take it from your resident immoralist: spitzer's sexual transgressions wrong for one specific reason:

He should've done a far better of job of covering his tracks.

I kid!  I do.  That was a joke.  A drab, annoying one, but still, a joke, nonetheless.

Honestly, though, how dumb.  It's the hypocrisy, stupid.  That's the problem, here.  He went after prostitution regularly and often as a prosecutor, only to be busted as a, uh, consumer of such, now that he's a shiny, bright governor - and a Democrat, at that.  He should know better - did he observe *nothing* during the Clinton years?

I'm not shocked.  And I don't even care.  I don't think prostitution should be illegal - I think people who've made commitments to other people, such as their partners in marriage, commitments that include "my sex life belongs to you" or whatever; those people are despicable for breaking that oath.  But that's none o' my damn business.  I don't have to participate in that marriage (and thank jeebus, because - ew! If you read the transcripts, in between the lines, it sounds awfully like he wasn't into condom use when, uh, working with the women he hired to service him; how horrible for his wife).

I only feel, and it should be obvious to most rational types, that his having sexxed a prostitute makes him a hypocrite. 

And, in order to make up for the last few years, that means he's finally given the Democrats a "1" in a race that the Republicans have been winning hands-down so far, if you include Senators Foley's and Craig's, plus Congressman "Duke-stir" Duke Cunningham's, antics.

(Although the I-heart-Republicans media will mess themselves trying to pin all seeming immoral behavior solely on the Dems, thanks to Spitzer's outing.  You know it's true.  While I think we can basically agree that these are examples of equal-opportunity abuses of power.

Bleah.)

I am more piqued by the fact that the records of these phone calls were so -- available?, to begin with, and can't help wondering whether that's a result of our Congress' current wrangling over the illegal wiretapping issue.  It just seems - a little too pat.

And, evidently, I agree with Digby on this.  But then, she's brilliant.  While I'm just an ex-stripper with a heart of fool's gold.

*Updated to add that firedoglake thinks there's something rotten about the whole business, too. 

Cross-posted at Debbie's regular, immoral digs, i obsess.

Comments

[jaelithe]

I have to wonder if part of the attraction for him was the idea he might get caught.

Because, from what I can tell, he did a really poor job of covering his own tracks for a prosecutor.

[Mom101]

New York is up in arms right now. It sucks feeling betrayed by someone you voted for.

I'm fairly convinced that anyone that's all Eliot Ness on crime - the Guilianis, the Spitzers - have deep dark shit in their closets. It's that cliche about how the cops and the criminals often just have a badge separating them.

So sad.

(also your link to the transcripts is n/g - try again?)

[Glennia]

I'm not sure I would consider a person who was once a stripper an "immoralist" just on that basis. I would much rather know someone who did what they did to survive and accept it as part of who they are than someone who pretends to be something they are not.

I feel for the wife and kids in this situation. Him? Not so much.

[Julie Pippert]

Hmm, stripping might go against the conservative more grain, but I don't think it's immoral. OMS someone stop me before I hit a dictionary researching the difference between "amoral" and "immoral" and "against mores" LOL. So not your point.

They do keep saying it's the hypocrisy and I wonder. It is betrayal, no doubt. On so many levels.

To be honest, I think, from down here, I am ambivalent about it. Ho hum. Another political sex scandal...

I think I'm to the point I expect these men to never learn and keep goofing up this way. My real question is whether they can keep doing their jobs.

And THAT is what I think the real problem is here: his side hobby interfered with his goal of eradicating prostitution.