With Groingate swelling, embattled Congressman Anthony Weiner blew off a pair of high profile parades for causes he faithfully supports.
Under fire since a lewd crotch photo was sent to a Seattle coed from his Twitter account last week, Weiner flaked on the nation’s largest annual Israel celebration in Manhattan as well as a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender event in Queens.
Despite his dogged support of Israel and representation of a heavily Jewish district, Weiner opted to skip the celebration today and stay zipped up. He had been a fixture at the event in years past.
While organizers stayed mum on Weiner’s disappearance, other politicians who flocked to the parade took note of the conspicuous absence.
“He cares about Israel and is very active in the Jewish community and he ought to be here,” said Senator Frank Lautenberg flatly.
Former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson blasted Weiner’s flaccid defense of the infamous tweet. “It’s become a distraction,” he said. “It’s become a circus. Every answer raises another question. There are so many other important questions we are facing.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo gingerly noted Weiner’s absence. “It’s going to be up to the congressman how he handles this and people will have their opinion when they actually have the facts,” he said.
Weiner’s wife, political power player and Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, has been silent on her huband’s travails.
The underwear imbroglio erupted after a picture of bulging briefs popped up in the Twitter inbox of Seattle college student Genette Cordova, a follower of the congressman and admitted fan.
After initially insisting that a hacker broke into his account and sent the photo, Weiner has since vacillated on the its origin while desperately trying to deflate the scandal.
Eyes rolled after Weiner conceded that he could not say with “certitude” that the photo was not his.
Weiner grew testy with reporters in the wake of the scandal and he and his staffers have since refused to address it.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made it to the Israel Day Parade. Weiner was noticeably absent from today’s march. (ben parker)