Elliot Spitzer and the Declining Quality of the American Sex Scandal

Governor Elliot Spitzer of New York is the latest politician caught in a juicy scandal because he couldn't control his own libido. In recent memory we've had Senator Larry Craig playing footsy in the men's room and Senator David Vitter having been found on a madam's phone list.

Republican sex scandals offer the additional whiff of hypocrisy. Republicans, after all, are supposed to be advocates of family values, so when they are caught galloping ladies of ill repute or trying to pick up undercover police officers, there is the overlay of moral outrage to be had along with the snickering titillation.

Elliot Spitzer, having been a crusader against Wall Street malfeasance and, ironically enough, prostitution rings also earns the finger pointing. There is also just a bit of Schadenfreude, which is the joy one takes in the misfortune of one's enemies. That's because Governor Spitzer was very much hated by just about everybody, such as his arrogance, his will to power, and his willingness to crush his enemies by any means necessary.

There is also something else. Four thousand dollars for night of sex with a woman? Now, while one doesn't expect a man of Spitzer's stature to shell out thirty dollars for some truck stop slut, surely if the object is just a nice, leisurely release of tension, one could have the intelligence not to be so extravagant.

Of course there was some hint in the wiretap transcript about "unsafe practices." The imagination just has to go into overdrive at that one. Best that it be left there.

The Harvard Law Professor and TV pundit Alan Dershowitz complained about the big deal being made about the story. "In most parts of the world this wouldn't even be a story." The problem is that it is a story in all parts of the world. In any case, it is charming to see a professor of law dismiss a violation of the law, which apparently Spitzer committed.

Still, there is a kernel of truth here. Back when Gary Hart was taken in adultery aboard the Monkey Business with Donna Rice, a British acquaintance of mine opined, "Not a proper sex scandal. No little boys involved." The United States is a young nation, of course. Europeans have had centuries to refine the art of depravity.

There is a kind of decline, however, in the quality of American sex scandals. John F. Kennedy cavorted with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickerson, the sort of behavior that elicits admiration rather than disgust because of the martyred President's excellent taste. Bill Clinton had to content himself with Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky, among others. Nice people in their own way, no doubt, but not in the same class as Monroe or Dickerson.

Now we have overly aroused politicians stooping to buying hookers, even if it is for an exorbitant amount. No. Not a proper sex scandal at all.
Sources: N.Y. Governor Not Alone In Downfall By Sex Scandal Jay Levine, CBS.Com, March 11, 2008
Official: Cash Triggered Spitzer Probe, Amy Westfeldt, AP, March 11, 2008