on the other hand, senator larry craig arrested allegedly cruising the men's restrooms. remember his exkuz he had a wide stance. he plead guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, stuck it out and finished his term. new york congressman charles rangel was censured. he too didn't quit and was recently re-elected with 80% of the vote. gop senator david vitter also got re-elected and is serving today despite his name turned up in the d.c. madam's list. he admitted to a serious sin and asked forgiveness. ironically he succeeded this man in the house, bob livingstone who resigned after committing adultery. he had just beenen to replace newt gingrich who admitted he was having an affair with a woman who had become his current wife. president clinton survived as well but anthony weiner did not. he lost support of his colleagues, and president obama who said he'd resign when he was -- if he was in his shoes. >> i wish representative weiner and his lovely wife well. obviously it's been a tough incident for him. but i'm confident that they'll refocus and he'll refocus and they'll

i'll tell with you larry craig. i spent time in idaho following the story and trying to figure out exactly what went on, and at the time i covered it realtime. his colleagues did try to push him out. they tried very, very hard to push him out. they were unsuccessful. i'm talking about colleagues in his own party. they were not successful in doing so. they stripped him of his leadership role and really tried to get him out the door. he was determined to stay. at a certain point there's not much you can do, but i guess the difference, lots of differences obviously, but this was an incident. with anthony weiner again, we're talking about the span of almost three weeks here, anderson, with new stories, new pictures, new allegations coming out every single day of frankly unsolicited pictures he was taking of himself going to women that he didn't know and even at end of the day real the straw that broke the camel's back from leadership sources and many sources that i spoke to was the fact that he sent some messages to a 1

chris: senator larry craig was stuck with his police tape this one, but still carried on his denial. >> you really think it's your feet? >> i don't know. i don't know at the time. i'm a fairly wide guy. >> let me be clear. i am not gay. i never have been gay. chris: and finally there is john edwards. here was his denial after "the national enquirer" revealed his affair. he thinks he can get by with a denial. >> it's completely untrue and ridiculous. i have been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years as anybody who has been around uslá >> this twitter picture in question is a hack or a prank that someone posted on my twitter page. it seem like a prank to make fun of my name. chris: demake a nightmare worse or was this homeless to begin with. >> people say that the cover-up is worse than the crime itself. certainly the things that he did and the way he tried deny this made him look a fool. the crime in this case was going to be pretty devastating one way or the another. if you send pictures of your genitals around, and they are forwarded around the world, you are in serious trou

this happen all the time it almost seems like politicians and sex scandals become synonymous and larry craig david vitter is eliot spitzer as anthony weiner is dominique strauss kahn is of the world too of course everyone's favorite cheater . i want you to listen and i'm going to say this again. i did not have sexual relations with that woman miss lewinsky. i never told anybody to lie another single time never these allegations are false and i need to go back to work for the american. so what is it about men in powerful positions that makes them do such stupid things and why don't we see female politicians doing the same joining me from our studio in new york is vicky ward contributing editor of vanity fair and author of the book the devil's casino friendship a betrayal and a high stakes games played inside lehman brothers thank you thank you so much for joining us tonight like i said i've been there are a railing about this story and making fun of the media for the last few weeks and the way they're obsessed with it and i have to admit i was little obsessed with making fun of them for it be

or larry craig did he tap the guy's foot, not tap the guy's foot.in six seconds, democrats always fight it out. why the double standard? >> i guess it is a style of leadership. those are questions ultimately, the street -- the voters are going to decide. it is good there's been a call for an investigation. this is -- >> sean: does this violate ethics? >> there's a good chance that it has. he will have to answer to those questions. >> sean: lanny, why the double standard? how does bill clinton survive? one of my big arguments, he can be blackmailed. >> i an we with everything that connie said -- i agree with everything that connie said about consequences. his priority now is fixing his situation with a very hurt wife. and friends -- >> sean: deal with my blackmail question and the double standard. nancy pelosi attacked republicans had to drain the swamp and culture of corruption about mark foley many she has a double standard here with congressman weiner. >> when nancy pelosi, i've known many years, used that expression, culture of corruption even wh

then there is congressman -- excuse me, senator larry craig of idaho. you may remember good old mr. wide stance arrested in june 2007 for lewd conduct in a minnesota airport bathroom. i wish we had a special axis here, maybe one that came out this way for kind of pitful. instead we go sort of medium on the creepy scale for the rank hypocrisy of a virulently anti-gay politician tapping away his reputation on a bathroom stall. he did plead guilty to a misdemeanor. he finished out his term. there was new york governor elliot spitser. boeing. a democrat. admits in march 2008 to paying for sex with hookers. he resigns. now he has the same kind of job that i have. his case is just about exactly as creepy and as prosecutable as david vitter's if we could them one on top of the other, we would. that would look like a different kind of commentary. nobody use i understand age. nobody is in a subordinate position in the workplace. again the allegation is prostitution. it is paying for sex. high on the prosecutablity scale. senator john ensign republican of nevada. big family values guys. admit

so instead of talking about john ensign or larry craig or mark sanford, now, you know you got one of their own who has shown monumentally dumb behavior. i think people are not rushing to weiner's defense because they're not sure this is over. washington is alive with rumors today that there are more photos coming out, more explicit photos coming out. if that happens, he's a dead duck. and then there is this congressional hearing too. and the ethics investigation, did he use government property, computer, office, we don't know that yet. so i don't think we have seen the end of the story. >> you laid it out for us. with all that then on the table, are the democrats better with or without him at this moment? >> they're better without him. clearly he's an albatross that republicans can hang around their neck. keep in mind, democrats hope to take back the house or at least pick up some seats this year. that's going to be hard to happen when you have -- you have democrats running in districts that are much tougher than anthony weiner's district. he's going to be linked to them. republicans

larry craig, republican senator, served out his term. he didn't resign. >> that's the senate, not the house. >> i understand. i understand. but you have to look at what's gone on in both parties in both chambers. what may happen, a very interesting solution to this would be to urge him to do what phil gramm did. totally different context. phil gramm switched from the democratic party to the republican party. you may remember. in the mid 1980s. what gramm did was to resign his seat then run for re-election in a special election. if anthony weiner wants to be vindicated, that would be an interesting path to follow. it would cost the state of new york some money, but he could resign then say i'll run in the special election, let the voters of my district make a decision on this matter. >> the republicans are not going to let go of this. >> they're not. they're not. there will be other issues that will supplant this. it's unfortunate, sad, terrible when a member does something that is stupid. there's noth other way to characterize this. anth

. >> reporter: senator larry craig was at least able to fin out his term after allegedly trying to solicit line is this. i've been unfaithful to my wife. >> reporter: south carolina governor mar sanford stayed alive, even after going awol for a week and admitting to an affair with a woman in argentina. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> and then of course bill clinton, the ultimate survivor, despite an impeachment vote by the house, the president weathered perhaps the most famous sex scandal. clinton officiated weiner's wedding. >> randi kaye, thank you. and now this. >> after weeks of hearing about thinks rapes, we for the first time have a copy of one video. >> we've heard the accusations of mass rape happening inside libya, bud now there is apparently proof. sara sidener uncovers explosive evidence. you have to see this, next. >>> i want to warn you, the story you're about to see is disturbing and graphic, because it's about rape as a weapon in libya's civil war, and evidence of those assaults that rebels say is frequently found and captured on cell phones, as cnn's

i'm repulsed when it's larry craig involved in these types of behaviors or ensign, the senator from nevada. i think these guys put themselves in a blackmailable situation. so the answer is yes. the problem is that there is the main stream media. they've got the resources and they are usual there to cover it. my contention, it's my belief that s that there is a double standard in the media in how they treat republicans and democrats. >> andrew, thanks for joining us this morning. >>> time for a check of the top stories from ann curry at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning, matt. good morning to you. we begin with the out of control wildfire in eastern arizona stoked by windy conditions and dry lightning. several resort towns are evacuated. smoke has reached as far as iowa and thousands of firefighters from across the country have been called in to put out the blaze. from fire to water, the army corps of engineers is racing to prevent a full levee breach in iowa. the missouri river is swelling because of melting snow in the rockies, weeks of driving rain and releases from upstream r

larry craig didn't discover that he was exempts because he was republican nor do democrats always gett. part of it is handling it intelligently. >> what advice would you have given him on day one when this lewd photo emerged? >> first of all, he should have put out a time line because there's so many back and forth between him and andrew. so for me looking at all of the e-mails over the last couple of days and the time line, something really doesn't added a up. like i say, i'm trying to size up the situation by looking at back and forth, back and forth. right now it is a pissing contest between andrew betwewei and bright bar. there was so much in that interview that troubled me. >> the stripper. okay. be i might interview. i don't know the difference. wolf, i was troubled by even some of his answers. i really think he just should have put out one statement and said look, we are looking into this. we have the proper authorities. he should have shut it down. now it is a power-day story. it should have been a 24-hour story. if this was a prankster, we should have gotten to the bottom of

or larry craig, the guy was arrested by an actual cop. what is the core fact in the weiner case? she says she didn't receive the picture. where's the transgression? i can't find one. how about fewer questions about whose crotch is in the photo and more, you know, journalism. if you want to read more on this, it's an entertaining e-mail, go to my blog cnn.com/cafferty report. >> i've been getting hundreds of tweets very much like that. a lot of e-mail. folks aren't very happy. >> did you see the front pages of the new york tabloids by any chance? i mean, this is such tailor made red meat for them it's unbelievable. >> see you tomorrow. up next jeanne moos with a different take on the congressman and the controversy. could that have also inspired its 556 horsepower supercharged engine? ♪ the all-new cadillac cts-v coupe. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. plus a 30-percent solar tax credit with a lennox system with sunsource. lennox. innovation never felt so good. >>> more on that story that apparently keeps on giving. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> over memorial day

ironically one of those who called for frank's resignation back in the '80s was senator larry craig.rrested at the minneapolis-st. paul airport on suspicion of lewd behavior accused of soliciting an undercover male police officer for sex. he ended up resigning from office three months later. three democrat, three republicans, three kept their seat and three ended up resigning due to scandal. >> which column will anthony weiner end up in? joining us democratic strategist robert zimmerman and in new orleans james carville. welcome to the program. >> good morning. >> i want to talk about you have been in crisis communications for some 20 years and democratic strategist. clearly this was handled badly from the beginning, going out and lying about all of this and trying to clear it -- now what? can he repair that week of lying and stalling and calling a producer trying to get the facts a jackass, can he get over that? >> look, the one rule in crisis communication, to get your story out there, because if you don't someone else will write the story. you can't get away with lying and insulti

senator john ensign waited years to resign after admitting an affair with a staffer and larry craig served out his term after soliciting an undercover police officer. they didn't go quickly, so why should congressman weiner? >> two wrongs don't make a right. i'm not defending those folks. i'm the chairman of the republican national committee now, not years ago. i think nancy pelosi should go. it took chris lee about 30 seconds to resign a couple months ago. i think nancy pelosi and debbie wasserman-schultz ought to do the right thing and ask this fellow to leave office and put someone else that there that's more fitting to serve this country. >> congressman weiner has a sharp tongue. he has certainly criticized republicans, gone on the attack against republicans on the other side of the aisle in the past. is there any level of satisfaction among those in the party that he's finally getting his comeuppance? >> no. i mean, certainly not from me, meredith. i don't operate that way. i'm not -- this has nothing to do with vindication or payback. this has to do with leadership in a democratic pa