NEW YORK — “Weiner Exposed.” “Weiner’s Pickle.” “Battle of the Bulge.” Those were some of the tabloid headlines lampooning U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner as he struggled to explain how a photo of a man’s crotch had been posted to his Twitter account.
It is a surprising turn for the 46-year-old Brooklyn native, who until this mess was widely seen as one of the smartest members of Congress. But the fallout has highlighted his weaknesses, and he is being cast by political opponents and the media as both a thin-skinned brawler who berates reporters for asking questions and a publicity hog who seems to relish attention, no matter how it comes his way.
“The more he talks about it, the more problems he raises,” said former New York City Mayor Ed Koch. “I think he’s a very brilliant young man with a brilliant future. But this is unnecessary heartache.”
For years, Weiner was a high-energy but not particularly visible House member. His national profile skyrocketed during the long debate over President Barack Obama’s health care plan in 2009 and 2010. Weiner’s outspoken support for a government-run program for everyone, known as a “single-payer” plan, and later a “public option” to compete with private health insurance made him a liberal icon even though both proposals failed to make it into law.
Since then, Weiner has used cable news appearances and speeches on the House floor to great strategic effect. He once suggested a drinking game in which his audience of C-SPAN cable network viewers would “take a shot” each time Republicans made misstatements on the health care overhaul.
“Please assign a designated driver,” Weiner cracked. “This is going to be a long afternoon.”
For the past year, Weiner has taken to the social networking site Twitter to crack jokes and needle Republicans on policy matters.
“GOP tries to squirrel out of their support for ending Medicare. NoDisrespectToSquirrels,” he Tweeted on May 25.
Weiner also uses Twitter to poke fun at himself. His high school graduation portrait — complete with a 1980s-era turquoise turtleneck and a halo of curls— serves as his Twitter profile photo, and he made good on his promise to post his 1977 bar mitzvah photo when he reached 10,000 followers.
One Twitter follower was Genette Cordova, a Washington state college student identified as the intended recipient of the waist-down photo of a man in bulging underpants.
Cordova is one of just 198 people Weiner follows in Twitter, and he hasn’t clearly explained why a 21-year-old student would be on that short list. Both he and Cordova insist they have never met in person or had any inappropriate exchanges.
Weiner has denied sending the photo, which was directed to Cordova but was posted to all his Twitter followers and publicized by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. In interviews, Weiner refused to say “with certitude” whether it was a photo of him. The dodge struck many as disingenuous.
“You would know if this was your underpants,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer told him.
