We've heard the words before. Today we're hearing them from Congressman Anthony Weiner, who, before this afternoon's new round of photos of him without a shirt and a new round of sexually explicit text messages, denied to the upper atmosphere that his Twitter account had been hacked, and that he didn't send any lewd photos.
"I wasn't hacked," he tearfully told a packed news conference. "I panicked."
Mr. Weiner, a 13-year veteran Congressman from Brooklyn/Queens was widely seen as one of the leading contenders in the next race for Mayor. Hard to imagine that happening now.
Weiner had called a news conference for 4 p.m., but at the appointed hour, Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger whose controversial campaigns have derailed groups and careers, took the microphone to explain why he released the pictures. He says they were given to him.
It was a bizarre scene, as Mr. Breitbart appeared to hijack the gathering. Mr. Weiner did not appear until a few minutes after Breitbart left the podium.
Yikes.
Weiner insists he is not resigning, but it's difficult to think this won't dramatically affect his political career. Weiner was always so feisty, so combative, so willing to assail conservatives and hoist his liberal flag. Can he still climb the ladder of outspokenness with the same confidence and righteousness as before? Maybe, maybe not.
His "inappropriate" behavior is purely cyber-related. He had no physical relationship with at least half a dozen women – some before his marriage, some after.
Can he survive all this politically? And how do his constituents view all this? We'll have the story, at 11.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg with his AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
