POLITICALLY INCORRECT

A US congressman long ridiculed for sharing the same name as a slang word for penis tearfully admitted Monday to sending pictures of his privates to young female fans online.

Anthony Weiner -- whose surname is pronounced the same as sausages used in hotdogs that are synonymous with the male sexual organ -- called a nationally televised press conference to admit he had been in a string of lewd online relationships.

Pressure had been building on the Democrat from New York after a close-up picture of an aroused male member in underpants reached a woman in Seattle via his Twitter account. For a week he hotly denied sending the picture and claimed to have been hacked.

Wiping away tears Monday, Weiner admitted: "The picture was of me and I sent it. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused."

He said he had been sending naughty pictures online and sexting with about six women over the years and "we had become friends." But he said he had not met any of them and had not had a physical relationship outside of his year-old marriage.

Weiner, a seven-term congressman who until now was seen as a leading candidate to take over as New York mayor in 2013, said he does not intend to resign his seat in the US House of Representatives.

"I don't know what I was thinking. This was a destructive thing to do," he said. But "I am not resigning. I have made it clear that I accept responsibility for this."

However, signaling his problems are not yet over, leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said an ethics investigation should be opened.

"I am deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation; for Anthony's wife, Huma, his family, his staff and his constituents," Pelosi said in a statement.

"I am calling for an Ethics Committee investigation to determine whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred."

With his stunning admission, Weiner becomes the third New York politician in recent times to get in trouble over kinky sex habits.

The state's governor, Eliot Spitzer, resigned in 2008 after being caught visiting expensive prostitutes, while earlier this year another married congressman, Chris Lee, stepped down over his attempt to arrange sex online.


ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!