Politicians Like Eliot Spitzer Should Resign In Disgrace

by John Hawkins | March 11, 2008 7:30 am

“I don’t know anyone who is more self-righteous or unforgiving than Eliot Spitzer. So he’s going to have a hard time finding friends right now…Spitzer himself was very severe going after prostitution rings that had to do with white collar crimes. He was very hard-nosed with his tactics. To leave himself open to blackmail — putting himself and the state in a compromised position like that — it’s just awful.” — Peter King[1]

I held off on commenting on Eliot Spitzer last night because,

#1) Everybody else was already talking about it.

#2) Because I was holding out hope that he’d do the honorable thing and resign.

Nobody seems to do that anymore. Bill Clinton didn’t resign. Larry Craig didn’t resign. David Vitter[2] didn’t resign. Barney Frank didn’t resign. William Jefferson didn’t resign.

People always whinge and complain about how corrupt politicians are and then when a sleazebag Democrat like Spitzer gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, everyone bends over backwards to make excuses for him.

Now, I will grant you that you shouldn’t have to have the ethics of a pastor to be a politician, but what’s wrong with holding politicians to a very minimal ethical standard?

Yes, nobody is perfect, and you can conceivably be a decent public servant even if you’re not a particularly moral person, but I’d suggest to you that we should stop treating the exceptions like the rule. A man like Spitzer, who will lie to his own wife and cheat on her, certainly can’t be trusted by the people in New York.

If more people realized that and savagely criticized any politician, Republican or Democrat, who engaged in this sort of behavior, we would end up with cleaner, better government.

PS: I am still hopeful that Spitzer will resign by the end of the week, but you never know with these guys.

Endnotes:
  1. Peter King: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDU5YTE4ZjNiYTNlNjVkZjEwYjI5M2VjNzZjNTIyNTU=
  2. David Vitter: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/mt331/2007/09/my_latest_townhall_column_9_me.php

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