Having a mea culpa press conference about a sexting scandal is bad enough.
What's worse? Having your own press conference taken over by the same conservative muckraker who wrongly blamed for manufacturing the scandal that you now admit is true.
That's what happened to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) when he held a press conference to admit that he'd been lying about not exchanging lewd photos and messages with single women.
Andrew Breitbart broke the Weinergate story by posting photos captured from Weiner's own Twitter feed.
Breitbart didn't just have the moxie to show up at the New York hotel where Weiner was scheduled to give a 4 p.m. press conference.
The conservative blogger showed up early, and took so many questions from the press that he went up to the podium and had his own press conference before Weiner took the stage.
During the roughly half-hour that Weiner answered questions, Breitbart was in and out of the room, doing his own interviews.
There's no question that this press conference was bad.
Here are the mistakes and some ways they could have been prevented:
1) Control your own press event.
Anyone could have predicted Breitbart might crash the party. It was a mistake to let him in the room to possibly ask questions and give his own quotes. It was an even bigger mistake to let him take the podium and answer questions.
If you're having a press event, you're the host. You control the room and the podium. Do you let all reporters inside? Sure. But it's wrong to say that Breitbart is an objective reporter. He's got an agenda. He doesn't report for a newspaper or TV station. You don't need to let him in the room.
2) Don't talk too much.
Weiner already got in trouble, just the week before, for saying too much to the media.
Why let him talk on live television for 30 minutes?
Say what you need to say and get out.
3) Pick your venue.
There's a reason Barbara Walters gets those exclusive interviews of celebrities looking to reveal secrets or make amends after a boo-boo. Sure, she asks tough questions. But it's only one reporter asking those questions, and one TV camera, and there'll be some friendly questions mixed in there. She'll treat you tough but fair, just like anybody else you give an exclusive to.
What you don't do is declare open season on yourself and tell the national media -- and the New York press corps, which isn't exactly a bunch of cream puffs -- to whale away on you while CNN and God knows who else broadcasts the pummeling live.
Yes, you can choose which questions you answer. But the audience hears all the questions. Especially the inappropriate ones. Even if you don't answer them.
4) Think about alternatives.
This is a case where a statement would have been smarter. Get up to the podium, say something smart and short and sincere, then get off the stage.
Weiner didn't give a statement. He went the most dangerous possible route, an open-ended press conference, where reporters can -- and will -- ask any question.
For a politician who has trouble keeping his mouth shut, this is a problem.
Weiner's performance reminded me of the former governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, who got caught flying to see his mistress in Argentina when he was supposedly hiking the Appalachian trail. Sanford also said far, far too much as his mea culpa press conference, going on and on about how his mistress was the love of his life.
This was probably news to Sandord's wife, who soon divorced him.
When you're in the middle of a crisis, emotions make it hard to make rational decisions. You might cry on camera, say something stupid or lash out at a reporter who asks a tough question. You might say too much. You might repeat different variations of "I deeply regret" so often that the words lose their meaning. You might do a lot of things.
That's why alternatives to a free-ranging press conference are smart. Keep it short. Keep it simple. Keep it sincere. And above all, keep control of your own press conference.