a several-day process aimed at ending the political problem Weiner had created.

Beginning Thursday, Democratic officials began talks about the possibility of calling for Weiner to step aside. A Saturday morning deadline was decided on; if Weiner had not resigned by then the leadership of the party would call on him to do so in a coordinated fashion.

The deadline was a function of the inevitable questions about resignations that were sure to be posed to Democratic officials on Sunday talk shows as well as the fact that the House was returning from a recess on Monday.

But this would seem to contradict Pelosi’s statement, made just yesterday, that it was up to Weiner to decide his own future. Clearly the party leadership were much more concerned about the Weiner problem and much more determined to expel it from their midst than they had publicly let on.

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Ken Hechtman writes:

“Ms. Wasserman Schultz called Mr. Weiner’s online exchanges a ‘sordid affair’ that had become an ‘unacceptable distraction’ for the congressman, his constituents and the House.

“‘The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Rep. Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable,’ Ms. Wasserman Schultz said…”

And cue the circular firing squad. I don’t know why we even have a Republican Party in this country anymore. The Democrats do such a good job of trashing their own.

LA replies:

I suggest that Mr. Hechtman get together with Alec Baldwin and form a new political party, called the Consistent Liberal Party. Its slogan shall be, “Liberalism All the Way: No Unprincipled Exceptions.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 11, 2011 05:03 PM | Send