Richard Perry/The New York Times  "I have made some terrible mistakes," Representative Anthony D. Weiner said. "I have not been honest."  Caught in a maelstrom of his own making, Representative Anthony D. Weiner saw his support on Capitol Hill crumble after he admitted having inappropriate online exchanges with women. A brash and talented New York politician with many admirers on the left, but few close allies, he suddenly finds himself alone on a hostile stage.  No sooner had Mr. Weiner delivered a startlingly abject admission and apology — carried live on television Monday from a circuslike news conference in Manhattan — than top Democrats on Capitol Hill began distancing themselves from him and his behavior.  Several, including Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader, called for an ethics inquiry into whether Mr. Weiner had violated House rules or used official resources to carry on his salacious electronic conversations.  Representative Steve Israel of Nassau County, the leader of the party’s effort to recapture a majority in Congress, said Mr. Weiner had “embarrassed himself, his family and the House.”  Others said it would be impossible to support Mr. Weiner given the outrageous things he had admitted, the likelihood that Republicans would make a target of anyone who came to his defense, and the possibility that some of the women he had contacted were minors.  Then there was the fact that his confession had occurred, in the words of one top Democratic Congressional official, a week too late. “It’s hard to trust in an individual who already lied,” said the official, who like others interviewed insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivities surrounding the matter.  As Democratic leaders sought to apply a tourniquet to Mr. Weiner, Republicans sought to use the spectacle he had created against Democrats in general, and in particular against Ms. Pelosi, who once pledged to “drain the swamp” of corruption involving Republicans in Congress.  The National Republican Congressional Committee distributed a memo to reporters with a series of quotes from top Democrats in which they gave Mr. Weiner the benefit of the doubt when the scandal first erupted a week ago.  A spokesman for the committee, Paul Lindsay, said, “It’s time for Democratic leadership to explain why Congressman Weiner’s actions never aroused any suspicion, and why they rushed to his defense while so many Americans were shocked and confused by his bizarre and disturbing behavior.”  In the Senate, Republicans went after Mr. Weiner’s political mentor, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, noting that Mr. Schumer had defended him in the early days of the controversy.  “Given Senator Schumer’s firm defense of Mr. Weiner, we look forward to hearing what the senator has to say now,” said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Does Senator Schumer believe no ethics rules were broken?”  Mr. Schumer issued his own statement late Monday saying he was “deeply pained and saddened” by the day’s news.  “By fully explaining himself, apologizing to all he hurt and taking full responsibility for his wrongful actions, Anthony did the right thing,” Mr. Schumer said. “He remains a talented and committed public servant, and I pray he and his family can get through these difficult times.”  But it was the hushed silence of most Democrats on Monday — apart from those who were stampeding away from him — that served as a poignant reminder of Mr. Weiner’s relative solitude within the political spheres of Washington and New York.  Widely seen as enjoying Mr. Schumer’s press instincts but not his political skills, Mr. Weiner has never been particularly popular with his colleagues, who describe him as a lone wolf with a snide streak that can verge on nasty — as when he screamed at a New York colleague, Representative Peter T. King, a Republican, on the House floor during a debate on the 9/11 health bill.  Mr. Weiner has also been a frequent thorn in the side of Democratic leaders — saying President Obama, for example, had failed to show leadership in the fight with Republicans over health reform.  Those resentments were only magnified in the past week, as Democrats in New York and Washington complained bitterly that the momentum they had won — with an upset victory in a special House election in Buffalo, and renewed confidence about pressing the attack against Republicans over Medicare — had been squandered in the media frenzy over Mr. Weiner and his Twitter account.  Another factor likely coloring attitudes toward Mr. Weiner’s future among his New York colleagues is that the loss of two seats in reapportionment may well mean the elimination of a House district in the city or on Long Island. A resignation by Mr. Weiner could thus be expected to be greeted by some with audible sighs of relief.  Yet the most immediate question for Mr. Weiner is how voters respond in his district, which straddles Brooklyn and Queens.  “Anthony’s very popular, because he’s a very good fighter for the issues that are important to the district, like health care, jobs and support for Israel,” Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman, a Democrat and one of Mr. Weiner’s Queens constituents, said. “I frankly don’t want to lose that, if all this amounts to is a problem that he needs to resolve with his wife.”
Representative Anthony D. Weinerâs political future appears cloudy, as House colleagues from his own party express doubts about their ability to support him.