The College Fix

What is it about Democratic politicians and their interns?

The media has been abuzz this week with the exploits of one Olivia Nuzzi–a lowly college student who began interning for Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign a number of weeks ago.

Nuzzi quit the campaign and penned a tell-all story for the New York Daily News, basically trashing the campaign and the candidate, saying many staff were there simply to jockey for a connection to Hillary Clinton.

“I’m here because of Huma,” Clay Adam Wade, a junior staffer, explained to me.

The sentiment was repeated to me again by some fellow interns.

Their hope was to make a connection with Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, and thus forge a potential connection to her longtime boss, Hillary Clinton, to get an inside track for a campaign position if she ran for president in 2016…

Nuzzi then lowers the boom on the candidate himself, citing the recent revelations of Weiner’s ongoing sexting exploits, following the original crotch-shot scandal that led him to resign from Congress.

The question of what they are all doing there now has been on many people’s minds after the revelations last week about things everybody thought had already been fully revealed.

Who would work on a campaign like this?

When we think of an intern bringing down a politician, we can’t help but recall the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which nearly brought down Bill Clinton years ago. Of course, Anthony Weiner’s unfortunate wife, Huma Adedin, is a top aid to Hillary Clinton–so the analogies and parallels pretty much jump out and hit you in the face.

Now, word is, there’s a new Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton sex tape out–It’s four minutes of the 24-year-old begging the president to meet her. “I could take all my clothes off.” etc. etc. etc. “15 minutes or half an hour. Whatever you want.” etc. etc. etc.

This is sad.

But it shows that these days the power of the media allows an unknown college intern to level a powerful blow against a politician, if she has cause–and evidence.

What it doesn’t show is is why, exactly, people are so gullible in the first place that they lend their support to a guy like Weiner–as if Democrats in New York City believed he were the only qualified candidate available.

It’s tempting to blame the new media. We watch the media build up and tear down and build up and tear down. It makes for great TV, but really, it’s just embarrassing.

On the other hand, there’s us, the voters, who are ultimately to blame. Apparently, there were a lot of voters who bought into the Anthony Weiner redemption story. Believing, however implausibly, that a married man who sends pictures of his crotch to other women on the internet has the judgement to lead the nation’s largest and most important city. Puhleeeze.

Good thing voters got a reality check this week.

Good thing they had another young student intern to shed light on the character of the politician they supported.

Of course, Anthony Weiner’s communications manager doesn’t feel quite like I do:

TPM called Weiner’s communications director Barbara Morgan to discuss an unrelated story Tuesday and she went off on a curse-filled rant about Nuzzi, describing her as a fame hungry “bitch” who “sucked” at her job. Morgan also called Nuzzi a “slutbag,” “twat,” and “cunt” while threatening to sue her.

What a disgraceful spectacle. And to think–Weiner was leading the mayor’s race a week ago.

Nathan Harden is editor of The College Fix and author of the book SEX & GOD AT YALE: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad.

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