Comments on: An Evil Ritual

By: Miriam Cherry

Miriam Cherry — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:49:35 +0000

What if Hillary were elected president, had an affair with a much younger intern, and then dragged Bill through the press conference announcing her sins? It would be the ultimate irony and perhaps would signal that gender parity has arrived… or perhaps, on a more modest scale, we could just continue to increase the number of women running for (and winning) elected office.

By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:18:47 +0000

Another thing to consider is that a lot of Americans are looking at this “upper-class” scandal through middle-class sensibilities. There’s a lot more at stake for a politically elite family than just the dad’s ego.

A mom in an upper-class politically moving family has a lot of things to consider, of which, her husband’s reputation is only one. What about her kids? Are they going to get the connections to get admitted to that elite college and then get hired by that elite law firm or lobbying group. Are they going to be good marriage material for other elite families?

We saw this with Hillary Rodham Clinton years ago. She stood-by-her-man too. And now she’s running for President. Hmmm…

I don’t pretend any real insight into the Clinton’s personal feelings. But I’m just saying, it’s perfectly plausible to view Hillary as not giving a damn about Bill personally one way or the other and still doing everything she did. She was attempting to rehabilitate the FAMILY image. If she hadn’t, her own political career would not have succeeded and who knows what sort of taint Chelsea would have at this point.

When you are a high-powered family of political movers, middle-class concerns don’t always factor in the same way. These women are trying to protect a dynasty in which the lives of their children and their own fortunes are inextricably connected.

Isolated middle class Americans don’t understand this. For them, they like to maintain the illusion that the world works on fairness, merit, and personal affection. It doesn’t always. And that becomes very clear when you enter the highly interconnected world of money and politics.

By: reader

reader — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:16:11 +0000

I’m with the last commenter. The implication of this post that she was helpless to say no and was forced on stage by Spitzer just plays into the helpless woman stereotype. Why do you assume he forced her up there? You write about how she should feel without considering that she may have already thought about it herself and come to a different conclusion.

By: Anyone notice the missing $80,000?

Anyone notice the missing $80,000? — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:57:01 +0000

Given that Silda pushed him to fight on, perhaps, I don’t know, SHE WANTED TO BE THERE. But, no, women can’t think for themselves. They’re just itsy-bitsy victims. Yeah, and she had no idea her husband was diverting $80,000 to screw hookers. It’s all a terrible shock.

By: Chris Bell

Chris Bell — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:16:51 +0000

At least get a multi-million dollar accessory, like Mrs. Kobe Bryant.

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:38:30 +0000

Seems obvious to me. She is setting up her run for Governor whit all the Executive Experience, handling the 3 AM calls nonsense and such.

By: John C

John C — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:35:45 +0000

My wife and I had the same exact conversation on the way to work today. She said “Michelle Obama would never stand for that. She’d kick Barack out of the White House, President-be-damned!”

By: 05

05 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:32:45 +0000

When Sptizer required his wife to go through this exquisitely humiliating ritual, he was already a political dead man walking. Was her obligatory stand-by-her-man appearance supposed to revive his political fortunes? Were his political fortunes worth inflicting such an experience on his wife?

What makes you think he “required” her to do it? There’s an interesting op-ed in the NYTimes by the former first lady of New Jersey on this subject. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/opinion/12mcgreevey.html

Mrs. Spitzer should have been able to tell Mr. Spitzer to face the music on his own. The “PR flaks” are probably right when they say that it makes it easier on the guy when his wife is there, but she’s within her rights to tell him to leave her out of it.

By: Howard Wasserman

Howard Wasserman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:09:36 +0000

The imposition on the wife and the way it forces her down is even clearer when we look at a close recent comparator of Spitzer: David Vitter. Several years ago, Vitter’s wife had said that, if her husband did what Bill Clinton had done, she would not have persevered the way Hillary did (she suggested something about Lorena Bobbitt, actually). Yet, when David Vitter was implicated in the D.C. Madam investigation, there she was by his side at the press conference.