Former congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner stopped by “The View” on Friday morning, and while he was there, the ABC hosts pulled no punches when it came to addressing his past scandals.
To introduce the man, moderator Joy Behar (Whoopi Goldberg does not appear on the show on Fridays) reminded the audience of his “series of, shall we say, sexting scandals” and then wryly asked the audience to “please welcome the very contrite Anthony Weiner.” When Behar asked if “contrite” was the right adjective, Weiner agreed but immediately took the opportunity to swipe at a past political interview on the show.
“Yeah. By the way, was this where Kamala Harris was sitting when she blew up her campaign?” Weiner quipped. “Was this the spot? I hope I don’t have the same fate.”
The hosts laughed and conceded that it was indeed where the former vice president was sitting, before launching properly into the interview. But, as she started her question, Behar trailed off, chuckling at the circumstances.
“So Anthony, when you got out of the hoosegow, um — ” she said
“Yeah, great, just make fun of that,” he said with a smile.
Weiner willingly talked of his scandals though, eventually prompting Behar to note that he’s a good politician and has a knack for talking to people, and admitting that “I was very unhappy that you got yourself into hot water.”
The former congressman argued that his success came from talking to a wide swath of voters, and not just sticking to media appearances where he knew he would have friendly journalists. But he also took the opportunity to point out that he never came on “The View.”
“I would go on Fox News, I would go on ‘The View’ and take tough questions — I mean, I didn’t, I never got invited to ‘The View.’ I had to have a giant scandal to get invited to ‘The View,’” Weiner joked.
The women didn’t let him off the hook though. When it came time for her question, host Ana Navarro teed things up bluntly, saying “Let’s talk about some of these giant scandals. You’ve had numerous of them.”
She then proceeded to list each one, which included sending nude photos via social media and sexting multiple women while he was married, including one minor.
“So with all that said, why do you think, or why should New Yorkers give you a chance at a political comeback?” Navarro asked.
Weiner argued that people should not vote for him in spite of what he’s done, but rather consider it in the whole picture, and remember that he owned up to each of his scandals and served his time. Eventually, host Sara Haines asked if voters would even be able to trust that, if he were to have a sex scandal again — Weiner says he is an addict — he would be able to “own up to it without having to be ‘caught.’”
Finally, Behar admitted that while Weiner is charismatic and makes good points, she couldn’t help but wonder why he and other disgraced male politicians remain frontrunners.
“Why is it that two qualified women could not beat all of you guys?” she asked. “These women can never beat you. They’re more qualified that almost anybody on that list, including you, I’m sorry.”
To that, Weiner conceded that women are judged more harshly than men.
You can watch part of Anthony Weiner’s appearance on “The View” in the video above.
