I’ve said all I need to say about the Anthony Weiner story; he lied, he was stupid, he’s probably toast, right-wingers will gloat, and Jon Stewart will open with it. That pretty much covers it as far as news is concerned. But the frenzy will go on, I suppose, because A) it involves something titillating — assuming your definition of titillating is a photo comparable (unfavorably) to a Calvin Klein or Abercrombie & Fitch underwear ad, and B) because Mr. Weiner is a Democrat.

This story really makes it clear that there’s a double standard for reporting on stupid Congress tricks — pun intended. As BooMan notes, why didn’t David Vitter and John Ensign get the 24/7 news channel hounding? They actually committed crimes, but Mr. Ensign only resigned two years after the news broke about his affairs when he was threatened with expulsion from the Senate, and Mr. Vitter was re-elected by a wide margin. Compared to them, Anthony Weiner’s lapse of judgment is a high school prank. Not only that, the GOP folks are the ones who go around preaching to everyone about “family values” and the “sanctity of marriage.” So where was ABC News and the exclusive live reporting on those guys? [crickets]

On the other hand, if the news media covered all of the stupid antics among the public figures with the vigor of the Weiner story, it’s all we’d hear about; after all, it’s much more informative and crucial to read about bulging underwear than the unemployment figures, floods in the Midwest, or an E.Coli outbreak, right?