Perhaps we hold ourselves to a higher standard to a fault.

Perhaps we hold our own to such a high standard that we cause problems for our own cause, even to the point where nothing less than a paladin crusader of righteousness for our own side can last on the political battlefield without being taken down for what are really minor transgressions or transgressions which have little to do with the profession of politics that we're all discussing here.

But at least we don't hold the other side to a standard of perfection while having zero standards for our own side, as the other side does.

And I think that's all I have to say about Weiner. We need more people who perform like he did in government... maybe ones that don't have Twitter accounts.

A standard I'm sure many of us would fail.

By "ourselves", I meant our political side. You're absolutely right.

we have evolved into a world where not even FDR would have survived.

Don't get me started on Kennedy.

I mean, why can't we say yeah, Weiner's a D-bag to his wife, but he's a bold progressive in Congress, and we need all of those that we can get right now, so who cares what he does in his personal life? Because we think it's just impossible for someone to be successful in politics unless they're a saint... and where does that idea come from? It's the kind of thing Newt Gingrich would say, right after divorcing one woman, marrying another, and taking yet another mistress, then running for president.

"progressives" and Democrats have no clue on framing. You and I may argue if this is on purpose, or not. (I at times think they could not be this incapable, unless they want to)

and come from the bottom up instead of from the top down.

Maybe I'm crazy, but sufficient organization around that goal could make some changes in the public dialogue, I would like to think.

Republicans control framing very aggressively, but they still have to take some framing from their base. The people in charge of framing issues are the ones who control the money, and they don't give a crap about things like abortion, but they will pay lip service to it all day long.

But no one can possibly trust him anymore, he's not an effective voice any more for that issue.

Yes, I'm pissed that Weiner did this, and especially that he lied about it. I wasn't a member of DU when Bill Clinton got his dick caught in his zipper, but he throttled everything I voted for him to do when that happened.

Is it really asking the moon from a Representative to keep their junk in their pants in the first few years of their marriage?

which is sad, because we don't have very many

would be ostracized and hounded out of government before they'd even get a chance to get anything done. But that's neither here nor there I suppose.

why do we want our politicians to act like priests in their private lives (well, like some priests...) and yet we overlook war, torture, murder, economic enslavement, horrifying corruption...

god knows when that states something to the effect of "Well, if we can't trust ______ to keep his dick in his pants, how can we trust him with nuclear weapons?" I'm not sure where or when that became more important than, oh I dunno - MAKING SURE PEOPLE HAD JOBS AND THE ECONOMY DOESN'T COLLAPSE, but yeah.

rather than just being our employees. I mean, "he's someone I'd like to hear with" isn't what I look for in a plumber.

It was in the late 80s and early 90s that all of a sudden that the private lives of politicians became a huge issue, especially with RW Boomers preaching about politicians being moral role models and all that crap.