Klingon politics

An editorial from my New York Office blog:

I don't concern myself too much with terrestrial politics, but I do have some concerns about what's gone on with Governor Spitzer.

If you watch The Wire and agree with its premise that everything in government is the result of some sort of shady back-room dealings, then viewing these recent events make a lot more sense.

Spitzer was one of those rare, Bobby Kennedy-like politicians who actually DID something besides sit around practicing his golf swing in his office. He came down hard on radio payola, He exposed corrupt police, and he cracked down on those deceptive "crisis pregnancy center" ads that turn out to be some religious group trying to talk women out of abortion. He championed musicians who weren't getting their proper royalties from major record labels. He made actual and substantial organized crime busts, something his predecessors couldn't be bothered with. He launched massive investigations into insurance companies, securities firms, and the computer industry. And, most tellingly, he had scathing criticism for "President" Bush, declaring him to be, among other things, deliberately and illegally complicit in a conspiracy with predatory lenders.

So, needless to say, the guy pissed off just about every powerful interest in sight, including some from his own party's agenda. Not surprising, then, that some old arteriosclerotic guy must have said to another one in the lodge hall that this Spitzer guy's gotta be dealt with. Since liberals tend to be horny little devils, it's always easy to find a sex scandal if you look hard enough for one.

Not that I consider spending time in the company of a beautiful and high-class escort to be scandalous. You know, there once was a time when such things were not only considered nobody's business, they were also considered perfectly normal for a red-blooded American male. I would have loved to have seen Spitzer come out and say "Yeah, I had sex with her. So what? Fuck you", but alas, he took the mealy-mouthed diplomatic way out, and mouthed a bunch of platitudes that no one, including himself, really believes is sincere. Sigh.

Lastly, I find it chilling that what allegedly got Spitzer busted was a so-called "suspicious financial transaction" that consisted of nothing more than moving a few grand from one of his accounts to another. Hell, I do that all the time, since when is THAT a fucking red flag signifying anything? Clearly, someone was on a fishing expedition here, trying to find something, anything, that might lead to something they could use against Spitzer. Politics in America, now more than ever, consists of a handful of impotent secret-agent-wannabes trying to wage war on the not-so-impotent ones. It was so in J.Edgar Hoover's day and it's so now. It's like being on a goddamn Klingon ship around here, or the evil-Spock mirror universe where you never know which redshirt's trying to plot your demise.