My reaction to "Weinergate"

I followed the scandal involving representative Anthony Weiner at every step. Weiner has always been a personal favorite of mine among politicians for his aggressive pursuit of progressive legislation and his general openness with the media and his constituents. His humor combined with his great intelligence made him one of the stronger faces of the Democratic party. Because of his high ranking in the party, I feel like his situation was different than many others. I'll break it down at each step.

Did the media contribute more than they should have:

I feel like the media had very little to report when it came to politics during the month this was happening, so I do feel like there was a little bit of over coverage. Granted, he is a member of the country's house, but the only people this story really ever matters to is his constituents. Instead of being treated like that, this was a national story every day for almost two weeks. The media had not behaved like that since the D.C. Madam scandal, and there was a lot more to that, since it actually involved illegal activity. Part of me also believes that the initial lie - that his account was hacked - made the media a little angry at someone who was formally so open with them, and that made them attack the blood in the water a little more harshly than they otherwise would have.

What were the Republicans motivation:

The Republicans behavior during this scandal was about what you would expect out of the self-proclaimed party of family values. Though Weiner had never branded himself a family values candidate or anything of the sort, it makes sense that they are going to use whatever ammunition they can against a powerful face in the opposing party. Though calling for his resignation was a little hypocritical in hindsight (as there have been several similar scandals in their party where they were quick to let the constituents of the guilty legislature make the decision), it's obvious that the Republicans had to force this issue so they could try to gain a seat

(which they did as of last week) and shame a strong Democrat.

Should he have resigned:

Ultimately, I think it was much more up to his constituents whether or not they were okay with Weiner's behavior enough to allow him to continue to be their representative. I don't think we heard enough of their reaction to the scandal over the fervor from the opposing party and the analysis from the 24 hour news cycle. Since the issue did not have any legal ramifications or anything of that sort, I don't think it was necessary to force him into a resignation. Instead I think it would have been more important to let the constituents decide if Weiner was someone they wanted to keep around.

What does this mean for social media:

I've said it before in blog posts: If you have any doubt about the power of social media to change lives, just ask Anthony Weiner. But, it's not just a forum where you can be tempted into showing off more than you probably should. It's a medium where you are given an amount of freedom to express yourself that is near unprecedented. If you're identity has become an idea in the way that representatives or anyone with a high social profile can, Twitter not only presents an opportunity to connect with people in unique, dynamic ways, it also presents unique, dynamic ways to make an absolutely fool of yourself.