Can Rep. Anthony Weiner survive Weinergate?
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) encounters a group of reporters as he leaves his office. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Watching Wolf' Blitzer's interview with Congressman Anthony Weiner yesterday was sort of like watching one of those Buddhist monks set himself on fire. You feel bad for the guy, but it's impossible not to watch it.
Weiner has spent a lot of time trying to talk himself out of a hole over the past few days, but the hole may be getting deeper.
The incident in question - a lewd photo sent from Weiner's Twitter account to a female college student that went out to 45,000 other people as well - was bad enough. But watching the way Weiner's been handling the media circus surrounding it is even worse. And it could kill his career.
Maybe he should take a lesson from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Yesterday we reported Christie flew a state helicopter to his son's baseball game. Bad move for a budget conscious guy many hope will run for president. But today he admitted he made a mistake and said he'll pay for the cost out of his own pocket - $2,500. Chances are he won't do that again and the story now will go away.
For Weiner, that's not happening.
Prior to what's now being called Weinergate, the congressman, an outspoken but articulate liberal, has been rumored to be considering a run for mayor of New York City in 2013. The events of the past week could endanger that.
Weiner represents a district in Queens and Brooklyn that traditionally votes Democratic. Last year, he faced his toughest battle for re-election in his 13-year congressional career, winning just 59 percent of the votes. In all previous races, he won more than 66 percent of the votes.
Of course, a run is still two years off, and a lot can happen in politics - and political scandals - in that time.
Here’s my question to you: Can Rep. Anthony Weiner survive Weinergate?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Do you believe another financial crisis is around the corner?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Housing prices falling back to their lowest level since 2002, before the Great Recession began, back-to-back discouraging jobs reports, a slowdown in consumer spending. Take your pick: There's not a lot of rosy news on the economy this week. So much for that whole recovery thing.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/06/02/art.nyse.jpg caption="Traders work on the floor on the New York Stock Exchange."]
Stocks plummeted yesterday on all this news. The Dow Jones Industrials were off more than 2 percent. And the Dow and S&P 500 were down again today.
The big employment report for the month of May comes out tomorrow. Economists are hoping to see 185,000 jobs added. If not, it could be another wild day for the markets.
Talk of a possible double-dip recession is now heating up among economists. And earlier this week, fund manager Mark Mobius told a Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo that another financial crisis is just around the corner because little has changed to regulate what largely caused the first collapse - the derivatives market. New rules to regulate derivatives are scheduled to roll out later this year and others are in the pipeline… but Wall Street-friendly lawmakers are putting up a fight.
This all comes at a time when Washington is trying to figure out how to cut spending in order to lower the deficit... all while playing chicken with the debt ceiling. Moody's Investor Service is threatening to slash the U.S. credit rating if lawmakers do not make significant progress on budget talks by July, out of fear the U.S. could default on its loans. It's going to be a long, hot summer.
Here’s my question to you: Do you believe another financial crisis is around the corner?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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