Lost in the mess created by Congress potentially allowing the United States to default on its debt obligations, the brewing sex scandal surrounding Rep. David Wu finally claimed its protagonist’s career yesterday, and the Congressman released a goodbye video to thank his constituency for the privilege of serving them. He also noted that the bill in favor of which he cast his last vote was “abhorrent” to him, but that the “greater good” must prevail in the debt debate.

Christiane Amanpour assembled a panel of women to discuss why it’s always the men that get entangled with sex scandals, and whether or not it could simply be explained by the fact that there are many more male politicians? Claire Shipman and Torie Clarke cited various research and anecdotal observations to argue that in fact women are much less likely to lose focus on the job, unlike their male counterparts.

A fifth woman has emerged late tonight in relation to the Rep. Anthony Weiner online sex scandal, this time through no fault of her own. Traci Nobles of Athens, Georgia mistakenly left her Facebook account open near her roommate, who without her knowledge sent exchanges between the Congressman and Rep. Weiner to the Las Vegas Sun.

Rep. Anthony Weiner lied boldly to the media for more than a week since indecent photos appeared on his Twitter account, and many in the media who believed him are now airing their resentment and indignation. Among them tonight was Salon’s Joan Walsh, who told Ed Schultz on MSNBC tonight that he made her “look stupid” for giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Lawrence O’Donnell unveiled a new aphorism tonight upon which he declared the nation turned: “if you are a white man, you are going to have your own TV show in America… eventually,” along with your own sex scandal. With “Weinergate” running on all cylinders, O’Donnell used this rule of life against timeslot neighbor Bill O’Reilly to warn that he who has been involved in sex scandal claims should not cast the first stone.

A recent story on CNN reviewed various political sex scandals in history and strangely didn’t mention a former New York Governor who just so happens to host a nightly show on CNN. CNN’s own Howard Kurtz similarly noticed the “glaring omission” and didn’t hesitate to criticize his own network.

Every time a political figure has a sex scandal, CNN is going to have to smoothly maneuver around the fact that they hired former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. If they don’t mention him (or he doesn’t discuss the news), the network will be accused of bias– and if they do, it reignites the desire to ridicule. It’s a rough spot for the network to be in, but, at least in the case of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn‘s assault allegations, they handled it as gracefully as they could: by making Spitzer put on his attorney hat.

Oops. In a story on political sex scandals that aired on CNN Newsroom Tuesday, Suzanne Malveaux made mention of a long list of high-profile sex scandals, from the currently unfolding Schwarzenegger-Shriver story all the way back to John F. Kennedy. The story made mention of John Edwards, Larry Craig, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich.

The story, which aired around 2:30 p.m. ET, included Jim McGreevey, the New Jersey governor forced from office amid a sex scandal, but somehow failed to find time for Eliot Spitzer, the New York governor forced from office amid a sex scandal. Spitzer, you might recall, currently works as the host of In the Arena, a political roundtable show airing on, yes, CNN. Coincidence?

Silver lining for Republicans? Visiting Keith Olbermann tonight to talk about the details of pro-abstinence Republican Rep. Mark Souder‘s affair with a staffer, Washington Post blogger David Weigel noted that the relative damage compared to the Eric Massa affair shows that, perhaps, Republicans are better at cleaning up after themselves with these scandals.

David Letterman appears to be reaping the rewards of the National Enquirer‘s new found respect — or perhaps fear factor is a better way to phrase it. No one wants to miss a story as big as John Edwards ever again. Behold: The Letterman Sex Tape.

The sudden downfall of Eugene Robinson‘s career at the hands of his libido (no pun intended!), brought to mind all the other politicians who have suffered a similar fate . Behold, a catalog of the most awesome most absurd ways the most lustful lads have been captured in the media.