WNYC: Weiner’s Support Is Flagging, Even In Good Ol’ Sheepshead Bay
The days appear to be numbered for mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. WNYC is reporting that support for his once surging campaign is dipping, especially in Sheepshead Bay, part of the district he represented as a congressman.
Before the whole Carlos Danger fiasco broke, Weiner was riding high in the polls, following a path to make him America’s most prominent mayor. Now, he trails Christine Quinn’s 25 percent lead with his diminished 16 percent standing. Even residents of his political base in Sheepshead Bay are getting fed up with the antics, according to a sampling of patrons at El Greco by WNYC:
“Not that he broke any laws,” said Lois Weisberg, a 52-year-old public school teacher. “But what he did, you’d expect a boy to do in a junior high or high school class and he wants to run our city? That scares me.”
It wasn’t just women who were eager to weigh in on their former Congressman and current mayoral candidate.
“He’s a joke. He’s a disgrace to every normal person in the world,” said Jack Jellinick, 75, a registered Democrat from Sheepshead Bay. Around his neck, Jellinick wore gold chains with religious symbols including a tiny Jewish star his parents gave him when he joined the service at the age of 18 and two with the badge number of his daughter who retired from the NYPD this year as a sergeant. He said the latest revelation didn’t exactly surprise him.
“It’s par for the course. This guy is crazy. I mean, who does something like that. Who exposes themself. Do you know anyone normal who does that?” exclaimed Jellinick who said he’s known Weiner since he was a “very effective” congressman.
“He did me a number of favors but the converse of that is that the man is crazy,” Jellinick said. His lunch companion, Mary Valva, 63, said the latest news about Weiner’s online habits shocked and disappointed her.
“I don’t know what he was thinking,” said Valva who planned to vote for him until the latest incident came out. Her advice to Weiner was to get help. “You should never, ever put yourself out there for the public when you’ve done it again.”
Despite the dreary commentary from locals, not everybody was ready to throw Weiner under the bus. Barbara Kafah and her friend didn’t seem to mind.
“Everybody’s worried about what he’s doing personally. I mean, do you care?” Kafah said turning to her friend. “No. It’s between him and his wife and it has nothing to do with us,” she replied.
Of course, El Greco may not be quite the representative sample of Sheepshead Bay residents that WNYC thinks it is. Of course, we know Sheepshead Bites is. So what do you think?
Oh, and WNYC also built that nifty little graph up top that shows where people stand on Weiner. It’s interactive, so just click on a plot point to add your own thoughts.