Bombshell across the Hudson.
So New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was swept into office as a hotshot ethics reformer, has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
It's no laughing matter. One's thoughts immediately go to his family - wife Silda and three children. Finding out your husband and father is caught up in a prostitution ring is bad enough. Now imagine it all with CNN, the New York Times and the Republican Party breathing down your necks. One also feels for the people of New York; they deserve better.
But for those of us on this side of the Hudson River, well, we've been here before.
The wronged wife, looking like a deer in the headlights, standing to the right of her husband in the standing-room-only press conference, shoulder-length hair loose and gently coiffed, outfitted in the tailored light blue suit with a tasteful strand of pearls. Maybe a little pressure's lifted off Dina Matos McGreevey today, she's got a sister.
And then there's the commuter train, that which is traveled everyday by politicians, and businessfolk hurtling from New York to Washington by Amtrak. According to the federal affidavit that kicked off this news Spitzer paid big bucks to have the prostitute he knew as "Kristen" travel from New York to Washington by train to have sex with him in a D.C. hotel. That train goes right through New Jersey.
And finally, clearly, both governors' undoing was sex, the kind that surprises people. McGreevey managed to detour mounting ethical challenges of his own with his gay American announcement. And wiretaps appear to reveal Spitzer as what might be called a "john" if Client 9 was a little more low-rent.
But I'm sure that's not where the comparisions end. Who has more? Be snarky or be sincere, and drop your thoughts in Comments.
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