The reported decision of Anthony Weiner to resign his House seat will probably be greeted with great relief by members of his party. Weiner has finally come to his senses and realized he can’t continue to serve after attaining pariah status. This is due as much to his public lying as to his inappropriate behavior.

In the last several days there had been a groundswell of support for Weiner on the left. Weiner had a strong liberal fan base that loved the way he bullied his opponents and smeared them with impunity. They hoped the Brooklyn congressman could survive this scandal the way the man who had conducted his marriage — Bill Clinton — had survived l’affaire Lewinsky. Some argued, not without justice, other politicians have been embroiled in scandals even worse than Weiner’s without resigning. Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter, who was involved with prostitutes, is the best such example. He not only didn’t resign but was subsequently re-elected. But Louisiana’s loose moral standards in terms of personal behavior and official corruption ought not to be adopted by the rest of the nation.

But let’s understand what’s been going on here. Republicans called for Weiner to resign to embarrass the Democrats. Democrats needed Weiner to resign to remove a distraction that had derailed their political agenda. Yet despite that, Weiner needed to leave for two reasons that had nothing to do with party politics.

First, the notion it is acceptable for a married member of Congress to be making lewd advances to women on the Internet who had contacted him because of his political positions is not one with which most Americans can live. Private people are entitled to private peccadilloes, but members of the United States Congress should not use their offices as platforms for that sort of behavior.

But even worse was the brazen manner in which Weiner spent a week lying about his behavior while accusing his political opponents of having orchestrated a hoax. His apologists said that was understandable since he was just lying about an embarrassing personal situation. But it was more than that. Remember his tirade outside of his office during which he: a. accused right-wingers of trying to sabotage him; b. insulted and bullied the press; c. Tried to divert the press from his story by casually putting out a smear about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ integrity? That performance alone illustrated everything wrong with Anthony Weiner and our political culture.

The day Weiner resigns will be a good one for Congress. He won’t be the last lout, bully and liar to serve in that august body, but his exit will mean there is one less such individual on the public payroll.