The Hard-Driving Prosecutor

So once more a politician's prodigious brain came in third in the organ derby, a poor third. I'd have bet brain to at least place, but no, it was you-know-what by a really bad pun, and spleen several lengths behind. There is just no end to the bad jokes.

The pundits will no doubt draw the obvious parallels between poor Spitzer (yes, he has to look into the eyes of his wife and teenage daughters, and you know we are going to see unfolding coverage of working-girl Kristin, her time with the gov, fleshing out the story, as it were) and a certain other famous philanderer.

But isn't the our perception of the seriousness of the crime just a matter of the perp's attitude? At first, President Clinton didn't admit anything had happened, Governor Spitzer immediately apologized, but consider this guy:

When Rudy Giuliani was hit on by a pop-eyed, dog-killing saleswoman in a cigar bar, he just paraded her around town, and instead of apologizing to his long-suffering wife on television, he let her know she had been replaced. On T.V., live.

And went on to run for President.

Governor Spitzer is playing his losing hand close to his vest so far--having curled his chiseled lip and wrinkled his elegant nose at other prostitution rings puts him almost into Republican territory for hypocrisy. So you might expect him to resign, contemplation, spiritual renewal and book deal pending. But so far, nothing.

Wall Street firms are breaking out the champagne, and Spitzer nemesis State Senator Joe Bruno blinked back his crocodile tears long enough to issue a subdued statement. This ought to irk the bejesus out of the righteous, the civic-minded, and the little, shat-upon people of New York who have paid for Bruno's helicopter rides and remember Bruno's attacks on rent control ("so you lived in that neighborhood all your life and all your friends are there? Tough! Find a cheaper one!")

Putative congratulations to Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, a good guy who's hard to draw. No flapping ears or hawk like features to seize upon, just a general cuddliness and a sparse sable beard which is hard to render in a little B&W spot drawing.