FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
It took U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, more than a week to admit that he lied about sending an explicit picture of himself to a young college student in Seattle and that he has carried on inappropriate online exchanges with a total of six women. But it only took a few minutes during his news conference to tell us he will not resign. He should.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/06/07/art.anthony.weiner.jpg caption="Rep. Weiner admitted sending a lewd Twitter photo of himself to a woman and lying about it."]
House Minority Leader and fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi announced that there will be an ethics investigation - not that those ever mean much, ask Charlie Rangel - into whether Weiner used government resources to send the messages or broke other ethics rules. If lying is considered unethical, an investigation is really unnecessary.
That's the crux of this matter. Not only did he send those sleazy pictures, pretty sick stuff in and of itself, he repeatedly lied about doing so. He sat down with countless reporters and members of the media and lied over and over and over again.
This leads one to wonder: What else does he lie about? How can his constituents or anyone else for that matter trust anything he says?
Weiner said in a statement he will "welcome and fully cooperate with an investigation by the House Ethics Committee."
Pelosi has not asked Weiner to step down as she did when the Ethics Committee launched a similar probe into former U.S. Rep. Chris Lee of New York, the married Republican who got caught trying to meet a woman over Craigslist last year. But then Pelosi has always had a convenient set of double standards. And when it comes to members of Congress, the phrase "Ethics Committee" more often than not proves to be an oxymoron.
Here’s my question to you: Should Rep. Anthony Weiner resign?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Dave in Phoenix:
Absolutely. Some people are saying that this story is a waste of time: It's pictures of a guy without a shirt and in some underwear. That is not the story. The story is that our entire congress is made up of these lying, scheming people who are supposed to represent us. He has now been exposed as dishonest and cannot be trusted for anything ever again.
Tom:
Let's take all of the politics out of this and look at it for what it was: A member of Congress (political party being irrelevant) stood in front of America and repeatedly lied to us not just once, but day after day after day. In addition, the Congressman chided and scolded those who dared to question his lie. He is a disgrace to the office and should have the decency to resign.
Gail in Plano, Texas:
Yes, Jack, he should. This is a really creepy story, and seems to get creepier by the moment. Sad, isn't it? To be so stupid that you risk everything for what is actually a perversion! I feel sorry for his wife.
Bill:
When someone says, "I take full responsibility for my actions" that means "I admit to the indiscretion (generally after being outed), and I apologize." That is not full responsibility. If there are no consequences, then it is easy to accept full responsibility. Full responsibility means, admission, apology, contrition and facing the consequences. How about resigning because you let your constituents down and are no longer effective?
Tom in Baton Rouge, Louisiana:
Rep. Weiner will never resign. The only way he'll leave is to be thrown out by the Congress, which will never happen, or not be reelected, which is a possibility. And then he'll have to be dragged out, leaving fingernail marks on the floor.
Bob in Cooperstown, New York:
Weiner is a dead man walking. He just doesn't realize it yet.