Weiner: Going, Going, But Not Gone

The Congressional barometric pressure gauge indicated a news storm was brewing early Thursday morning.

House Democratic leaders planned a closed door meeting to discuss stripping Weiner of his committee assignment. Multiple sources indicated that this was really an effort to apply pressure on Weiner to resign. Weiner holds a seat on the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee. And a lawmaker without a Congressional committee is like person without a country.

The Capitol buzzed with rumors that Weiner was about to resign. Everyone on Capitol Hill wanted to talk about Anthony Weiner. Except for those reporters hoped would talk about Weiner.

House Republicans promptly started a press conference about job creation at 9:30. But no one wanted to listen to that.

"Speaker Boehner, has Congressman Weiner put in his resignation?" asked CNN's Deirdre Walsh as soon as GOP lawmakers concluded their opening remarks.

"No," came a terse reply from Boehner, anxious to move on to a different topic.

"Are you aware he might resign from Congress?" continued Walsh.

"No," answered Boehner. "When I become aware of it, I'll let you know about it."

A cacophony of questions showered in about Weiner. So Boehner tried to escort the discussion back to job creation.

"It's been a distraction," Boehner continued. "The American people are asking where are the jobs. They want us to focus on job creation. And this is just a distraction that was unnecessary."

The conversation then moved to Libya.

Less than an hour later, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tried a more direct approach during her meeting with reporters. Pelosi brought along Reps. Sander Levin (D-MI) and Mark Critz (D-PA) to discuss the economy and potentially run rhetorical interference. And the leader fired a pre-emptive strike in hopes of quashing the Weiner discussion.

"We are here to talk about jobs, about Medicare and protecting the middle class," instructed Pelosi. "If you are here to ask a question about Congressman Weiner, I won't be answering any."

But of course, the first query out of the gate for Pelosi dealt with Weiner.

"Perhaps I was unclear," Pelosi replied icily.