EDITORIAL
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Lewd tweets aside—there's a line we never thought we'd write— Anthony Weiner ought to drop out of the New York City mayor's race simply because of what he's forced his wife to endure. Watching the elegant Huma Abedin stand next to her man Tuesday as he explained his latest sexually charged online exchanges was painful for a normal human being to watch. Mr. Weiner is not a normal human being. long with Eliot Spitzer, another narcissist attempting a New York political comeback after humiliating his wife, Mr. Weiner has certainly enlivened an otherwise dull political year. The two men claim to have been chastened and redeemed by their falls from power, though it's clear in both cases they only regret having been caught.
THE MOMENT WEINER WAS WAITING FOR
GARANCE FRANKE-RUTA
THE ATLANTIC
What happens now is anyone's guess. But one thing is clear: Weiner and Abedin were prepared for this moment. They knew there would be another day of scandal, when they would have to face the cameras and a new round of questions about their marriage and his online sexual adventures. And they decided he should make a run for it, anyway. One political adviser speculated in an April New York Times Magazine piece that Weiner was running to get exactly what he had to do today out of the way. "Is this about winning?" the person asked. "Or is this an attempt to get the scandal off the books? Then the next time he runs for something, he can say: 'You know what? We talked about that last time. Aren't we beyond that?'" If such a thought was part of the Weiner-Abedin strategy, they can check that box off their list. After today Anthony Weiner, strange as it may sound to say, is one difficult step closer to his eventual comeback.
MR. WEINER AND THE ELUSIVE TRUTH
EDITORIAL
NEW YORK TIMES
At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner and his sexual relationships and texting habits will finally be told. In the meantime, the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City. ... It's up to Mr. Weiner if he wants to keep running, to count on voters to forgive and forget and hand him the keys to City Hall. But he has already disqualified himself. ... Mr. Weiner says he is staying in the mayoral race. To those who know his arrogance and have grown tired of the tawdry saga he has dragged the city into, this is not surprising.
THOMAS FRIEDMAN
NEW YORK TIMES
Yes, it would have been much better had Morsi been voted out of office. But what is done is done. We need to make the best of it. The right thing for President Obama to be doing now is not only to ignore calls for cutting off economic aid to Egypt — on grounds that the last revolution amounted to a military coup. We should be trying to get everyone in the world to help this new Egyptian government succeed. This is no time for America to be punishing Egyptians or demanding quick elections. Our job is to help the new government maximize the number of good economic decisions it makes, while steadily pressuring it to become more inclusive and making it possible for multiple political parties to form. If that happens, Egypt will have a proper foundation to hold democratic elections again. If it doesn’t happen, no number of elections will save it.
VIRGINIA GOV. BOB MCDONNELL FINALLY APOLOGIZES
EDITORIAL
WASHINGTON POST
It is true that other governors of Virginia, and perhaps their family members, too, have accepted gifts, trips and other baubles resulting from their privilege in holding high office. It may also be true of some state lawmakers, which could help explain why the reaction in Richmond to this scandal has been muted. (That may also owe something to the fact that Mr. McDonnell, who has been an able governor, remains well-liked and respected.) But by all evidence, Mr. McDonnell and his family pushed the freebie-fest much further than his predecessors had. The governor, admitting the tarnish to his reputation, now concedes he has embarrassed Virginia. That’s a decent start. But it remains an apology in search of an explanation.
IT'S POSSIBLE TO GRADUATE DEBT-FREE. HERE'S HOW
REBEKAH BELL
WALL STREET JOURNAL
More than one financial-aid counselor told me it would be impossible to graduate debt-free. It often seemed like the naysayers were right. But persistence helped me pull it off. And even if I had fallen short, I still would have had to borrow much less than the average student. I may not have had as much free time as some classmates, but I enjoyed a rich and fulfilling college experience while also graduating debt-free. Graduating without debt means that now I can apply for jobs that I really want—instead of feeling like I have to grab the first one that will help me start paying off a student loan. Today, I'm indebted only to my parents for being so unreasonable.