Comment: Hillary and the Eliot Spitzer effect
On the heels of Samantha Power “resigning” from Barack Obama’s campaign for calling Hillary Clinton a “monster” comes news that LGBT Council member Maxim Thorne has been bumped from his post for a similarly tactless use of words.
In an email blasting Clinton’s “who do you want answering the phone at 3am” rhetoric, Thorne wrote:
“At 3am, Hillary said she and Bill were in bed and she knows of all the calls a President gets at different times of the day and night.
“Really?
“So much involvement, so much togetherness. Where was she when Monica was having sex with Bill?”
For that matter, where was Silda Spitzer when her hubby was ordering hookers?
Or Suzanne when Larry Craig was doing the Texas two step in an airport bathroom?
Dina Matos McGreevey is in the process of divorcing Jim, but it’s pretty tough to stand by your man when he’s telling the nation via Oprah and a tell-all, “I’m gay.”
It always comes down to sex, doesn’t it?
American women can’t get behind Hillary because she stayed with her husband after he cheated on her.
Many will say it’s because she’s a bitch, but if “bitch is the new black” – and, thank you Tina Fey for hitting that nail on the head – I think you’ll find many staunch Obama supporters back his campaign because they see the Clinton’s marriage as a sham.
Signed, sealed and approved by none other than the former First Lady herself.
She stayed with her husband after he screwed the intern.
Now she’s trying to bury Eliot Spitzer’s endorsement because he is stepping out on his wife.
Clinton’s camp might tell themselves it’s the tax thing, but it’s sex – and the only difference between Eliot and Bill is Bill got his rocks off for free.
They impeached Clinton.
I didn’t support it then and I don’t support it now.
After all, whatever’s going on in your bedroom is your business.
Isn’t that what we say in our attempts to convince the right to leave us alone and give us equal rights?
It’s certainly the argument we used when everyone argued that a nasty dress and one seriously disgruntled intern were cause to oust one of the greatest Presidents in history from his post.
If we were arguing that Spitzer should bid New York adieu for his shady financial dealings, that I could get behind, but for paying a woman to sleep with him? I’m not so sure.
This isn’t my manifesto supporting prostitution, although if we argue that it’s a woman’s right to choose because it’s “her body, her choice,” how she pays her bills really isn’t for me to comment on.
And as such, generally speaking, the sex lives of politicians is their business.
If Silda Spitzer want to banish Eliot to the guest bedroom for the foreseeable future, that’s her call to make.
If law enforcement officials want to go against the grain and bring him up on charges for paying a woman to have sex with him, go for it.
But forcing his resignation by threat of impeachment? Not our place.
That isn’t to say renegade jounalists can’t expose away, particularly with regard to “maybe gay” politicians who’ve devoted their careers to making the lives of LGBT individuals a living hell by way of policy and rhetoric.
They’ve made their bed, let them do it on tape.
But these people aren’t impeached because they lie, cheat, steal or use their position of influence in immoral ways.
They went after McGreevey for having gay sex, Craig for having what many deemed an amoral encounter, and now Spitzer for being a slut.
And since when is having sex a crime?
Which brings us back to Hillary Clinton, who I’m sure is sitting on the urge to ask for Spitzer’s head on a platter.
Thus far, all she’s managed to muster are “well wishes” to the Governor and his family when just nine years ago she was doing everything in her power to see to it that America spared her husband what appears to be Spitzer’s same fate.
Oh yes, she’s been here before.
Sex and Washington tore her house apart, but if it threatens to tear yours down too, she has to keep her distance.
It’s hypocracy, to be sure, but even more appalling, it’s her only choice.
Imagine America’s response if she gets too involved. Stand by her man didn’t fly. Stand by another woman’s – good luck with that.
Not to mention the corner she’s painted herself into, because frankly, it’s hypocritical for her to do much of anything but stand by one of her biggest supporters and his wife as folks talk impeachment.
One thing is certain. In the year 2008, the quickest way to end a political career is to do let men continue to do what they’ve been doing for centuries – let their dicks do the thinking.
So where was Hillary when Monica was having sex with Bill?
Where America still seems to think she belongs. Curled up in bed with a good book and a strong set of earplugs.
Ross von Metzke © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved
