Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) learned he has an unlikely doppelganger, one who couldn’t differ more both politically and in personality: 2013 New York City mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner (D).
Ryan addressed Republicans at an event in Mount Pleasant, Mich., on Wednesday and drew some laughs when he told audience members about being often mistaken for the scorned former New York congressman.
“I went on this flight a week later, and the flight attendants were looking at me, and they were kind of whispering at each other and pointing at me and looking and pointing,” the Wisconsin Republican recalled. “And then, finally, one of them comes up to me and says, ‘You’re somebody famous aren’t you? Are you Anthony Weiner?'”
According to the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, people have confused Ryan for Weiner not once, but twice now.
“I have no idea how that happens.”
While Ryan jokingly recounted tales of being messed up with Weiner, the former New York City mayoral candidate didn’t take it so well.
In an interview with Business Insider, Weiner said getting mixed up with Ryan is “the final insult.”
“How much more can I bear?” he said.
Weiner gained notoriety in 2011 when he accidentally posted tawdry photos of himself to his Twitter account. The then-congressman admitted to having exchanged messages and photos with several women over the course of three years. The sexting scandal led to his resignation.
He then emerged back onto the political scene in 2013 to run for New York City mayor. Weiner became embroiled in yet another scandal, though, after a woman named Sydney Leathers revealed she and Weiner had been exchanging explicit messages. The mayoral candidate, she said, operated under the pseudonym Carlos Danger.
Weiner did not drop out of the mayoral race following the sexting allegations, but he did lose.
