the racie for gracie

Weiner Creates New Reasons to Apologize

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 23: Anthony Weiner listens to a question from the media after courting voters outside a Harlem subway station a day after announcing he will enter the New York mayoral race on May 23, 2013 in New York City. Weiner is joining the Democratic race to succeed three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg after he was forced to resign from Congress in 2011 following the revelation of sexually explicit online behavior. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Photo: Mario Tama/2013 Getty Images

On Thursday, Anthony Weiner offered yet another sexting apology, telling his former constituents, “The mistakes that I made disrupted the community from getting the representation that it should have. And I don’t want you to think that I don’t understand that and that I don’t live with it every day and feel a sense of regret.” The mea culpa was well-received, but he balanced out that bit of good news with two gaffes. At one event, Weiner suggested NYPD officers could stand to lose a little weight, and at another he asked a voter “Were you raising your hand or flirting with me?”

The New York Post reports that while talking to a crowd in Brooklyn about putting more cops on bike and foot patrols, Weiner quipped, “I think a few of them could use a few hours on a bike, if you know what I’m saying.” Later he tried to backtrack, saying he just meant cops should “go out and walk and to bike and just be a presence in the community.”

Then this exchange took place between Weiner and an elderly woman:

When Politicker asked about the incident later, Weiner said sternly, “It was like a joke.” That’s clear from the video, but he no longer has the luxury of kidding around without consequences. If he wanted to make fun of cops and tease constituents, he should have thought of that before becoming a scandal-stained mayoral candidate.