A few days ago, New York governor and supposed rising star of the Democratic party Eliot Spitzer was brought down in a scandal involving sex and probably corruption. The lucky call girl and new media favorite has been identified as 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre. While there are many—including this writer—who are quite happy to watch the fall of this miserable phony, the way this case is playing out says much about our current culture.
As the scandal broke, we were treated to the Kafkaesque image of Spitzer standing at a podium with his apparently supportive wife at his side. Although this sort of thing is de rigueur in a public scandal, whom do the perps think they are fooling? How supportive would YOUR wife be if you were just caught in such a mess? How many women exist in the entire world who could so easily blow off such cheating?
Considering that news stories indicated that Spitzer had been doing call girls for ten years, his wife had to know about it. She obviously tolerated it since she enjoyed the social position that came with being Mrs. Spitzer. It does boggle the mind to think that she could live a lie—willingly—for all those years. More than that, you have a difficult time thinking of her as much of a victim, or as half of a New York “power couple.”
Is it indelicate to wonder which woman is the bigger whore? A lower-class girl trying to make a few extra bucks, or a Harvard Law grad who subordinates all to Eliot, and then when it is falling apart tries to convince him not to resign?
Personalities aside, we have sort of a paradox here: A governor’s political career is ruined because he used prostitutes, yet the hooker involved gets a big book deal and endless publicity. So, prostitution is bad if you are the customer, but good if you are the seller.
Spitzer, of course, is famous as the guy who went after businesses, in many instances who had done absolutely no wrong, but used the muscle of his then attorney general’s office to force them into submission. Less well known is that when people fought back, Spitzer nearly always lost. Ironically, he also attacked prostitution rings, other than the one he was using, I guess. He could get away with these malicious prosecutions since they were just more red meat thrown to the Leftist press. Indeed, he rode into the Governor’s office on the basis of being some sort of Sir Galahad crusader on behalf of the little guy. How many of the 69% that voted for him now regret it?
His popularity began to sink when he proposed a bill authorizing driver’s license for illegal aliens, that was so awful it spawned an uprising by the very county clerks who would have to implement it. There is little doubt that this, too, was a calculated action. Spitzer is no fool, and knew that he would have to back off, but he could still appeal to the rabid Left for giving it a try.
As to his fanatical pro-abortion stance, though, I think he not only really buys into it, he also gets plenty of money from the abortion lobby…
He introduced a bill that would raise abortion to the level of a fundamental right, like the freedom of speech, and would therefore prohibit virtually any restrictions at all. According to an urgent “news & action update” released by the New York State Catholic Conference, the act would force doctors to perform abortions; force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions; force health care insurance plans to cover them; force employers to purchase abortion coverage; authorize non physicians to perform abortions, and undermine parental involvement in the life decisions of their children.
While attorney general, he targeted protesters at abortion mills with an unprecedented zeal. Maybe it was because he liked to have unprotected sex with young prostitutes.
Good riddance, we say, to a privileged degenerate.