[Guest Post by Lee Stranahan]

My Weinergate film project didn’t get enough contributions to go forward – which means anyone who pledged money won’t be charged a cent. That’s the way Kickstarter.com works; the funding is all or nothing.

So of course, some on the left took this as a chance to gloat…like Chuckles from Little Green Footballs.

Which is fine. Some projects go, some don’t. It’s just a fact of life. But I also believe in the value of perseverance. If you almost drown, jump right back in the water.

So, what will my project on Kickstarter be? Anything inspiring me?

Oh, I know!

Please consider contributing to my new film project : The Decline & Fall of Little Green Footballs. 

It already has reached the minimum funding goal – I set it to a very small $87 – but help us push it up so I can add more interviews and production value to the project!

– Lee Stranahan

No, it’s not a joke. At least . . . it’s not meant as one:

Mr. Weiner:

After having learned of your sudden and compelled resignation from your Congressional post, I would like to make you an offer of employment at Flynt Management Group, LLC in our Internet group.

Hahahahahahahaha. And he’s not kidding:

I cannot emphasize enough the genuineness of this offer. We are a serious corporation which, as you know, has been heavily involved in the political environment of this country for over thirty-five years. . . . Just as we do not undertake insincere political crusades, we do not make insincere job offers.

This is the second Weiner-related post today that sounded like it was coming straight out of the Onion. The first?

Reports on Twitter say that the Capitol police have Weiner’s office and the corridor in the Rayburn Building closed because of a “suspicious package.”

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Oh, you’re not giving that package due credit.

[Guest post by Lee Stranahan]

The issue of ‘journalistic ethics’ came up a number of times over the course of the #Weinergate story and even thought Weiner resigned today, the story may not be over. After all, the John Edwards story is still in process years after it started. So, let’s talk about some of the Journo-ethical issues in the ‘underage girl’ aspect of Weinergate.

In prepping for this article, I did some research on Journalistic Ethics and I found the exact question I’m dealing with at the very bottom of Wikipedia’s article on the subject. It’s from a list of ethical questions that were called into a “Ethics Hotline”…

Can a journalist reveal a source of information after guaranteeing confidentiality if the source proves to be unreliable?

That’s the question – and there’s not one and only one possible answer. Let’s get specific.

I never spoke to either ‘Ethel’ – the underage girl in Delaware that former Rep. Weiner was having private chats with. I never spoke to her mother, either. But I did speak to a number of reporters who spoke with Ethel’s mom, who requested confidentiality – a request they all granted. I haven’t seen a quote that’s officially from Ethel or her mother. Based on my conservations with people who spoke to the mother, though, I can tell you one thing for sure.

Ethel’s mother gave false information to the press, which they passed along to the public.

Did she give intentionally false information? I can’t say for sure but there are absolutely things that are part of the public record now that aren’t correct and they weren’t given with attribution. The circumstances surrounding what Ethel’s mother knew and when she knew it have been muddled. Ethel’s own conduct has been explained incorrectly or in confusing ways.

I think that if you decide to talk to reporters, you shouldn’t hide behind confidentiality as a way of covering up holes in your story. Personally, I believe that when the source mangles the basic facts of the story you’re researching, they’ve lost some of their expectation of privacy.

Without getting into details for the moment, I’m curious about hearing people’s response to this issue. What do you think?

– Lee Stranahan

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.  Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Note to readers: This is actually the open thread from earlier today, re-titled and bumped up to the top, only this time with the video of the conference.  I originally planned to start a new thread with this video, but I figured it would be better to “recycle” the thread because it would preserve any commentary by our regulars.  The original post will follow below the fold, and every single comment has been preserved—indeed, that is why I did it this way.

Update: Here’s Breitbart’s reaction.

[It wouldn’t embed. Use the link to listen.]

So hey let’s watch, shall we?

Watching it, he certainly doesn’t strike the tone of a man terribly sorry for what he did. There doesn’t seem to be any choked up words, etc. Mostly he seems to be sorry we are upset.

It’s worth noting that the crude heckler was reportedly a writer with the Howard Stern show.  I know, I know, that’s such a big surprise and you have to love how they delicately explain it:

Interrupting Weiner with a barrage of questions about the representative’s body, Bronk was shushed by reporters who had gathered at a senior center in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood to hear the disgraced Democrat step down.

(emphasis added.) Um, more like he asked him about the size of it.  Which you would think all of us would know by now (rolls eyes).  More from the article:

It was Bronk who was also at Weiner’s news conference earlier this month when the congressman  admitted to lying about his online activity with several women. At that news conference, Bronk blasted  out similar questions and was later belted in the leg with a bike chain after he walked into a live shot and interrupted a local Fox news reporter with other shenanigans.

After that incident, Stern explained to his audience that he does not send Bronk out to cause such interruptions. In fact, he can barely get the portly writer to come into the studio each morning on time. Nonetheless, the self-proclaimed King of all Media joyfully played the clips from news reports of Bronk’s mischief-making and notes that his former intern is asking questions that people want to know.

Twitter users noticed Bronk’s behavior, and according to a tweet from the New York Daily News, so did the NYPD, who reportedly dragged the writer from the scene.

Note to everyone involved: if you are a Congressperson in NYC having a sex scandal, hold your press conferences in Washington.  I have a feeling the guy won’t go that far to heckle you.

Also for a little Weinerfreude, here’s Alan Colmes’ reaction to the news:

I think to be fair, it wasn’t fair to assert that a person would be a hypocrite just because you think they would be.  You have to be ready to back that up.  And honestly I doubt Colmes would be that much of a cheeseball.

Anyway, the original post follows below the fold.

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[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.  Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Of course all of this is rapidly becoming moot now.  But yesterday’s press conference with Ginger Lee didn’t make sense on several levels and I have an interesting theory as to why.

First, why was Gloria Allred or any lawyer involved in that press conference?  There wasn’t (as far as I know) any legal action threatened and the facts didn’t give rise to a cause of action.  So why the lawyers?  Why not instead a publicist? (Although to be fair, Allred is arguably a publicist, too.)

Further it seemed strange for Ginger Lee to claim that she rebuffed Weiner’s advances.  Her blog and tweet feed were full of professions of love for the man.  For instance, on May 27th, literally the same day that he sent the Weinerpic, she writes on her blog:

Whoa….I get a dose of Anthony Weiner live before I go to work this evening.

Weiner before work. Me likey.

Does that make me a weirdo?

Does this sound like someone who had been subjected to unwanted advances by a married politician and rebuffed them?  You would think that if she turned down his advances, that she would be avoiding any posts that might give him inappropriate hope for a rendezvous.  Instead, that is what she wrote.  So for me, to say her story is suspicious is an understatement.

But then something occurred to me this morning, having slept on it.  Even if it was true, it would be dangerous to admit to any kind of inappropriate relationship with Weiner because she could be sued.

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In case you don’t care that Anthony Weiner is resigning (see below), there is other news in the world: the investigation into Operation Gunrunner is heating up, with hearings and the release of e-mails:

“This guy comes in, buys 10, 15, 20 AKs or … a 22-year-old girl walks in and dumps $10,000 on … AK-47s in a day, when she is driving a beat up car that doesn’t have enough metal to hold hubcaps on it. They knew what was going on. The ‘may have facilitated’ to me is kind of erroneous. We did facilitate it. How are we not responsible for the ultimate outcome of these [g]uns?” Dodson said.

The agents said they complained vociferously about the operation to superiors. Eventually, a “schism” between team members developed over whether the tactics being used were wise or even legal.

….

David Voth, the team’s supervisor, sent a March 12, 2010 email to the team, saying the tactics of “Fast and Furious” were backed by “HQ.”

“Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case and they also believe we…are doing what they envisioned the Southwest Border Grouops doing. It may sound cheesy but we are ‘The tip of the ATF spear’ when it comes to Southwest Border Firearms Trafficking,” Voth wrote.

If the agents didn’t like it, “Maybe the Maricopa County Jail is hiring detention officers and you can get paid $30,000 (instead of $100,000) to serve lunch to inmates all day,” Voth wrote.

That particular e-mail has been out before, but there are new ones. Follow the link for more information and links.

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.  Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Note: This post was retitled. Originally it was a round up on pre-resignation news, called “Weiner Links” and the news of Weiner’s resignation broke seconds after I posted it. That post will follow, under the fold, as is, but above the fold we will concentrate on the Weinerfreude.

Also updates will be constant, so keep scrolling down.

Update: Facepalm-facepalm-facepalm, how did I forget to thank Lee for covering this, especially over the memorial day weekend when all of you were out there grilling? The whole body of work was important, but he seems to have extra affection for this post.

Hey, let’s have a musical interlude:

Anyway, sorry for the omission, Lee. Can I plead a too-quickly-moving story and lack of caffeine?

Update: Literally just after I hit “post,” I saw this:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House in the wake of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner’s plans.

Read the whole thing, but I am with Emily Miller on this: “I need a press conference of his smug face before I believe it.”

Update: I just got a Cnn breaking news email that confirms it. It’s worth noting that it was believed the final decision would be made when his wife came home, and she came home early from Africa yesterday.

Update: From the tweeter to the blog: Our long national Weiner joke appears to be over.

Update: More from the Times:

Mr. Weiner, a Democrat, came to the conclusion that he could no longer serve after having long discussions with his wife, Huma Abedin, when she returned home on Tuesday after traveling abroad with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And let’s give a shout out to everyone who made this possible. Andrew Breitbart, who forced him to admit it wasn’t a hack and of course Patrick who uncovered sufficient evidence to justify a police investigation into his interaction with a teenager. And even though we don’t know him, etc., I guess we have to thank Dan Wolfe, too. And how can I forget Mike, a.k.a. Goatsred? Update: Shouldn’t have forgotten Ace, either.

Update: Iowahawk tweets: Reports: Weiner to Quit #TypingThroughTheTears

Update: Maybee correctly reports that Gennette Cordova’s twitter has gone dark. Maybee alleges it was last night when this happened. If true, would that mean that Gennette knew it was coming? On the other hand, she said several times she planned to deep-six the twitter anyway. So who knows? And even that is not necessarily nefarious. He might have simply emailed her about his decision at his wife’s request so he doesn’t mess up her life any more, and she kept her mouth shut about him.

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