By Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
Disgraced Ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner is giving back in a big way — or so he claims. Fresh off a recent loss in New York City’s municipal elections, Weiner held the lead among Democratic mayoral hopefuls until disturbing texts with a decidedly lewd overtone were released by a 22-year-old woman he met online. Other women came forward to sink the Weiner warship but Weiner vowed to remain in politics and be active in the community despite another public humiliation for him and his wife, Huma Abedin, a former Hillary Clinton aide.
And alas, now he’s got an idea to rehabilitate his reputation and Rockaway, Queens, a neighborhood that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Beset by rebuilding delays and high unemployment, Weiner proposes a new restaurant with a social conscience in the still reeling community. The Rockaway Restoration Kitchen is months away from it’s first fryer drop but Weiner plans to open the business and employ persons with substance abuse and criminal issues. He also wants to help the diet of the neighborhood, he claims. Rockaway, says Weiner, is a “food desert” dominated by fast food chains and pizzerias. “We want to do something sustainable for the community, while also providing healthy, local food options for the Rockaway population.”
Weiner plans a thirteen week training period that will provide life skills as well as restaurant skills. He’s hoping to make The Rockaway Restoration Kitchen a launch pad for at-risk folks who can obtain other similar jobs once they complete the training program. One mistake shouldn’t be cause for unmitigated disaster Weiner reasons, and he should know.
Pipe dream? Maybe. A PR tour de force with another run at political office being Objective No. 1? Almost surely. A recipe for success? A true quest for forgiveness from the women in his life?
Well, as any restaurant owner can tell you, the proof is in the pudding.
What do you think:
Source: CNN
~Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
By the way and for better or worse, the views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not necessarily those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays of art are solely the author’s decision and responsibility. No infringement of intellectual property rights is intended and will be remedied upon notice from the owner. Fair use is however asserted for such inclusions of quotes, excerpts, photos, art, and the like.
But I’m so glad you don’t condone his behavior. It appears that several people on this thread either do, or were unaware of it.
rafflaw – Sarah Palin did not say she hated Democrats and they should die.
The only thing she ever asked anyone to do was to go out and vote. She repeatedly made this request, and told people not to give up, no matter what.
This was yet another example of a mentally ill person going on a rampage. But instead of fixing the mental health system, we let yet another opportunity pass us by and stupidly focused on the tool he used, rather than the person who wielded it.
And one of the men I knew who agonized over coming out was a Democrat.
This shouldn’t be news, but it’s a big hurdle to come out, regardless of political affiliation.
But way to throw politics into it.
It’s ridiculous to stay in the closet. It just leads to broken hearts all around. Best to make a clean break of it and have an honest, happy life.
@rafflaw
What do you think the bullseye ad was a call for, in addition to get people to vote???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Karen,
I have not excused his bad behavior or the people who spread unproven rumors for the purpose of denigrating someone. Please provide language from me, that allegedly excuses Sharpton from his incendiary language or bad behavior
And Karen, no matter how you package it, the bulls eye ad was not a mere call out to get people to vote. .
I love how so many righty righty rightist tea party conservative Republican voters deny what they are. Why do they deny it? Ashamed?
@karenS
Thx! You might like this little ditty I did over 3 years ago when the Weiner scandal broke:
http://squeekyfrommgr.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/im-too-sexty-a-weiner-parody-song/
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
rafflaw – and, again, in case you missed it, I do not blame Sharpton for the act, but for inciting hatred against an entire race with terms like “white interloper” and “Greek homos.”
Are you, too, excusing such language? Funny what Dems will defend from their own party.
Now I, on the other hand, condemn wrong when it’s wrong, no matter the party. But I’m a fiscal conservative not attached to any party. The only one I adamantly oppose is Liberalism, from their long documented history of harming the people they try to “help” in the long run. But, even then, I still think they’re valuable in that they always ask the question, “are we doing enough?”
Squeeky – hahahahaha!
rafflaw – I specifically mentioned Sarah’s bullseye “scandal.”
As I mentioned previously, she was urging people to vote. She used military jargon, such as “bulls eye” “set our sights on”, etc.
She was actually blamed for yet another mentally ill shooting. And journalists tried to show their superiority by pledging not to ever use military jargon again. It was a laughable farce, straight out of Monte Python. They could not get through a single segment without using something like “target”, etc. They apologized every few minutes for slipping, and then gave it up.
They didn’t apologize to Sarah Palin, however, when they proved they could not discuss politics without universally accepted military terms, indispensable in politics.
Sarah was urging people to vote. Sharpton was urging hatred.
Do you not see any difference?
And I’ll warrant you did not suddenly become homophobic when you wondered about someone’s homosexuality.
rafflaw, now, tell the truth. Have you ever in your life discussed the rumored homosexuality of a pastor, or religious Republican, before you had an actual sex tape to confirm it?
Come on, we all know the answer, you might as well say it.
Karen,
It is just as bad to push and promulgate the rumor as it is to allegedly start it. And yes, there are many rumors about conservatives that I have not discussed.
Nick:
Doesn’t Hillary employ the “vast right wing conspiracy” every time she lied? She said that about Bill’s affair, when she in fact already knew it was true. She said it about Whitewater, when her finger prints were literally the only ones on the file, along with her secretary’s. She said that about the Benghazi video lie.
So, basically, as soon as I hear the conspiracy line from her, I know she’s lying.
bettykath:
Train your anger at Flowers for starting the rumor. When someone that high profile and with a documented history with the Clintons says something like that, it’s pretty much impossible to close the barn door on that one. They even discussed it on the View. Blame Bill Clinton (the dog) for making the crude comment that was repeated, or Flowers if you think she made up Bill’s comment. If I were Hillary, hell hath no fury like a wife whose sexuality her husband discusses with one of his many mistresses.
Obviously many will be curious about her sexuality. Heck, Bill could have been talking about an experimentation phase in college.
Wondering or talking about it is not a put down. How many men have come out of the closet to an anticlimactic crowd who thought, “Well, obviously” because they’d already figured it out, which implies talked about it.
I am pretty sure that if there were rumors about a conservative, Christian Republican being a closet gay, there would be a volcanic eruption of gossip on the blogs. Is Hillary exempt from the rules? Are Dems suddenly prim and proper, only in regards to Hillary?
How silly.
This is really “much ado about nothing”, to quote the bard.
Karen S.,
Aren’t you forgetting the infamous bulls eye ad of Palins?
Dredd:
I am not saying that Sharpton said “go kill some white people.” But, as is universally acknowledged with laws against inciting a riot, when someone makes racist, hate-filled rants, and then his followers go murder his targets, he is in fact responsible for inciting their hatred, if not for the actual act.
He wasn’t talking about galvanizing a vote to take back Congressional seats, as Sarah Palin did when she spoke of keeping those seats in their sites. And yet she was blamed for the Giffords shooting to such a degree that journalists stumbled over themselves for weeks trying, but failing, to curtail the use of military analogies in politics. They could hardly complete a sentence discussing the election.
No, Sharpton was displaying abject hatred for entire races in his rants. He was not urging people to vote when he talked about the “white interloper” or “Greek homos.”
Are you honestly excusing that kind of speech and behavior? Are you supporting the “Greek homos” statement?
@elaine
Oh, our styles are sooo different nobody should confuse us. For example:
Life, At The Low Life Cafe???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
The employees are not quite the “pillar ”
Of society, so it ‘s a thriller
To choose ala carte
An artichoke heart
When the sous chef ‘s a serial killer.
The waitress is really a looker
With her tats and her past as a hooker.
The bus boy ‘s a Crip
So leave a good tip
Or you might find yourself in the cooker.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Well mespo…. You heard of the new female carpenters union… Tongue in Groove…..
Wiener is just stroking his own….