Two things I have often been vocal about:

• A person’s sex life is their own damn business, unless a crime against another has been committed.
• Anthony Weiner, blind spot to AIPAC not withstanding, is one of the best and brightest I have ever seen.

So, I suspect the following will come as a surprise to a lot of people I know.

Weiner should resign.

I couldn’t care less what Weiner said in his texts, and who he said them to. It is no one’s business.

The reason I call for his resignation is an issue that is largely being missed, and if allowed to stand sets a chilling precedent. I understand why it is being missed, because the press would have to discuss their least favorite subject – themselves. Which is ironic, since in this case the mass media are the good guys, or at least they were until The Posta nd The News both started going with dick jokes as headlines.

I would call Andrew Breitbart a slug, but that would be insulting to slugs. That said, he was telling the truth. He used a media outlet to tell the truth. Weiner called him a liar and then went on to berate a CNN reporter (not the one who had Breitbart on) for not seeing it was a lie.  He did all of this while knowing that Breitbart was telling, and CNN was reporting, the truth.

Everyone keeps talking about how well Weiner does his job, and I myself have always been a supporter, but he did not do his job. His job is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States. When a sitting member of Congress not only lies, but accuses the fourth estate itself of lying he is not protecting the constitution, he is undermining it.

I don’t care if you love him or hate him. The history of this country and how far our government will go is all about precedent – the so-called “slippery slope”. No one left or right, pro-A.W. or Anti-A.W., should be willing to tolerate a sitting elected official trying to get away with painting a news outlet providing accurate information as a shill for false information. The fourth estate must never be used as a tool of lies (Fox News) or be bludgeoned for telling the truth (CNN, Breitbart) by someone in political power. It threatens everything that we need to know our media can be.

This can be a teachable moment. All Weiner needs to do is apologize not to his wife or his constituents but to CNN & Breitbart, state that the people’s representatives have a sworn responsibility not to use or abuse the news organizations in order to deliberately spread false information or counter true information, and then resign. In doing so he would set a new bar, and perhaps be remembered for the size of his conscience and not his penis.