Spitzer in Sex Addict Therapy: The Modern Confessional

The Huffington Post has a link to a NY Post story about Eliot Spitzer going into therapy to explore the possibility that he has a sexual addiction. To be honest, I didn't read most of it. Not that I don't feel Eliot's pain. But it's his own private problem, or should be, and personally I've go schtuff to do. OK? It's become the standard reflex of those in the public eye who get their proverbial teat caught in the ringer to issue a statement that they are in therapy and working through their problems. You have to wonder if this is the modern replacement for the confessional. A way to publicly seek absolution for their sins. I could go down a representative list of public figures who screwed up and went into therapy, but I will save us both time because we know who they are and we both have schtuff to do. Ok?

Basically what most of them got caught doing was being human, and doing the kinds of things, not all, but a lot of us would do if we had their money, power and popularity. If we had access to all the luxuries and had to deal with all the stresses and temptations they do, and could get away with what they normally get away with. In the old days they'd probably have gone to a minister or a priest, made a confession, been seen in church regularly, and over time people would get the idea that they had mended their evil ways. Or got smarter and sneakier about hiding what they do.

In the modern age the high priest has been replaced with Dr. Phil. Not everything modern is progress. In Spitzer's case I honestly think the line between old horny guy with enough money

to buy high priced poon, and sex addict, is a thin one. I have a simple one word definition for sex addict: Guy. It's about as accurate as any clinical definition. But, I haven't done any double-blind studies. In this case those could turn out to be kinda kinky. But what do I know, I'm just a guy.

Analyzing the Over Analysis: Maher on Spitzer

Bill Maher has the best take I've seen so far on the Eliot Spitzer scandal, especially the endless and laughable analysis by so-called experts appearing on news shows. Maher's post on HuffPo is, Spitzer's Trysts: Stop Over-Thinking This. In typical Maher fashion he cuts through all the BS with a machete and gives us the simple unvarnished truth. And it's funny. He says:

I'm going to throw the remote through the TV if one more news twink says something on the order of "When we come back, we'll look into what drives a successful man like Eliot Spitzer to risk it all..."

It's not a long post and it's worth reading.

The Colbert-Spitzer Connection

Stephen reveals his connection to the Spitzer scandal with an uncomfortable reference to something called a "Spitzer sandwich." Sound like something that could put you off your lunch.

Friend Me Kristen

I sent Eliot Spitzer's, or should I say Love Client No. 9's, Kristen a friend request on her Myspace page. So far nada. I gotta guess Ashley Alexandra Dupré been busy the past couple days. I smell a book deal in the works. A recording contract, apparently she's a singer. Appearances on Oprah and the View and the rest of the circuit. Ashley your 15 minutes of fame starts now. Here's an excerpt from her page:

About Ashley Alexandra Dupré
I am all about my music, and my music is all about me… It flows from what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen and how I feel. I live in New York and am on top of the world. Been here since 2004 and I love this city, I love my life here. But, my path has not been easy. When I was 17, I left home. It was my decision and I’ve never looked back. Left my hometown. Left a broken family. Left abuse. Left an older brother who had already split. Left and learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again. Learned what it was like to wake up one day and have the people you care about most gone. I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music.

That's gosh darn inspiring Ash. She's just 22 years old and I hope she can survive what's going to be a tsunami of attention. Hope she doesn't end up being one of those VH1 Behind the Music stories. There's been speculation that she did not know who Client #9 was. If she can ride this out and if possible, have some fun with it, she may come out the other end relatively unscathed with enough money to retire.

One Last Word On Spitzer: Make Your Walk of Shame Alone

I should say last word today, because it's obviously not the last word on this scandal. Maybe it should be, at least here, which is all I have control over. But one thing I wanted to mention in the last post, one of the first things that struck me when watching the video of Spitzer as he acknowledged the scandal, and as he resigned, is why on earth do these guys who screw up this way have to drag their poor wives on stage with them? It's merely a show. It's to say, don't be so hard on me. Hey, even my wife who has more reason to be hurt than anyone, is still beside me.

The worst part of what these guys do is what they've done to their families, especially their wives. I don't think it's such a crime, or any reason for most of them to step down politically. But it might be a real good reason for a divorce. And these knuckleheads ought to have to stand before the public on their own and not drag their wives along on their walk of shame. Let the press and the public guess how she feels about him. No matter what it looks like on stage, most of us know what this woman would really like to do to this guy, and what she is probably doing when they aren't in the public eye.

More to Spitzer Story Than Sex Scandal

Thank you Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough, and Katrina Vanden Huevel of The Nation for someone finally saying something about what Eliot Spitzer accomplished, especially when he was in the Manhattan District Attorney's office and when he was State Attorney General for NY. Instead of simply focusing on the sex and scandal. His problem was a mountain of hubris, making a boatload of enemies, and the obvious hypocrisy in committing the crimes he did, minor as they were. If it were someone else this kind of scandal could, and probably should, have been survivable.

Thank you both also for bringing up the possibility that he may have been targeted by the many enemies he made in his prosecutions of many powerful individuals. For pointing out the obviously unwarranted reasons for the investigation that lead to his downfall. The celebration by the Wall Street slimes who hate him because he put the kind of people behind bars who cheat grandmothers out of their pensions is unseemly to say the least.

On another level I have to say that his is one of those cases in which the fates have way of showing us all that the high and mighty, as well as the low and not so mighty, are flawed and pretty much the same in very many ways. I'm not one for quoting scripture, but as they say, "Pride goeth before the fall."

All the Scandal That's Fit to Broadcast

An NBC Today Show three-fer. In Matt Lauer's interview with Barack Obama this morning he covers Geraldine Ferraro's remarks, Hillary's overtures to him to be her veep, and the Eliot Spritzer scandal. It's a cheap headlines hat trick!

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer: Love Client #9

From Huffington Post:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation," the New York Times reports in a blockbuster revelation.

There's blood in the water for the MSM. Sex and politics, a major politician going down. This will be in the headlines for weeks no doubt. If only they covered Darfur, the US Attorneys Office scandal and other unsexy stories like they cover this stuff. Not a chance.