Spitzer Saga Continues
In 1887 John Emerich Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton, wrote his now famous words about power in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton. Lord Acton, an historian and moralist wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
If the now disgraced former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer is looking for a phrase to best describe his career, he may want to tap into the wisdom of Lord Acton. Of course we’ve pretty much discovered Spitzer’s moral compass is broken, and has been broken for quite sometime. But now, there’s even more to add to the case of his broken moral compass.
The New York Times is reporting that Spitzer was deeply involved in his administration’s efforts last year to discredit the New York State Senate Majority Leader, Joseph Bruno. Information gathered by the Albany County DA indicates that Spitzer’s participation was extensive and reflected his desire to damage Senator Bruno. The story goes on to say that Spitzer held detailed discussions with senior aides, ordered damaging information about Senator Bruno released and called an aide at home repeatedly to check on the progress of the smear campaign.
Should this surprise anyone? No!
When the whole Troopergate Scandal started I’ve always said Spitzer knew what was going on. He’s a pathological liar who’s now getting caught up in the web of lies he’s spun through the years. He’s watching everything he did throughout his career, come tumbling down around him. I’ve also said from the beginning that Spitzer knew what was going on. All the news jockeys need to do is go back into their files and find one of the very first interviews done with Spitzer when the Troopergate story broke. He was walking along a sidewalk with a can of Coke in his hand. Someone asked him about the investigation and Spitzer’s response was, “My office was simply responding to a Freedom of Information Act request.” In other words, Spitzer was well aware of what was going on, and he even had his pre-scripted response ready. But, when the heat was turned up, Spitzer forget about that lie, and then spun another one saying he didn’t know what was going on.
Lord Acton said “Great men are almost always bad men.” I’d like to amend that statement a little — Bad men are usually corrupt men hiding behind a facade, trying to create the illusion that they are great men.
William Pitt, the British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 said in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770, “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.” Once again, one must wonder if those comments came as a foreshadowing of the downfall of Eliot Spitzer.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
