Can Weiner Buy Time?

What will be interesting to see is whether Weiner's rehab stunt will work.  Obviously, he's going there -- not to "recover" (note below his own admission that he isn't suffering from a "disease") -- but as a way to lay low and hope the storm passes.  If there's one lesson that Democrats in sex scandals learned from Bill Clinton, it's that -- with sufficient brazenness and the passage of time -- even the most disgraceful behavior may in fact be overlooked, or even defended.

So by heading to rehab, Weiner can claim that he is too busy "getting well" to make a decision about his political career, and in the meantime, he can cherish the dream that everyone will forget about his penchant for engaging in salacious chatter with young girls.

Fat chance of that, especially with 2012 approaching fast.