NYC Election 2013: Anthony Weiner's Most Embarrassing Interview Ever

Impact

Thought you'd seen the most embarrassing thing Anthony Weiner had to put out there? The sexts, the dirty pictures, the videos of him getting into yelling matches with a high school principal and a Jewish voter?

Well, his Monday interview with Lawrence O'Donnell is set to become one of the worst moments of his entire screwed-up campaign. A segment of The Last Word spiraled into a completely incoherent shouting match between host O'Donnell and Weiner. Seemingly under the impression that he would be conducting a standard campaign interview, O'Donnell instead ambushed the mayoral candidate with "one basic question":

"What is wrong with you?"

An obviously stunned Weiner responded, "I don't understand the question, 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?"

O'Donnell clarified that his brutal questioning wasn't merely related to Weiner's sexting, which he thought was just "standard American photography," but that former congressman suffered from a "desperate need for elective office" and that he had "started in politics right out of college ... [and] pursuing elective office for over 20 years now ... it does not seem to be a fully healthy pursuit for your life."

"If you take in the totality of your life, Anthony, do you think you've spent your time well?" O'Donnell shot at Weiner.

"There are a lot of people who don't think that's a noble pursuit, I disagree with them," he spat back.

O'Donnell further accused Weiner of doing the "classic hack thing" via lobbying and of "hustling your services for government intervention," to which Weiner responded "You're just saying something that's not true ... what do you mean hustling ... do me a favor, I just need a hand signal when the harangue is done."

"Do you care that that's not true? ... Do you care that what you're saying to your viewers is not true?" a visibily frustrated Weiner said.

"Chillax, buddy, just dial it down a second." he added.

"Lawrence do you wanna ask me a question or do you have me on a harangue with a split screen? This can't be good TV for anybody."

While Weiner did agree to an extension of the interview in an online-only segment, one thing is clear: O'Donnell came to this interview prepared to make Weiner look like a fool in what could only be called the barest pretense of journalism. Even given Weiner's obvious failings, was this ethical?