Spitzer resigns

Howard Sutherland writes:

I just watched Gov. Eliot Spitzer resign. His resignation is effective St. Patrick’s Day—though I doubt Eliot is thinking of it in those terms. Expect more than the usual Paddy’s Day partying on Wall Street this year!

To his credit, he did not make excuses, admitted (without specifying) his “personal failings,” and quit.

Not to his credit, he (or his handlers) again made his wife stand beside him while he made the announcement. He should have faced the cameras alone. It’s one thing to ask your wife to stand beside you while you proclaim your innocence; quite another to ask her to stand next to you as you admit to the world that you betrayed her. I think that that particular step down in civility happened when New Jersey Gov. McGreevey got busted for the rent boy he put on the state payroll.

Spitzer will hand over to Lt.Gov. David Patterson, who is black (a first in New York) and legally blind. So now the Empire State goes from figuratively being the blind leading the blind to literally so!

When it comes to pols, we in New York sure know how to pick ‘em!

LA replies:

“He should have faced the cameras alone.”

I agree.

Also, there was no humility, no acknowledgement of the grossness of his betrayal, of the damage he’s caused. He remains a man without a conscience.

- end of initial entry -

Mark K. writes:

I keep hearing the words “I apologize” from public officials when they have erred morally. Somehow this word “apologize” doesn’t ring true. “I am sorry” resonates much deeper with me. The word “apologize” has a technical echo to it that doesn’t quite convey the grief of an affair.

LA replies:

That’s a good point.

LA writes:

Eliot Spitzer’s amazing fall was all over in less than 48 hours, from the time the New York Times published the FBI affidavit at 2 pm. Monday to his resignation before noon on Wednesday.

The speed of this revolution in New York State politics, which nevertheless leaves life going on as before, reminds me of these lines from Bob Dylan’s “Talking World War III Blues”:

Well the whole thing started at three o’clock fast
It was all over by a quarter past.
I was down in the sewer with some little lover
When I peeked up out of a manhole cover
Wondering who turned the lights on us.

Well, I got up and I walked around
Up and down the lonesome town.
I stood a-wondering which way to go,
I lit a cigarette on a parking meter
And walked on down the road.
It was a normal day.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 12, 2008 12:41 PM | Send