oh my broken heart

I've been reading headlines on and off since Arielle called me at work a few hours ago shrieking, "Thank God I reached you! Find a TV! There's something going on with Spitzer and a prostitution ring!" My ever eloquent response? "Huh?"

And that's kind of the thing. There's not really any other first reaction to have.

God, I was so excited when Spitzer first declared that he was going to run for governor. I mean, here was this guy, this Spitzer, this brilliant, liberal guy who was gonna take Albany back from all the corruption that had been plaguing New York State politics forever. Here was this guy who was gonna herald in a new age of progressivism, of equality, of standing up to the religious right and the political right and the hardcore blowhards who would do anything to subjugate large portions of society to their so-called moral high-ground. Here was this guy who wasn't gonna take shit from ANYONE, and who was more than willing to knock a few heads together, and who won the governorship with 70% of the vote.

And he had a rough time of it, a rough time acclimating to the world of politics as opposed to the more clear-cut world of the attorney general job, prosecuting the bad guys with an iron hand. As I mentioned last summer, Spitzer clearly had a lot to learn about this political thing, about playing the political game. But it seemed he was learning, albeit more slowly than his supporters might have wanted.

And now this. To go down over a prostitute just seems so sad, so pathetic, so unseemly, so, dare I say it, Republican. So very Larry Craig, so very David Vitter. On the other hand, both Craig and Vitter remain in Congress, so perhaps Eliot'll be alright.

Except it's an election year. An incredibly fucking important election year. Oh Eliot, my Eliot, what in the hell were you thinking??