Former Congressman (and current candidate for New York City Mayor) Anthony Weiner called a press conference late Tuesday afternoon to confirm that new inappropriate photos of the candidate have been made public.
Unlike the press conference Weiner held two years ago to announce his resignation from Congress, his wife Huma Abedin stood by his side during his statement and even addressed the press on her own. (The intensely private Abedin rarely gives interviews.)
Naturally, Twitter lit up with advice for Abedin regarding what her next move should be . A sampling is below:
Sexters gonna sext.
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) July 23, 2013
Ain't this Anthony Weiner's 3rd chance? Huma habibty, you are better than this. #nyc2013 #weiner
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) July 23, 2013
Too late for Huma to ditch him & run? RT @GregMitch: Weiner with limited hang-out strategy: http://t.co/8Tm0vgyiK9
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) July 23, 2013
https://twitter.com/julieklausner/status/359790889209577473
How do you stand there, Huma?! MT @epngo Some illicit @anthonyweiner exchanges came after son's birth,after People photo shoot as happy fam.
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) July 24, 2013
Dear Huma – I think I speak for all of us when I say: time to dump the schmuck. Get out while you can. Love, womankind.
— Kirsten Borman Dougherty (@kborman) July 24, 2013
Huma you gonna believe? Me or or your lying eyes?
— John Dickerson (@jdickerson) July 24, 2013
https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/359792336454168576
I'm going to set Huma up with my friend Doug.
— Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) July 23, 2013
Huma is the new Rorschach. Horror, respect, pity: reactions run the gamut. But impossible to know what a marriage is like on the inside.
— Frank Bruni (@FrankBruni) July 24, 2013
I think somebody’s been watching one too many episodes of “The Good Wife.”
I’m surprised by all the “Dump the M-F- Already” attitudes, given that Abedin and Weiner have a kid together. Even Dan Savage, originator of DTMFA, says people should be more reticent to break up if they are raising children.
If her pregnancy was reason enough for her to stay with him when the scandal began, why would the baby be any less of a reason to stay with him now? No one has claimed that he had physical contact with another woman; he just seems to have an unfortunate tendency to flirt on Twitter (including intimate pictures of himself).
It’s embarrassing, and seems too much of a distraction for him to be fit to run NYC, but given how hard it is for a non-custodial father to stay connected with a kid, if he’s otherwise not a bad father and husband, I certainly see the reason to stay married.
What surprises me is that Abedin is calling for voters to forgive him. If Weiner is rebuffed from politics, he’s apparently a decent stay-at-home dad, which is valuable to a woman with a serious career who doesn’t want her kids raised by nannies.