Fumigating

Some things that are being said by everyone. Some things that aren't:

The Republicans got lucky with Spitzer. The Justice Department and the FBI went after Spitzer without cause. The same way they went after the Democrats in Alabama. A former Governor sitting in an Alabama jail on trumped-up charges. The same way they went after the Democrats in Minnesota. An election based on the worst kind of Republican lies. The same way they fired all the Republican U.S. Attorneys who believed in the rule of law, and replaced them with those who believed in the rule of Bush. Ain't that America?

My prediction -- in the weeks to come it will become increasingly clear that the Republicans were planning to indict either Spitzer or his father (he's been in real estate for 50-60 years for chrissakes)-- for something -- true or not true -- as a way of helping McCain and Joe Bruno (the Republican leader of the New York State Senate) in November. As the saying goes, you can always find a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

My bet -- is that Spitzer spent the last 48 hours trying to figure out if he and Silda could hold out long enough for the story of Republican abuse to sink into everyone's head. (Down the road, it may yet help Spitzer escape the full impact of his crash.)

Elliot's problem -- he's a whoremonger. And you can't be holier-than-thou and be a whoremonger all on the same day. Many many times. What a cheap, arrogant way to die.

Elliot's other problem -- you can't piss off all your supporters if you are going to need them some day. That's another reason everyone in New York is so shocked. Not only did Spitzer seethe in moral outrage, Spitzer really was one of those people who -- in the grand Dean Martin tradition -- didntgiveafuck. That's another reason we were all seduced by him in his run for Governor. You really have to be squeaky clean to be that kind of guy. WRONG.

A couple of quick vents about some of the things I am reading --

Prostitution is not a victimless crime. Legalized prostitution, where it exists, sometimes can make the best out of a bad, but necessary, bred-in-the-bone human situation. And that may be enough of a reason to decriminalize. But that wasn't what happened here. Mr. Spitzer was not conducting his affairs in Amsterdam or Nevada.


Marriage is Forever. Especially when he's 48 and she's 50. No one should have their compass pointed any other way, despite what sometimes happens. The same people who complain that Hillary Clinton should take her marriage vows casually, the same people who complain that Silda Wall Spitzer should take her marriage vows casually (the same people who were casual about the nature of Terri Schiavo's vows, by the way) are the first people to tell you that only certain types of people may marry. You can't say that marriage should be casual out of one side of your mouth, and the cornerstone of a certain sort of society out of the other side.

Here's a scenario that I completely made up -- but feels true to me in some way. She knew. She always knew, but for whatever reason, she didn't care. Or didn't care enough to break up a marriage over it. Maybe she thought that all men are dogs, and you do your best to walk the one you have. More likely, though, Silda had the same high opinion of Elliot that he had of himself. That whatever Elliot wanted -- he could get. Silda thought that if Elliot wanted to keep it quiet, he could. She was wrong. That's why she was so heartbroken. But that's why she stood by him in the end. In her own way, she betrayed her children a little as well.