You would think better than Weiner wouldn’t be too high a threshold, and yet...

I just watched Weiner, a 2016 documentary about the mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner. It was an interesting glance back to see what has changed in the last decade and what has not.

If you remember your ancient history, Anthony Weiner was a mentee of Chuck Schumer. When Chuck ran for Senate, Weiner ran for Chuck's seat, New York's 9th district. Weiner served in that seat from 1999 to 2011, but was then engulfed in a sexting scandal of his own making. Tony took photos of his... um... bulge and sent them to various women. The news spread, leading to his being mocked throughout the Western World and then to his resignation. Because the party of Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton would not let stand the indignity of letting a man who sent photos of his, you know, member, to women he barely knew.

So, after resigning in disgrace, Tony decided to concentrate on repairing his year-old marriage. He was, of course, married to Huma Abedin, who served as chief of staff to Hillary Clinton. Yes, that Hillary, the one who was just about to be elected to the highest office in the land. (I mean, she really was elected president as surely as Stacey Abrams was elected governor of Georgia.)

In 2013, Weiner decided to run for Mayor of New York. And during the campaign, another sexting incident came along. In the new scandal, actual flesh was visible, not just well-stretched underwear. And a woman who'd had phone sex with the candidate made their conversations public.

None of this caused Weiner to abandon his campaign, but he did lose rather badly. (He only got 4% of the vote... not enough to win.)

Anyhoo, some things have changed since then. Some people have changed. Some haven't:

1. Comedians

In the film, the documentarians play clips from The Daily Show of Stephen Colbert and John Oliver making sport of Weiner's online escapades, especially those under the alias of "Carlos Danger." And they are funny bits. That's a big difference between now and a decade ago. Late-night comedians mock a Democrat just because it's funny. But, of course, there's been nothing silly in the world of Democratic politics since the days of the Weiner campaign. Nothing funny about Joe and the Easter Bunny, Hunter and the Laptop, or the Anti-Fascist and the Tattoo. Trump jokes only. Back in the day, getting a laugh was more important than supporting the Tribe.

2. Candidates

Narcissists still run for office. When Weiner ran for mayor, he knew well that reporters would ask him chiefly about his sexting history. But he still ran. Because, obvs, he was the only person in the whole city who could rant at Republicans and advocate for Socialist medicine. If he gave it a moment's thought, he knew that there were better vessels for his sad and tired message. But he valued self-aggrandizement and his sexual peccadillos more than the causes he espoused.

And today, well, the Democratic Senatorial candidate in Maine also valued his self-aggrandizement and his sexual peccadillos more than the oh-so-very important goal of defeating the most evil person ever: Susan Collins.

So that hasn't changed.

3. Voters

The voters of New York City in 2013 couldn't bring themselves to vote for a married man who sexted with other women. But the voters of the Democrat voters of Maine were more than happy to vote for a man with a Deathcamp tattoo who shamed rape victims. A man who went to war and became a mercenary because he got his jollies killing people. A man who beat up a woman. But voters didn't know for sure yet whether he had raped a woman. That would have, apparently, been a total deal breaker. (They did know he fantasized about rape.)

So, it seems the standards of Democratic voters have slipped mightily over the past decade. Or, perhaps, the voters of New York City are just more moral than the voters of Maine. It could be that.

4. Wives

Hillary remained married to Bill. Huma divorced Anthony. The filmmakers claim Hillary wouldn't allow Huma to be a part of her presidential campaign unless she split from Tony. Misery for all.

So, what's your opinion? Has the world of politics improved or worsened over the last decade?