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Watch Weiner Be an Asshole To British Reporter

by Jenny Hollander

Look, we know Anthony Weiner had some self-control issues, mostly to do with controlling the fly on his pants.

But we've noted before that his ousting from Congress in 2011 was actually pretty sad, because unlike some politicians (cough, Eliot Spitzer, cough,) Weiner was generally seen as a talented congressman and a decent guy, albeit with an unfortunate name and a penchant for attention-seeking on the Internet.

And sure, he busted his mayoral chances and did himself absolutely zero favors with Carlos Danger-gate, but just because he has a sexting problem, we weren't all quite ready to stick him in the "the misogynistic, asshole-y kind of politician" box yet. Until this.

British foreign correspondent Lucy Watson was out and about Thursday afternoon, doing her job, which happens to be covering politics. Upon tracking down the prospective mayoral candidate, Watson asked a few questions, and Weiner responded like you do. You know, by mocking her accent, ignoring her enquiries, refusing to make eye contact, giving passive-aggressive statements in the vague direction of the mic, and brushing her off the first chance he gets.

Or, if you prefer, read it in print. From the Washington Post's transcription:

Watson: Is it ambition, is it hunger for the big job, the power?
Weiner: It’s hard to take you seriously...

By "hard to take you seriously," he means because she has a perfectly ordinary British accent. (Disclaimer: I'm British, and I'm a little enraged.)

Watson: What is is that you want to do…
Weiner, interrupting question and speaking in an accent that mocks Watson’s: Or the hunger for the big job. Or the hunger for the big job. [noting someone else:] Hello. Uh, why don’t you go to my website, anthonyweiner.com. I want to fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it.

Watson holds back from inviting them to Google "Sydney Leathers" instead, and respectfully continues:

Watson: Would anything stop you?
Weiner: [Laughs and turns cheek] I just have a feeling I’ve, like, stepped into a Monty Python bit. I don’t know, would anything stop me? Now is a rock going to fall on my head? No, nothing’s going to stop me. I’m going to win this election.

Well, you're almost definitely not.

Watson: What makes you so sure you’re going to win this election? What can you give these people, of New York?
Weiner: I’m going to work hard for them. I’ve got better ideas, I come from a better place, I’m building a campaign on ideas for the middle class and those struggling to make it and every single day I’m fighting*** to show them that I want their support. Look at me, when I started this campaign I was 6’9″ 240 lbs., is all that’s left of me.

(The name's Danger. Carlos Danger. I'm a six-foot-nine beefcake, and I'm literally the best.)

Weiner: By the time I’m done with this campaign I’m going to slide under the door at Gracie Mansion. Anything else I can do for ITV, you want me to do the weather or something?
Watson: If you can do the weather, you can do the weather for me.
Weiner: Where is it from, this is in England?
Watson: Well, you can do the weather here in New York if you’d like.
Weiner: No, no, no, I’ll do yours instead. It’s going to be raining, cloudy and gray, so do what you can, guys. Try to keep your head up, keep a stiff — what is it? — stiff upper lip. All right, take care now.

It's actually summer in England, and record-breakingly hot.

We're putting Weiner in a box, all right.