Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Okay, So How About Eliot Spitzer?


If he broke the law, he should step down. There. I said it.

But forgive me if I don’t get all worked up about his sexual transgressions.

High-end prostitutes don’t bother me. If a woman can make $5K an hour; go girl. And there is a huge difference between a Washington lady of the night and some crack addict who’s wandering the streets, lowering property values and attracting violent crime.

I won’t pretend otherwise.

And what about those in power who have a taste for sex?

Yawn.

Unless they rant against infidelity while doing it themselves (Gingrich, Limbaugh, etc.) or rant against homosexuality while doing it themselves (see: Craig and at least a half-dozen members of the Republican Party plus that New Life guy), I do not care if someone other than my husband is getting some strange on the side.

Don’t forget to use protection, sweetheart.

Spitzer did bust a high-end prostitution ring in NYC. How’s that for awkward… and hypocritical.

What was he thinking? Maybe he wasn’t thinking. Not about his wife and kids. Not about his political future. What is it about powerful men who sabotage themselves for a piece of ass?

They’d make an interesting psychological study.

We can start with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Warren Harding, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and keep going on up ‘till today.

But you know what’s even more boring than stories about politicians and their need for grown-up action? Those who judge them.

Consider this:

Back home in Tampa, Ybor City actually, is a building called El Pasaje. As a high school student, my friends and I staged a Haunted Hotel there to raise money for our drama department. It was perfect for such a production: old and rundown with a scandalous past. The El Pasaje building was renovated soon afterward and its history is still celebrated today.

Interestingly enough, that history includes El Pasaje’s run as a bordello in the late 1880s. The girls inside took care of a certain group of regular customers who made it famous. Those customers were The Rough Riders.

Imagine back in the day if Teddy Roosevelt had been busted coming out of one of El Pasaje’s bedrooms. Imagine if he had been made to call a press conference with Edith standing beside him. Our country would have missed out on quite a leader, a president who was ahead of his time.

We look back at that era with a wistful smile, murmer “How charming” when we tour old whorehouses and hear the stories that occurred there.

I find it hypocritical to stand in judgment of Governor Spitzer now.

There is a big difference between what he did and what Mark Foley tried to do with young boys.

I won’t pretend otherwise.

However, if Eliot Spitzer broke the law, he should step down.

Can’t help but wonder what if…and I’ll bet Governor Spitzer wonders, too.

12 Comments:

At 3/11/2008, Blogger Jeff said...

I don't think he should resign for the sex. I think it's criminal that he spent nine grand on poonani. I mean, we're hurtling toward recession, for crissakes.

To paraphrase Robin Williams on cocaine: $9,000 hookers are God's way of telling you that you make too much money.

 
At 3/11/2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My issue isn't the sex or the law, it's the hypocrisy and stupidity.

On his way up, he made a name of himself by busting prostitution rings... then gets busted as a client of one.

He knew how law enforcement handled issues like this... he should have known better to avoid it altogether.

Like Ron White said, you can't fix stupid.

 
At 3/11/2008, Blogger Chase Squires said...

Last I checked, doesn't matter how much you pay, unless you're in certain counties in Nevada, and unless the government is getting a piece (so to speak), it's against the law.

 
At 3/11/2008, Blogger QuakerJono said...

Also, it must be considered as hypocrisy. Spitzer has largely catapulted his political career along via moral crusading. As New York State Attorney General, he oversaw at least two prostitution prosecutions. His actions on these prosecutions were mean-spirited, to say the least.

Now, he's been caught with various body parts in the same candy jar he was condemning just a few years ago. If one is going to act as a moral crusader, then one must be prepared to be judged by the same exacting moral standards and pin one's success to that barometer.

It's not that Spitzer hired prostitutes or had sex outside of marriage, it's that he was hypocritical about it.

At least this should serve to quite the far Right pundits who claim sex scandals are only publicized when an Republican or a conservative is involved.

 
At 3/11/2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

not sure if the Right pundits have to sit in the very back of the church yet.

did any one notice that in most of the media coverage, the word "Democrat" is missing next to his name?

 
At 3/11/2008, Blogger Chase Squires said...

not sure if this went though the first time ...

was noting that perhaps prostitution has a down side ... this came out today, along with allegations the good Gov. liked to "go cowboy" ....

"CHICAGO (AFP) — One in four teenaged girls in the United Sates has been infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, according to a study released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

 
At 3/11/2008, Blogger superdave524 said...

I do feel sorry for his family. In the picture of him and his wife in the AP story, his wife looks every bit as humiated as you'd figure. Making a mark as a moral crusader just about guarantees some sort of scandal like this. Jimmy "I have sinned" Swaggart, Eddie "homophobe, but not about you, Divine" Murphy, Newt Gingridge all know a little about that, right, guys? (Okay, Gingridge wasn't caught with a prostitute, but a "family values" dude ought not to divorce his dying wife to shack up with her nurse).

 
At 3/12/2008, Blogger QuakerJono said...

Heh, SD. My aunt was watching the press conference and she remarked, "Doesn't she look like Jennifer Aniston in about ten years?"

While I do feel sort of bad for her, I would love for one of these women, instead of suffering in silence for political expediency, to own the situation, take over the press conference and have a "come to Jesus" moment with their cheating husbands and the nation. It would have been particularly gratifying in this case since I believe Spitzer offered to pay extra if he didn't have to use a condom. She should have called him out on it on live T.V. and beat the everliving hell out of him for exposing her to who knows what.

The fact that she chose to stay silent and "supportive" when confronted with six years and $80,000 of possibly bareback ho-bangin' sort of mitigates any compassion I had for her. If she's just going to stand there and take it, she can take it on her own.

Sex with hos = nasty
Sex with hos without a condom = deadly

 
At 3/12/2008, Blogger Mr. Matt said...

I did notice that word Democrat was missing in the St. Pete Times, but was in the Tampa Trib. I don't think that was an accident. And like Kate, I just think the dude was stupid and hypocritical, and I think he should have known that there were a lot of people just waiting for him to step out of line. Cause I don't think it was an accident that he just "happend" to be caught on a federal wire tap either.

 
At 3/12/2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

doesn't the media usually make a point about one's religion too?

Usually that is a point of hypocrisy is it not?

 
At 3/12/2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you think the FBI cares about prostitution? Did anyone read about the connection to organized crime? Does anyone realize that many prostitutes are in fact slaves? I think Mr. Spitzer (he resigned today) should worry more about anyone thinking he spilled the beans about his organized crime contacts. And that, my dear friends, is why the FBI was wiretapping.

 
At 3/13/2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The FBI was wiretapping because of questionable cash transactions that seemed to be intended to avoid cash reporting laws.

Geez, does anyone actually READ the news?

 

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