New York City mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner’s last-ditch television attempt to scrounge up support for his flagging bid fell flat Monday evening — and that’s probably an understatement. The interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell progressed into a shouting match that lasted for minutes, sparked in part by the host’s blunt opening question: “What is wrong with you?”
From there, it was all downhill.
“I don’t understand the question,” Mr. Weiner said, as The Daily Mail reported. “What is wrong with me that I care so much about the issues that I fight for every day that I have my entire career?”
Mr. O’Donnell then strayed slightly from the normal course of unbiased journalism, calling out Mr. Weiner, a former congressman, for doing nothing more than “the classic hack thing” with all his lobby efforts to return to public office since his 2011 Twitter and texting scandal broke. Mr. Weiner, in response, denied that characterization — and also the one in which Mr. O’Donnell scorned Mr. Weiner’s “absolute desperate need for elective office and what seems to be your inability to live outside of it.”
Mr. Weiner mocked Mr. O’Donnell’s show and his network, which undoubtedly saw a ratings boost from the eight-plus minutes of shouting that ensued.
Mr. Weiner was heading into the Democratic primary election Tuesday with the support of only about 7 percent of New York City voters.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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