That is friggin' hilarious! I'm having a terribly busy and frustrating day, but I'm glad I can count on you, David, to always give me a lift. I hope to meet you in person if I can find my way to CCC in May.

I'm having a terribly busy and frustrating day too, Don. What would we all do without the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others?

GET THEE TO CCC!

Seriously, David. Did this really happen at the same time? I see that it happened at the Mayflower, but was he connected to your conference?

No, he wasn't connected to our conference, but he was sitting in the hallway. Our TV guy Justin Allen talked to him briefly and overheard him yakking about super-delegates and the like.

You see a lot of political celebs at the Mayflower--John McCain was staying in the hotel on the night of the 13th, too--so it wasn't terribly unusual.

Until yesterday, when we learned that it was.

David,

We've all heard the news reports about the New York governor. Can we please hear more about the "shared titillation"?

Will

No more to share.

Just a lot of stuff wisecracks, like this one, from Ragan TV man Allen:

"Until yesterday, my claim to celebrity fame was literally bumping into former Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash at a Budget Rental Car in Detroit. Now my claim to celebrity fame is talking to Gov. Eliot Spitzer the day after he paid $4,300 to likely end his political career."

Last night I informed my husband that if he EVER becomes a public figure and gets into trouble like this I will NOT stand on the freakin' podium behind him at the news conference, so don't even ask me. He said, "I'll keep that in mind." Sheesh. Don't these women know how to say "no"? As in, "You want me to WHAT, you putrid, ludicrous, shriveled-up, toad-sucking rat bastard???"

Jane,

Not only do I agree with you, I have no respect for the spouses who stand there looking like idiots. I can only imagine what I might have to say in that situation: "I wish Sharon were here to help see me though this painful and turbulent episode in our long relationship, but she's on a train to West Virginia and can't be reached for comment. I pray she will return soon, but I'm not sure how long she'll be gone."

Will

An elected politician friend of mine who often laments his desperate attempt to maintain an inner life despite the demands of his work. Reflecting on this Spitzer story, he wrote me last night:

"The paragraph below is from an AP story in which shrinks opined why Spitzer did what he did, Clinton did Monica Lewinsky, and James McGreevey did his staff guy. The last sentence really strikes me.


"'In order to be in such a high-profile position, you have to believe that what you are doing is innately right,' said Renana Brooks, of Washington, D.C. 'Anything that isn't right, you may blot out. You can't be tortured by guilt or indifference. It's just virtually impossible to function at this high a level without limiting the amount of introspection you can do.'"

I imagine the spouses of public officials have their own psychological profile, don't you?

So due to his psychological struggles, his wife is supposed to be tortured by indifference?

If it's "virtually impossible to function at this high level" then get out and save your marriage you louse.

"If it's 'virtually impossible to function at this high level' then get out and save your marriage you louse."

Since when has anyone ever traded power, fame and prestige for cozy intimate nights on the couch with the spouse?

Has this ever happened, in the history of recorded civilization?

Of course both parties have their own psychological profile! Both profiles are well defined in the previous comments. My theory is that the spouses fall into one of the following categories:

1) Have an agenda of their own and are patiently waiting for their moment (HRC)

2) Have no self-esteem (either a product of upbringing or marriage)

3) Waiting for the money that will eventually come their way and keep them in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to.

Of course it has. You can't be that jaded, David. We just don't hear those stories.

And don't say, "You can't be that naive Eileen, because it's not naive, it's a belief that some people are still good."

I think some people are still good. I think MOST people are still good. I just think this particular trade, BIG POWER for family intimacy, is one that we don't usually see get made.

I see your point, which is why we choose our professions wisely. Most men who put family first are not necessarily going to be driven toward politics. But I have known people who are driven, then see that their drives aren't good and pull back.

'Anything that isn't right, you may blot out. You can't be tortured by guilt or indifference."

I believe that. I worked for years as a legislative aide, and finally quit because I realized that my own lines were blurring; I was losing my ability to discern right from wrong. Everything was getting gray, and I had to get away from it. Today Alaska is being rocked by political scandals, and as I read the stories of what occurred, I recognize how familiar the scenarios are, how chillingly close to home they strike. When you live every day in a false world, it becomes the real world; things that would never have been right before seem normal. I'm not defending wrongdoing or lack of morality; but I have seen how difficult it is to maintain perspective, how easy it is to slip into believing that whatever you're doing must be right. I also know that you can stop yourself, and if it means getting away from it altogether, then that's what you do. If you can.

I am late to join this discussion, but here's what made me laugh out loud, as I was stepping out of the shower this morning and heard the Spitzer news story on the radio: "Spitzer's comment was [something like] 'this is a private matter'"

Are you KIDDING ME?!?!?! What planet is this dumb-head living on!? Um, buddy, aside from all the other obvious aspects of this debacle that mean you are done like dinner, prostitution is still illegal and you are an elected official, who, correct me if I'm wrong, swore to uphold the laws of New York as the governor!

Like, Duh!

Kristen, maybe he said it was a "privates" matter....

Jane: HA HA HA HA HA! Good one!

Jane - you totally slay me. That was PRICELESS. Poor Spitzer. Such a great political hope, and now his career is OVER. There is no recovering from this. - Amy

Hey David. Remember when you and I watched Trent Lott's political immolation over drinks in Chicago a few years back? What great sport it is to watch these guys go down.

I agree with your theory. Power corrupts, absolutely. When you feel you OWN what's right and wrong, then everything you do can be rationalized as right because you did it. You are above the law because you exist at a higher plane, fighting for some kind of a greater good. If you get your wick wet to get rid of a bit of political tension now and then, who's the victim if no one knows? Those few moments of discrete pleasure energize you for the big battles, for more important truths, that await.

Sadly, I think the reason political wives stand by their men in situations like this is they buy into the whole demi-god thing, and by association they are demi-goddesses who can also rationalize their way out of anything.

"If you get your wick wet to get rid of a bit of political tension now and then, who's the victim if no one knows? Those few moments of discrete pleasure energize you for the big battles, for more important truths, that await."

This strikes me as so close to the actual thinking of a Spitzer that I almost suspect the next big power broker to go down might be ... Ron Shewchuk.

I have spent time with a Power Creature who believed EXACTLY THIS: I own my domain, so I am doing something here, whatever I am doing must be right, by definition. And anybody who criticizes it must be insane, by the very same definition. It was fun to be around this; now I don't have to meet any monarchs.

It was so pronounced that I came to see it as almost a twisted form of integrity. Or an integrity-like form of twistedness, is more like it.

>>> Sadly, I think the reason political wives stand by their men in situations like this is they buy into the whole demi-god thing, and by association they are demi-goddesses who can also rationalize their way out of anything. >>>

I imagine there's also a high-priced crisis consultant (or some party bigwig) with too much clout who stresses the importance of presenting a united front from a PR standpoint, whether they like it or not.

One thing I've always enjoyed about the Mayflower Hotel is the pride they take there in being the site of some significant moments in political history. I'm guessing this is not one of the moments the grand old Mayflower will choose to celebrate in marketing material...

"You want me to WHAT, you putrid, ludicrous, shriveled-up, toad-sucking rat bastard???"

Jane, don't sugar-coat it. Tell us what you really think!

Having seen a few pictures in recent days of Ms. Spitzer and other dutiful wives standing by their men, I wonder what's going through their minds while their husbands are weaseling away? Just once I'd like to see one of them haul off and slug the guy in mid-speech and then storm off.

Well how about that female bureaucrat who hijacked some Olympic press conference to out her husband as a philanderer. That was good theatre!

And, David, I only wish I were powerful enough to live in my own self-constructed morality. Sadly, my pedestal is more like a shallow dent in the ground.

And, sadder still, I once had to work for someone whose narcissism and moral relativism created all kinds of suffering for those around him. Powerful people are generally creepy.

I just posted something in Susie Bright's blog comments to the effect that I think a lot of political and executive wives are what are called "Heras" in The Goddess Within (a book I didn't like at all but it had some interesting points). Their marriage is their career of choice, and I suspect they're primarily disappointed that the lug blew it—his chance at power.

Maybe I'm jaded.

I know I am.

I hope everyone's seen the video of the Chinese woman who came out and told everyone her husband is a lying cheat, as everyone tried to get her off camera quickly . . .

And while everyone is discussing the PR strategies and the spin-doctoring and while the late-night comics are having their heydey and while the prostitute is grabbing her 15 minutes of fame, there are three young women whose father's philandering has probably ruined their perceptions of men at one of the most impressionable periods of their lives. Just another family that becomes collateral damage in our media-soaked, scandal-crazed society. It's just all so sad.