Married congressman texts pics of his private parts to other women but brazenly denies it. How would you characterize the fact that he was eventually forced to resign?
If "bum rap" springs to mind, you are on the same wavelength as Michelle Goldberg of Newsweek—and probably should seek immediate professional help. Goldberg's assertion, made on day deux of Chris Hayes's new MSNBC show, was even too much for David Axelrod. View the video after the jump.
Question: Axelrod says Weiner ran into trouble by trying to "Bogart" the situation, by which he apparently meant brazening it out. I thought "Bogart" means what a member of the Choom Gang did when he monopolized the Mary Jane—no?
CHRIS HAYES: The other case is Anthony Weiner, right? Anthony Weiner, as far as we know, never actually committed the sin of adultery, and yet, the reaction to him was massive. The amount of condemnation, the amount of press. He couldn't walk down the street, right? What is that about that Anthony Weiner got that amount of attention and David Vitter did not?
MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Anthony Weiner got a bum rap I think. As we were talking about before, maybe part of the lesson is just you just have to stick around. If Anthony Weiner hadn't resigned, if he hadn't let himself be pushed out, maybe eventually people would just get over it.
DAVID AXELROD: Part of his problem was that he was so insistent you know, that he tried to Bogart his way through it.
HAYES: That's right; that's right.
AXELROD: And he created a great deal of his own problem by doing that.
