A Descent into Politics
I try not to do too much with politics around here, so that folks who like knitting or video games (or the details of random strangers' days) don't get turned off from reading about what they like just because I happen to be a liberal. But really, I have to take a moment out to smack Eliot Spitzer, because what a moron.
I don't care that the man was visiting expensive prostitutes. The illegality of prostitution is one of the dumbest hangovers of pseudo-morality out there--and given that there are still states where it's illegal for two people of the same sex to have intercourse if they want to, that's saying something--and Spitzer's certainly wealthy enough that he probably couldn't spend his money in his lifetime even if he tried pretty hard. If his wife didn't know, and from the looks she's been giving him in press conferences she certainly didn't seem to, that's extremely tacky, but that's between him and her1. A person's ability to govern is not affected by having sex with someone not married to them.
But, you know, setting oneself up as an arbiter of morality and the letter of the law and then basically pasting a sign on one's forehead saying Hello, I am a Democrat in a position of power, reveal me as a hypocrite and make it impossible for me to continue doing the useful work I was doing? That's just dumb. No matter what Republicans do behind their own scenes or under their own desks or in their own airport bathroom stalls, there was no way they were gonna let a mere Democrat get away with going to hookers. Just not happening. It's a damn shame Spitzer, by all reports an intelligent man, didn't get that.
I'm not delighted by the implication that there's the law, and then there's "Me getting away with it because I have money and power", either; you expect that kind of thing out of Republicans, but it's disheartening to see a Dem try to pull it.
And in an election year, too. Yeah.
1: As opposed to the Clintons, where it was pretty clear that Hillary didn't give a damn who Bill was boinking, but was peeved because he'd gotten caught at it. Personally, I don't care what the rules are as long as they're agreed on in advance and don't change once, you should forgive the expression, the ball's in play.