New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner melted down in front of the whole world Wednesday after the disgraced ex-Congressman’s confrontation with a Jewish voter was caught on video. NBC’s First Read had a rather bizarre and completely false interpretation of what happened, claiming that Weiner was “defending his wife.”
Anthony Weiner lands on the front page of the New York Daily News, but this time for defending his wife from a man wearing a yarmulke, who called Weiner a “scumbag” for being married to an “Arab”: “You’re a real scumbag, Anthony. Married to an Arab.”
First Read is correct about what the voter said about Weiner being “married to an Arab,” and there is no question that the word “Arab” was used as a pejorative (Weiner’s wife is Muslim). But that doesn’t mean Weiner chose to engage in the confrontation out of some chivalrous desire to defend his wife.
The truth is that during the boisterous exchange, Weiner never mentioned his wife or the Arab comment. Not once. The only person Anthony Weiner was defending was Anthony Weiner. America’s most infamous sexter’s frustration and anger was all directed at a man who dared judge Anthony Weiner, not a man who insulted his wife.
In Weiner’s defense, he might not have heard the insult against his wife, which was spoken by the voter as an aside. But any claim by NBC News or anyone that Weiner was “defending his wife” is provably false in the video of the confrontation, which can be summarized best as Weiner screaming ME-ME-ME-ME-ME.
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Had Weiner actually defended his wife, this confrontation might have actually helped his doomed candidacy. But he didn’t, and it is anti-science for NBC’s First Read to say he did.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC