With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Rep. Anthony Weiner’s onetime Democrat allies were quick to abandon the lawmaker yesterday, just hours after he admitted it certainly could be his bulging crotch shot that was sent to a cute co-ed from his Twitter account.
Party backers in New York and Washington publicly criticized the randy rep’s attempts at damage control and his inability to shake the scandal.
At every turn, his “allies” were ready to distance themselves — and even made snarky remarks at his expense.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens) had a big smile on his face when he greeted a Post reporter yesterday by saying he was doing “better than Anthony.”
Ackerman also admitted, “It’s a little strange” that Weiner said he can’t be sure it isn’t his manhood in the photo.
Other powerful pols say the sharp-tongued legislator, known for constantly needling his GOP opponents, has finally found a controversy he can’t talk his way out of.
“He’s handling it — I hope,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told The Post, adding he didn’t know “what’s going on” with Weiner.
The story has become a distraction, he said, coldly adding, “We need to get beyond it.”
Others issued ominous warnings.
“He’s got a lawyer. I think he should listen carefully to what his lawyers say,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-LI).
And in a major blow, some pols said outright that Weiner has crushed his dream of becoming the Big Apple’s next mayor — and may even have undermined the next election for his Brooklyn-Queens congressional seat, which he has held for six terms.
“Something like this better be put to rest,” said power broker Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic chairman.
“If it’s left outstanding, it could have damaging impact, even if it means the difference of 3 or 4 percent of the vote in a very competitive four-way or five-way race,” Lopez said about Weiner’s chances in a mayoral contest.
The fallout is already hurting Weiner’s standing in Harlem, a voter-heavy area crucial to any Democratic mayoral candidate.
“It seems like it’s getting worse and worse every day,” said state Assemblyman Keith Wright, Manhattan’s Democratic Party chairman, who represents Harlem.
“I’m sure he’s going to be thinking about whatever viability [for higher office] he does have in terms of this. It’s not something he wants or needs.”
As for Weiner’s congressional seat, a Democratic source pointed out the surprisingly strong 41.5 percent of the vote that Republican challenger Bob Turner got against Weiner in the 2010 House election.
“Something like this could boost a Weiner opponent by 7 percentage points and, based on his last race, that could make it a serious race,” the source said.
Wednesday, Weiner said he didn’t tweet the lewd photo to Washington state co-ed Gennette Cordova, 21, but added that he could not say with “certitude” that it wasn’t a photo of his private parts.
He refused to shed new light on his confounding statements yesterday.
“I’ve done a bunch of interviews, including with you and others, and I’m going to get back to work today,” Weiner bristled to a Post reporter when asked how he could possibly be uncertain about whether the photo showed his aroused member.
He also balked when asked if he had taken many photos of his nether regions that might be dangling around cyberspace.
“I think I answered those questions yesterday,” Weiner snapped. “I think now you guys have got to either accept the answers or you don’t.”
Weiner also said Wednesday that he didn’t want to waste federal law-enforcement resources on an investigation into what he says was a hacked access into his Twitter account.
Yet House rules say, “Users must immediately report any unauthorized access or unusual system activities to HIR Security Office.” It’s unclear whether the possible hack involved a congressional system.
Weiner has hired the law firm Baker Hostetler to investigate, which has also drawn criticism.
“The much more common path would be to turn this over to the FBI or get a court order to get the IP address records for the Web site, something that would be quite simple,” Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor, told ABC News.