Did Weiner actually cheat?

Source: MSN Slate
By William Saletan

Here's what Rep. Anthony Weiner said at his press conference yesterday, according to multiple sources:

Over the past few years, I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, email, and occasionally on the phone with women I had met online. I have exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years. For the most part, these communications took place before my marriage, though some have sadly took place after. To be clear, I have never met these any of these women or had physical relationships at any time.

The key sentence—"for the most part, these communications took place before my marriage"—appears in transcripts and excerpts published by CNN, CBS, Fox, NY1 television, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, the Atlantic, and Slate. But an important word—or, rather, half a word—is missing from those transcripts. If you watch the press conference on C-SPAN, about a minute and a half in, you'll hear it. "For the most part," says Weiner, "these relaysh—these communications took place before my marriage."

Rep. Weiner's Facebook pageThe rest of the word is obvious. Weiner was about to call his interactions with these women "relationships." But that would be too honest and dangerous. Relationship implies infidelity. Communication, on the other hand, suggests mere flirting.

Rewind the video, and you can see what happened. Weiner had looked up from his text and was trying to find his place again when the R-word slipped out of his mouth. Halfway through it, he saw that the scripted word was communications and corrected himself.

More at: http://www.slate.com/id/2296426/?GT1=38001

other people? theirs to decide.

x

Those communications are relationships, just not physical ones.

..... as it applies to their relationship.

I daresay most would consider it cheating, though.

From all accounts, his wife is a very dignified class act who worked for Hillary Clinton (and she also happens to be drop-dead gorgeous).

this? Is that the idea? That we should all be more understanding of people who deceive and cheat if their spouse isn't pretty?

Are average-looking people less deserving of honesty, integrity and fidelity?

Whatever rules of discretion he and his wife have in their marriage is for them to define. Not us. They may have an open marriage.

Politicians have to be married to get the votes, unlike regular people applying for jobs. I wouldn't be surprised if 85% of political marriages are formed for power or other reasons that are not soley based on romantic and traditional reasons.

guess i will have to take him at his word he hurt and betrayed her

but in my household the answer would be "yes"...

Looking pictures of brownies is not cheating on a diet.

And frankly, even if he had, I wouldn't care. It didn't affect his job performance.

I am, for the record, getting disgusted by the Weiner threads. Half the DU population is wigging out over the "EW PENIS PHOTOS" issue, the other half is mad because he made them look bad. Are we really willing to dismiss his entire body of work over this? No wonder we lose elections.

This x 1000.

He did not cheat. You cannot cheat with someone you have never even met.

Let's grow up a little, people. :eyes:

I will now return to ignoring these asinine Weiner threads.

Wife is not equal to dessert item.

If, however AW was operating with such a shallow understanding of normal human relations as this, I could see how he might have ended up in the mess he's now in.

It was meant as a metaphor, not a completely equal scenario. You could argue that a person may take an oath to a spouse, or a doctor, or a trainer to lose weight, and the brownie photo still wouldn't be cheating.

Infidelity requires a physical act, not just thinking about or discussing it or looking at it.

Sneaking around + sexual and/or romantic activity with others = cheating.

He spoke to the blackjack dealer on the phone, in a phone sex conversation. Sorry, my husband would call that cheating if I engaged in such behavior.

My husband would certainly not appreciate it if I conducted "sexting" conversations with various persons, if I knew them in person or not. Lots of people have "friends" through social media, and the rules still apply. It's still totally inappropriate behavior for a married person.

book deals and whatnot.

of these women...a powerful man (and the potential for fame) is a strong motivation for some...

sP

:blush:

:hide:

I don't see how there's even a question.

some want to fancy it up with cyber wot wot, but I'm sure his wife feels crushed by this just as much as if he actually stuck his weiner in some woman (and who knows, maybe he did have some physical meetings)

Sorry, that's the only explanation. He knew he was in the public eye.

There are types of infidelity, levels if you will -- having a full-on sexual affair with someone else would obviously be the most severe form. But this is still a form of infidelity -- the phone sex, the explicit conversations -- all forms of emotional infidelity as well as a form of sexual infidelity. Certainly not cool for a married person.

just another powerful man who can't get the big head to override the little one...

sP

and he used his position as a congressman as part of his stupid fantasy..(guess he didn't know you could use a fake identity)...he is a fool...and has lost all credibility....all the gory details have not been released....just wait...it will get worse.

thinks they are.

If she thinks it was serious cheating, let her have the satisfaction of beaning him with a frypan.

It's just so none of my business at this point.

Seriously?

In my house, it would be considered incredibly STUPID.