weinergate-screen-shot-hoax

The Weinergate controversy surrounding the bulging crotch-shot photo supposedly tweeted to a college girl by NY Representative Anthony Weiner has liberal and conservative blogs alike accusing each other of either creating or covering-up a potentially major political scandal.

Was Rep. Weiner's Twitter account hacked? Or did he send it, and is he hung? A review of several sources suggests this may be a conspiracy by right wing (nut) Andrew Breitbard, who previously released the edited video of U.S. government employee Shirley Sherrod, leading to her firing and condemnation. When the unedited video was later released in its entirety. leading to an official government apology and another job offer.

Is this yet another right-wing dirty trick, or another politician caught literally with his pants on the ground?

via BigGovernment:

Hacked or hung?

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY 9″) finds himself in a late night online pickle.

This evening a photo surfaced on Congressman Weiner’s yfrog account and in his verified Twitter timeline of a man in his underwear with an erection. The photo was reportedly sent to a woman on Twitter. We’ve protected her name and her account, which was at one time verified to be active but has since been deleted after the photo in question was deleted. Coincidentally, the rest of the photos in the congressman’s alleged yfrog account were also deleted around 11 p.m. eastern.

Is this the Tweet in question? Was Weiner hacked?

Weiner, who married Hillary Clinton’s longtime assistant, Huma Abedin, last year, has been Tweeting about hockey this evening. Confusion reigns online as puzzled Weiner followers wonder what occurred to Weiner’s timeline.

The photo, stored at Weiner’s alleged yfrog account, is connected to his verified Twitter account. Were his yfrog and Twitter accounts hacked as well?

A brilliant team of internet detectives, tweeters, and designers are working together in an effort to debunk the continuing hoax that claims NY House Rep. Anthony Weiner tweeted a photo of a man with a bulge in his pants to his young female Twitter follower.

An excellent analysis via Bilerico Project:

Daily Kos contributor stef has put together a timeline of the scandal, which began with twitter user Dan Wolfe's (@patriotusa76) May 11 tweet that a "top 5 RightWing blogger has sexscandal pics of "big time" Congressman@RepWeiner.

Two weeks later Dan Wolfe excitedly linked to a screenshot he claimed was taken from Rep. Weiner's yfrog twitter photo account, making Wolfe the only tweeter who had "seen" Rep. Weiner's photo. Dana Loesch, contributor to Andrew Breitbart's conservative blog BigGovernment.com, (@DLoesch) claims to have grabbed screenshots from Rep. Weiner's original account but has not released them. Many news sources have carelessly claimed that the photo appeared on Rep. Weiner's yfrog, despite the "proof" solely being Wolfe's screenshot.

Rep. Weiner calmly claimed his social media accounts had been hacked, brushing off the situation as a prank and a distraction.

But now Congressman Weiner has cracked, losing his temper with the media that will no doubt ask him the age old question: boxers or briefs?

via the LA Times:

Weiner, a Democrat from New York, is facing questions about how a lewd photo directed to a 21-year-old college student in Seattle ended up posted in his Twitter stream. Weiner initially claimed that his account was hacked. Later, he called it a "prank."

Tuesday, it was clear that Weiner was no longer interested in saying anything more about the matter. And the more that CNN reporter Dana Bash and her producer Ted Barrett pushed, the more animated Weiner became -- especially when asked, over and over again, to deny whether he had sent the photo, a crotch-level shot of a man in underwear. He was also asked repeatedly why he had not asked the police or the FBIto investigate the matter. 

"You want to do the briefing?" Weiner snapped at one point to Barrett. "Why don't you let me do the answers and you do the questions?"

He then tried to change the subject, telling the gathered press that he had now passed Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota in number of Twitter followers.

Finally he called Barrett, who continued to press him on the subject, a "jackass."

Until Congressman Weiner proves his Twitter account was hacked, this one's not going away, and unfortunately once again its guilty until proven innocent.