After a short sabbatical marked by insincere apologies and feigned rehabilitation, Ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner joined the race for New York City mayor — thus perpetuating the Democratic Party’s War on Women.
Wait, isn’t it those misogynistic Republicans who are engaged in a “war” that objectifies and abuses women? Well, that was the charge by President Obama and his liberal operatives last year. Their propaganda campaign painted Mitt Romney, a decent family man, as the head of a party of anti-women Neanderthals.
Here in New York, meanwhile, we’ve got a long list of prominent Democrats who’ve variously abused women. Weiner is just one of many in this reprehensible crew.
As everyone knows, Weiner tweeted a lewd photograph of his crotch to a woman half his age, but accidentally sent the photo to all his Twitter followers. He then repeatedly lied, trying to pass the blame on to unknown hackers — probably some dastardly conservatives — out to embarrass him. Eventually, we learned that he’d sent photos of himself in various stages of undress to several other women.
Resigning in a cloud of shame left him with millions in his campaign war chest. He could have donated that money to charities to house the homeless and feed the hungry. Instead, he decided to feed his vanity and run for mayor.
Then there is the belated resignation of former Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), after months of publicity over his repeated sexual harassment of up to eight female staffers. His “pervasive pattern of abuse,” according to a report by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, included pawing staffers, asking them to dress “sexier,” punishing those who rejected his advances and asking some aides to feel his tumors.
Lopez was positioned to continue his abuse only because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arranged a hush-money settlement with two accusers that included $103,000 in taxpayer funds and a confidentiality agreement designed to protect Silver and the Assembly Democratic majority. The cover-up imploded only when two more female staffers filed harassment claims against Lopez.
Years earlier, Silver had similarly tried to protect his aide Michael Boxley from allegations of rape. Boxley, as it happens, is now back in Albany — as a lobbyist.
The unrepentant Lopez (re-elected last year despite the harassment scandal) quit before he could be expelled from the Assembly. But he’s opted to forgo the obligatory period of phony contrition and run for a City Council seat. He may well prevail.
Yet Weiner and Lopez had some reason to think they could get away with their behavior. Consider how their party and much of the media treated other powerful women-abusers.
In feminist theory, a man in a power position who uses his status to take sexual advantage of a subordinate is guilty of sexual harassment and, generally, of being a sexist pig. A textbook example would be a president of the United States obtaining sexual favors (in the Oval Office, no less) from a female intern less than half his age. Yet Democratic leaders and the media treat former President Bill Clinton as a revered elder statesman rather than as the dirty old man he is.
Then there is Eliot Spitzer, a hypocritical egomaniac of gargantuan proportion — and also considering a political comeback. As state attorney general, he prosecuted prostitution rings of the same type he would later be found to have used himself. As governor, he signed into law an anti-human trafficking law with the goal of punishing criminals who forced women into prostitution. The law even — get this — increased the penalties for men who patronized prostitutes.
Meanwhile, Spitzer treated young woman as sex toys. According to press reports, he may have spent upward of $80,000 on multiple trysts with high-priced call girls, committing both federal and state crimes.
After a brief period of trying to weather the story, he resigned in much-deserved disgrace. But he still shows no shame. During last year’s presidential campaign, he proclaimed he feared for the future of his daughters if pro-lifer Rick Santorum were elected president. If only he had shown as much concern for other parents’ daughters before he decided to rent young women’s bodies with a portion of his vast fortune.
Consider: How many impoverished lives could Spitzer have improved if he’d donated those tens of thousands of dollars to charity rather than to hooker rings?
In the dogmatic world of progressive ideology, a liberal politician can be forgiven for the serial abuse of women as long as he pays homage to a virtually unfettered “right” to an abortion, preferably paid for with taxpayer dollars. As a result, the Democrats’ War on Women continues, with Generals Weiner, Lopez, Silver, Clinton and Spitzer leading the way.
Michael E. Bongiorno was Rockland County DA from 1995 to 2007.