Wednesday’s incident was caught on YouTube.
Just as he was leaving the bakery, with cameras rolling nearby, a confrontational Weiner returned to engage a man who had criticized him.
The man said to Weiner, “You’re disgusting,” in reference to the mayoral candidate sending sexual messages to women online.
“Yeah, it takes one to know one, jackass,” Weiner replied from the bakery’s doorway. “What’s that? What’s that? You wait until I walk out to say anything, that’s courage, that’s courage!”
He then returns to the bakery to face the yarmulke-wearing man, who argued Weiner should drop out of the race for committing those “disgusting” acts.
“What rabbi taught you that you’re my judge?” Weiner asked. The man replied, “you talk to God and work out your problems but stay out of the public eye.”
“And you’re perfect? You’re going to judge me?” responded Weiner.
“I’m not running for office,” the man said, looking calm compared to the hysterical-sounding Weiner.
“By the way, I fought very hard for this community and delivered more than you ever will in your entire life,” said the ex-congressman, who once represented a portion of the city’s Orthodox Jewish community in Congress. An aide, nudging Weiner, seemed to finally convince him to leave the bakery.
Weiner, walking briskly outside, brushed off the confrontation, telling journalists he’d had more heated showdowns with constituents over President Obama’s health-care plan.
“When people want to talk to me about things, whether it’s something I want to talk about or not, whether my background or my issues, I’m eager to talk about it,” he said.
The confrontation was captured on YouTube and uploaded today.
