Politicians...

Well, I just had to blog about this…I read the stories today about New York Governor Spitzer being linked to a high dollar international prostitution ring and possibly money laundering and I just couldn’t help but laugh about yet another politician going down in flames.

What was he thinking? How can someone that is in his position, not just as governor but as someone who many thought of as a future contender for the White House, so callously put his career in jeopardy? At what point does someone in a position of power think that they can’t be touched? Why do they think they can get away with it? You would think that someone that has what it takes to get into a high position in government would have more intelligence than to do something that stupid wouldn’t you? Guess not…

Then I heard some of the Democrats talking about how he can weather this and not have to resign. Their rationale was that Larry Craig didn’t resign and Bill Clinton survived a sex scandal while in office.

Well, even though then-President Clinton used incredibly poor judgment and what he did was morally wrong, he didn’t actually break any laws. Craig’s situation was more embarrassing than anything else and even though he was arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior, it’s not a crime of the caliber we’re talking about with Spitzer.

Prostitution is against the law and is routinely prosecuted. His exact involvement with the prostitution ring hasn’t been made clear as of yet, as is any part he played in the money laundering operation, which is a serious crime and a career killer for a politician. Any wrongdoing involving money pretty much flushes ones political aspirations.

It’s not just a question of a person being caught breaking the law either. Not in my mind anyway. To my way of thinking, a person that holds a position in government has the public trust. He is elected and put into the office that he holds based on that trust. The acts that he willfully committed are a monumental disregard for that trust. It is a betrayal and an insult to the people of New York and the United States. He is not worthy to hold the office of governor. Period.

What really annoyed me though was his half-hearted apology, which was obviously written by his lawyer. He basically didn’t say much at all. He certainly didn’t admit to anything. He made it sound like all he did was do something to embarrass his family and his office. He said he acted “…in a way that violates my obligations to my family, that violates my or any sense of right and wrong…"

Well duh… if you get involved with prostitutes in any way, it kind of violates your obligations to your family. That’s kind of a no-brainer there…and you could say that anyone with half a brain would know that his acts would fall on the “wrong” side of right and wrong too.

Gee, thanks Governor for that heart-felt pouring out of your soul to the people you lied to and betrayed. I can tell you really mean it. Yeah right…

If he would have come out and said what he really meant, it would have gone something like this: “I’m not admitting anything but I’m sorry for something that I may or may not have done but the details haven’t been made public yet so I’m not going to say what it is until I know how much the cops know because there just might be a remote chance that I might be able to save my ass. But just in case I’m going down the tubes I’m going to give this lame, generic apology so I can later say I showed some remorse over my actions which may or may not have been criminal and that I may or may not have committed but I’m not saying I did at this point because it may be used against me later in court…” You get the gist.

In my opinion, he should show a little respect to the people he works for, the people of New York, and resign. Anything else is just making a bad situation worse. Somehow I don’t think he has the character to do the right thing though.

I guess he’s already shown that…